The flower bed in the SIS ellipse at dusk on April 3. (Jonathan Heeter/American University)

By Jonathan Heeter

As daylight slipped away on April 3, the sweet, spicy, clove-like fragrance of Viburnum carlesii—also known as Koreansweet Viburnum—filled the cool evening air around the East Quad Building, as 100 backyard gardeners and amateur horticulturists gathered for a moonlight stroll around AU’s award-winning 84-acre arboretum. 

Led by AU Arboretum and Gardens manager Mike Mastrota and recently-retired grounds operations manager Stephanie DeStefano, CAS/MA ’16, the tour featured a small swath of the campus’ vast acreage, which is dotted with more than 5,000 trees and 500 different species and varieties of woody plants. The Office of People and External Affairs uses neighborhood listservs and Eventbrite listings to advertise the tour, which always books up quickly.  

“This is such a beautiful property, and I was thrilled to see and hear how they maintain it,” said Adriana Delgado, a gardener who lives three blocks from campus. “It’s great that the university can share this resource with us.” 

SOC professor W. Joseph Campbell came up with the idea in 2016 as a programming initiative for students. He enlisted Mastrota and DeStefano, and a long-term faculy-staff partnership blossomed. AU neighbors gravitated to the tours of the arboretum—which this spring marks its 20th anniversary—until COVID-19 halted them in 2020. Community interest has again increased since tours restarted this past fall.

“The interactions are always very positive. The community has an appreciation for what we’re doing with the arboretum. It’s touching to hear people speak glowingly about how they feel about campus,” said Mastrota, who counts the dawn redwoods in the amphitheater and the katsura trees in front of Hurst Hall among his favorites in the collection. 

The moonlight tour passed a scarlet oak in front of Hurst Hall and East Quad Building believed to be more than 140 years old. (Jonathan Heeter/American University)

The tour split into two, with Mastrota and DeStefano leading groups on opposite sides of the quad. Mastrota took his group down the east side, past the oldest tree on campus. He shared groundskeeping tidbits and campus history at the scarlet oak, which predates AU’s founding, before moving on to Hurst Hall and the Kay Spiritual Life Center. Stefano led the others on the west side, stopping to chat about Kogod’s green roof. 

Everyone reunited at AU’s newly unveiled Sudama—Elyn Zimmerman’s art installation featuring enormous granite boulders surrounding a crescent-shaped pool.

Foxhall Village resident Jan Smart pulled out her camera throughout the walk, capturing campus under the glow of a nearly full moon. Smart sought refuge at AU during the early days of the pandemic, using the grounds for exercise and as an escape from the stress of current events. She’s continued to visit campus and uses the arboretum to explore potential additions to her garden. 

“I feel like [AU] has become my stomping ground,” said Smart, a native of Melbourne, Australia. “I use an app and take pictures of plants because I’m converting my garden to a native garden. The arboretum and the university are great assets for the area.”