Garden in the Woods is a 45-acre botanic garden operated by the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts. With more than 1,700 kinds of plants representing 1,000 species, the organization says it’s the “largest landscaped collection of wildflowers in New England.”
It began when landscape architect Will C. Curtis “bought 30 acres in 1930 for $1,000,” as he told The Boston Globe in 1968, and began to cultivate a botanical garden with help from Howard “Dick” Stiles, the garden’s curator through 1970. Curtis opened it to the public in the early 1930s. Curtis and Stiles deeded the property to the New England Wildflower Society (now Native Plant Trust) in 1965, with Curtis staying on as director until he died at age 86 in October 1969.
“His ashes,” American Horticulturist magazine reported, “were scattered among his beloved plants.”
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