Donald Wyman (1904 — 6 December 1993) was an American horticulturist, the head of horticulture at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

from 1935 to 1970. He took a bachelor's degree in horticulture from Pennsylvania State College (1926) and a master's in forestry (1933), then a PhD in horticulture at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

(1935). He joined the Arboretum in 1935 and served for six months without salary in the depths of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

before being named horticulturist in 1936. He was the author of many books, including ''Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia'' (1971) and was a frequent contributor to the journal '' Arnoldia''. Wyman served as president, director, and trustee of the American Horticultural Society. At the Arnold Arboretum he departed from the original method of planting by botanical association, to mark vistas and turns with specimen trees, and was energetic in acquiring seeds of many species that he introduced to American horticulture. He retired in 1970. He received the George Robert White Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (1970), the Liberty Hyde Bailey Medal from the American Horticultural Society, the Veitch Memorial Medal from the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

(1969) and the Medal of Honor from the Garden Club of America (1965). The widely planted crabapple ''Malus "Donald Wyman"'' was named for him upon his retirement in 1970.

Selected works

Aside from hundreds of professional articles in the Arboretum's journal ''Arnoldia'' he published *''Shrubs and Vines for American Gardens'' (1949, 3rd rev. ed 1969, 1971) *''Trees for American Gardens'' (1951, 1972, 1977, 1990)
''Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia''
(1971, 1977, 1987) which, according to Amazon, has sold more than 100,000 copies. *''The Arnold Arboretum Garden Book'' (1954) *''Ground Cover Plants'' (1956) *''The Saturday Morning Gardener: A Guide to Once-A-Week Maintenance'' (1974) *''Dwarf Shrubs: Maintenance-free woody plants for today's gardens'' (1975)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyman, Robert American horticulturists 1904 births 1993 deaths Cornell University alumni Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences alumni 20th-century American botanists Veitch Memorial Medal recipients