Autumn Tour of the Shinn Garden & Arboretum

Join us for an autumn visit to the Shinn Arboretum – Ed and Debbie Shinn’s private garden and certified arboretum in coastal New Jersey. Shinn Arboretum is a collector’s garden and holds one of the largest private maple collections on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States with over 1,000 plants of approximately 700 varieties; the garden also has an extensive conifer collection with approximately 300 plants and hundreds of other varieties of trees and shrubs. The arboretum contains over 18,000 plants, many of which are rare.

Ed and his wife Debbie have been gardening at this location for over forty years, and the garden has evolved into a site often visited by maple, conifer and rare plant collectors. The Shinns consider the garden beds to be mixed border gardens, but unlike most mixed border gardens designed with perennials and annuals, these beds use trees. There are many additional features in the garden including planters, troughs, greenhouses, and hundreds of plants in pots. The garden is about two acres and is mostly flat with a bluestone pathway around the back garden. Stone and wooden benches are placed throughout the garden to provide a place to rest and enjoy the views. Most of the plants have engraved botanical signs for ease of identification.

The goal of the arboretum is to continue to share the garden and educate the public on the use of not only maples but many underutilized plants and how to incorporate them into home landscapes. The long-term goal for the arboretum is to transfer many of the specimen plants to public gardens so that they will be available for the public to enjoy for many years. In the last five years the arboretum has increased its donations to public gardens in NJ, PA and MI, including the donation of over 100 plants to Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton NJ.

To see photos of the garden, including aerial views, check Ed’s Facebook page (Ed & Debbie Shinn’s Garden) or https://www.gardenista.com/submission/2017/garden-ed-debbie-shinn/.

Ed will start our visit with a brief (~30 min.) introduction – a description of the garden and a little info on the different areas and viewing perspectives. We will then be free to roam. There are plenty of seating areas throughout the garden, and bathrooms are available.

You may want to extend your visit to the area by enjoying lunch (and Hoffman's ice cream!) at one of the many area restaurants. The arboretum is very close to the towns of Spring Lake, Sea Girt, and Manasquan, all on the coast and very nice to visit. They are also about 15 minutes from Rare Find Nursery and about 5 minutes from Barlow’s Farm & Flowers in Wall Township.

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