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Science grew a lot this year! Our Horticulturist is recapping his top stories that reach from the neighborhoods of Richmond, Virginia to the world's largest collection of seeds in England. We're planting roots, and we can't wait to see what sprouts in 2026!

#5. Tree of the year

The European beech (Fagus sylvatica), "Heart of the Dalkowskie Hills," was crowned as the European Tree of the Year for 2025. With this win, Poland kept up its winning streak, taking the title for the fourth year in a row.

The yearly contest is full of beautiful trees and you can check out all of the contestants on the Tree of the Year website.

Richmond has some pretty amazing trees too! We’re thinking we should have an RVA Tree of the Year contest to highlight some of our biggest and brightest. While we wait for that to take off, check out the Virginia Big Tree Program, which maintains a register of the 3 largest specimens of over 300 native, non-native and naturalized tree species.

#4. Seed bank birthday

The Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Garden in England turned 25 years old. The seed bank was started by the Royal Botanic Gardens and has since partnered with hundreds of organizations all over the world.

The Millennium Seed Bank hosts the world's largest collection of wild plant seeds. With nearly 2.5 billion seeds from 40,000 species, it is the most biodiverse place in the world. The work of the seed bank is crucial in protecting biodiversity and ecological resilience among Earth’s wild plants.

If you’re interested in learning more, to further celebrate the seed bank’s anniversary, they’ve launched a new podcast, Unearthed: The need for seeds.

#3. Richmond’s tree plan

In 2025, the City of Richmond’s Department of Public Works announced the launch of its first-ever Urban Forest Master Plan. This plan will act as a roadmap to protect, expand and enhance the city’s tree canopy.

This is a first-of-its-kind plan in Richmond, and will give our city strategies to help maximize the ecological, economic and health benefits of a thriving urban forest.

#2. A new park for RVA

This year, the City of Richmond moved forward with plans to transform Mayo Island into a public park. Folks won’t have to wait long to check it out since the park is currently scheduled to open in the fall of 2026!

The 15-acre island is a gem for outdoor recreation and construction renderings show spaces for walking, biking, water sports and nature observation. It will be wonderful to see this former industrial site and parking lot turned into a beautiful public green space! We’re big fans of the parking lot to greenspace transformations. Speaking of …

#1. The Green is growing

Schematic plans for the East Green at the Science Museum of Virginia were revealed and approved! We’re moving forward with our efforts to green our campus as much as possible. The East Green will add another 4.5 acres of public green space on Broad Street.

You’ll see changes happening soon as we remove more asphalt parking lots, plant more native plants and trees, create accessible pathways and add in water features and changing art exhibits. All of these changes are great assets for the community, but they also provide us with a lot of opportunities to talk about science!