Polly Hill

Who was Polly Hill?

Mary Louise Butcher "Polly" Hill was an American horticulturist best known for testing how well plants could survive in cold climates. She founded the Polly Hill Arboretum on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Born in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, she graduated in 1928 from Vassar College. She went to Japan to teach English and learned about flower arrangement there. After returning to the United States, she studied botany and horticulture at the University of Maryland. She began her work in 1958 after inheriting what is now the arboretum from her parents.

Hill died in Hockessin, Delaware at age 100.