It’s never easy stepping into a large leadership role, especially when your predecessor’s been at the organization for nearly 50 years, bringing growth and acclaim. The Arboretum’s longtime Director, Peter Moe (above, right), is leaving some big shoes to fill, of course, having been the Arboretum’s Director from 2016-2023 and an employee since 1973.
But for Andrew Gapinski (above, left) — who starts as the Arboretum’s Executive Director on May 1 — standing at the helm at one of the country’s largest public gardens feels both like a once-in-lifetime challenge and a homecoming of sorts.
“I could not be more thrilled to be back in the Midwest to join the Arboretum community — an institution I have admired since my early horticultural beginnings,” said Gapinski, who most recently served as the Director of Horticulture Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in Boston. “I am overjoyed to be starting as Executive Director at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum just as we are ushering in a parade of countless spring blooms and the excitement and energy of the Arboretum’s spring programs.”
Andrew Gapinski in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 2000.
Early years
Nearly everything in Gapinski’s path may have led him to this moment of leadership. Although his work at other acclaimed arboretums and universities — the Arnold Arboretum, the Arboretum at Penn State and the Morton Arboretum — are certainly notable, Gapinski’s passion for plants goes back to childhood.
The youngest of six kids, he was born and raised on the southern end of Milwaukee County, a bike ride from the Boerner Botanical Gardens, where his family had access to all sorts of cultural institutions.
“I remember exploring the tropical and desert biomes of the Milwaukee Parks Mitchell Park Conservatory — known as the “The Domes” — and being enamored by the Rainforest exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum, transporting visitors to the wilds of Costa Rica, with its rich biodiversity, cultures and stories of discovery and destruction,” he said. “As a child, these experiences provided me with windows into a world unknown — and inspired a sense of wonderment.”
And that was only the beginning. When Gapinski was 10 years old, his parents moved the family to the countryside northwest of Milwaukee into an 1842 farmhouse made of white oak timber.
His parents had purchased the rundown, two-story log home from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. It wasn't long before the old farmland, ponds, silos, chicken coop and the rolling hills of the adjacent Kettle Moraine State Forest became Gapinski’s new playgrounds.
“I spent the rest of my childhood ice skating on farm ponds, catching crayfish in the Oconomowoc River, ice fishing, portaging and canoeing the area lakes, and hiking and snowshoeing the Kettle Moraine,” he said. “We grew our first vegetable garden and a small orchard on the manure-enriched land — and my father, an artist, painted scenes from the landscape around us.”
Andrew Gapinski grew azaleas from the 'Lights' series in his youth, which gave him an early appreciation for these cold-hardy Arboretum introductions.
Discovering an interest in plants
Gapinski was also interested in the natural world on the academic side, and — as luck would have it — his high school offered courses in horticulture and natural resources.
“I still recall my first class on the subject — Animals, Plants and You — and my beloved teacher, Mr. Ed Walker,” he said.
In the summers, Gapinski worked as a field hand for a hardy field-grown perennial nursery — digging, dividing and potting hostas and daylilies. Later, as he learned about the larger world of plants, he even discovered University of Minnesota hardy plant introductions for northern landscapes and started growing a collection of the Arboretum’s ‘Lights’ series azaleas around his family’s home.
All of these early life experiences — exposure to science, nature and art, an ardor for exploration and a deep appreciation for the natural world led Gapinski to study horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also played football with the Badgers during his freshman year.
His childhood spark of curiosity about the natural world — that started in that rainforest in the Milwaukee Public Museum — led him to study a semester abroad in the cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica, and further shaped his charge to study and conserve the plant world in his career.
Photo by RobertEvansImagery.com
A journey through public gardens
Combining his love of plant cultivation and conservation — and a desire to inspire, mentor and encourage the next generation to explore and care for nature — Gapinski chose a career path in public gardens and worked as a horticulturist at the Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago.
Encouraged by mentors, he attended the University of Delaware for a master’s degree in public horticulture as part of the Longwood Graduate Program and worked as Director of Horticulture and curator of the Arboretum at Penn State.
Then it was off to the famed Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, a 281-acre public garden in Boston, where he spent the past decade caring for the collections and landscape, and traveling around the world, as Director of Horticulture.
“So here I am, after two decades in horticulture, honored and deeply humbled to work alongside the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s 200 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees and nearly 1,000 volunteers,” Gapinski said.
Gapinski sees himself as a partner in the stewardship of the Arboretum’s collections, gardens and programs as well as an organizational leader and collaborator, eager to envision and develop a strategic plan for the years to come.
“I’m also deeply interested in providing windows of opportunity for all — just as I was afforded as a kid — to discover and care for the natural and cultivated world around us,” he said.
Charting a course
Gapinski’s Arboretum role — known as the Peter J. Olin Endowed Directorship — is named after another revered director. Indeed, Gapinski said he’s excited to build on the strong foundation of the organization's first 65 years, including Peter Moe’s accomplishments and legacy.
“I look forward to the opportunity to strengthen communications, culture and connections across all the communities and groups the Arboretum seeks to serve,” he said. “I am so grateful for the warm welcome that I have received and for everyone’s continued involvement in the work of the Arboretum.”
As he looks ahead to a rigorous onboarding schedule, Gapinski said he’s excited about making connections with as many people as he can — staff, visitors, members, donors and volunteers, as well as partners at the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) and across the University of Minnesota.
A couple key priorities for Gapinski include utilizing and strengthening the history the Arboretum has with plant introductions and breeding, deepening the Arboretum’s connections with the University, and listening and learning from the Arboretum’s staff and other stakeholders.
“I like to understand people and listen to people,” he said. “I want to work on learning what motivates everyone to be involved and engaged in advancing the Arboretum.”
Andrew Gapinski and his daughters show off their strawberry haul from a farm near Boston in 2022.
Family and fun
Gapinski and his family — two elementary school-age daughters and his wife, Tiffany Enzenbacher, a plant scientist and horticulturist — plan to settle in the west-metro area of the Twin Cities.
Gapinski’s lifelong hobbies include, ice fishing, camping, canoeing and summer fishing and, more recently, teaching his daughters to snowboard. He’s been to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness several times and even had the opportunity to lead high school groups on a couple trips in his youth.
“One of the reasons I’m excited to be settling the family in Minnesota is so I can take my kids up to the Boundary Waters and teach them the skills of canoe tripping and respect for nature,” he said.
Sarah Jackson is a PR/Media Specialist at the Arboretum.
Photos are by RobertEvansImagery.com.