The Ad Astra Garden is a beautiful seating area at the top of Tempel Green. "Ad Astra" translates from the Latin as "to the stars." The garden honors the College's most generous donors. Built in 1997, the stone benches surround a sundial designed by sculptor David Smalley, Henry B. Plant Emeritus Professor of Art.

The Connecticut College Arboretum provides a welcome connection with the natural world, offering opportunities for teaching, research, conservation, recreation and public education. Includes Buck Lodge, Caroline Black Garden, Mamacoke Island, Nancy Moss Fine Native Azalea Garden, Native Plant Collection, a pond and walking trails.

Sprout was founded in 2004 when a group of students, led by Alaya Morning '06, and beloved former Grounds Manager, Jim Luce, started growing food in the lawn outside Earth House. Flash forward 15 years and Sprout has become one of the College's essential organs. It relocated to the center of campus in 2012, and has since expanded to cover half an acre of land. The Sprout Community today consists of a student-run gardening club and an academically integrated farm space that share tools, volunteers, and goals.

Tempel Green, which offers sweeping views of Long Island Sound, is a favorite place to study and relax. In warmer months, students gather for picnic lunches, group study sessions and Ultimate frisbee competitions. In the winter, you are likely to encounter a few friendly snowmen or even an igloo. Some professors move their classes to Tempel Green, which features an outdoor classroom fashioned from granite.

The greenhouse is used as teaching and research facility for the Connecticut College botany and ecology classes. It is staffed by arboretum personnel. Built in 1935 under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to Dr. George Avery, professor of botany and the arboretum’s first director, the greenhouse was designed by Lord and Burnham to replace an existing lean-to greenhouse.