NACOGDOCHES – To celebrate Arbor Day this year, the Garden Capital of Texas Committee is partnering with the Elliot Family Foundation and SFA Gardens to give away trees for local homeowners to plant. The free tree giveaway will be held from 11 am to 2 pm on Friday, November 1, at the Chamber of Commerce, 2515 North Street. More than 120 3-gallon trees will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We are donating trees to our community in lieu of our annual tree-planting,” said Angela Wiederhold, Garden Capital of Texas Committee president. “We wanted to give homeowners in the area an opportunity to replace trees that might have suffered from drought or storm damage. We are very grateful to the Elliot Family Foundation for helping us purchase trees and to SFA Gardens for providing trees for this project.”
All the trees will be native species, including some Black Gum trees from a regional nursery.
“Black Gum trees have a lovely shape, leaf texture and color, flowers and berries, and they’re attractive to wildlife,” said Dawn Stover, a founding member of the Garden Capital Committee and a member of the Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful Advisory Board. “They are smaller than some of our more majestic trees, like oak and hickory, yet they provide many of the same benefits.”
The Garden Capital of Texas Committee celebrates Arbor Day every year with a special project and encourages the planting and nurturing of trees to protect our environment and enrich our lives. Historians trace Arbor Day’s origins back to the fifth century, when Swiss villagers gathered to plant groves of oak trees. Arbor Day first appeared in the United States in 1872, when the Nebraska state legislature passed this country’s first Arbor Day resolution. Arbor Day first appeared in Texas in 1889, when the citizens of Temple began a tree-planting campaign, and a year later the first statewide observance was held in Austin.
To help with future planting projects, please send a check to The Garden Capital c/o Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful, P.O. Box 633030, Nacogdoches, Texas 75963-3030 or visit keepnacbeautiful.org/donate_membership. Please note “Nacogdoches Garden Capital” on your check or your donation.