April 25, Happy Arbor Day OOPS!!

 

Arbor Day is today! APRIL 24!

 

 

Guess what!?! MOM MADE A MISTAKE!

 SOOO Here is the corrected Badge!

When is Arbor Day? National Arbor Day in the U.S. is April 24, 2026. 

Many states choose dates better suited to local planting climates, such as November in Hawaii. 

Here, in the Great White North,  National Tree Day in Canada is celebrated on the Wednesday of National Forest Week in September, and it is focusing on planting, education, and appreciating the role of trees. Some regions, like Alberta, hold specific spring events, but the the national focus is in autumn. It serves as a, day for environmental action, often involving tree planting, education, and community activities 

 

Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling Morton in 1872 to encourage tree planting for shade, fuel, and beauty, it is typically observed in spring (last Friday in April in the US). 

 

Arbor Day

 

Since our Mom started work, she always joked with her bosses that she was a Druid and that she should have Arbor Day off as a holiday! Everyone always laughed. For our post this year, when creating the badge, Mom found out that Arbor Day is NOT a recent invention! 

The Spanish village of Mondoñedo held the first documented arbor plantation festival in the world organized by its mayor in 1594. The place remains as Alameda de los Remedios and it is still planted with lime and horse-chestnut trees. A humble granite marker and a bronze plate recall the event. Additionally, the small Spanish village of Villanueva de la Sierra held the first modern Arbor Day, an initiative launched in 1805 by the local priest with the enthusiastic support of the entire population. 

We will be planting a new tree this year, but it will not be on Arbor Day. 

The BIG tree that shades the back yard  needs to be replaced. He was not taken care of the way he should have been while Mom was working in Calgary and then Vancouver. Though he has had some of the branches that were breaking him apart the last couple of years, he is not as healthy as he could be. He has some splits and his big branches are making them worse. Several bad windstorms and heavy snow and ice this winter have opened the splits up even more. 

Right now he is FULL of ground bees who are collecting nectar. In May we hope to plant a new tree further up the bank and to the right of where he is. Then next fall, we will get Larry K (he is a tree specialist) to come and cut him back. We are leaving the stump as it will help stabilize the river bank until the new tree gets larger.

This is a photo of Marv in the tree last spring!

Keep Being AWESOME!