Apopka Garden Foliage Club celebrates Arbor Day

The Apopka Foliage Garden Club is pleased to announce its participation in Arbor Day 2024. To commemorate this special day, Mayor Bryan Nelson, city officials, garden club members, and the Apopka Department of Parks and Recreation will gather to plant a Live Oak—a tree native to Florida. On Friday, January 19, 2024, guests will gather at Alonzo Williams Park/Billie Dean Community Center, 225 M A Board Street, at 10:00 a.m. County Line Ornamental & Trees has chosen a more than six-foot live oak.

The Duke Energy Foundation provided a $20,000 grant to the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. The grant will help garden clubs buy sizable native trees. To be reimbursed, a club needs only to plant a native tree. Priority is given to large, hurricane-resistant, shade trees in keystone genera, which means the tree feeds more caterpillars and baby birds. Live Oak is the number one keystone plant supporting 395 caterpillar species! This will achieve the grant’s aim to increase climate resiliency and support biodiversity.

Arbor Day, the nation’s tree-planting holiday, was first celebrated in 1872. The Arbor Day Foundation was created 100 years later to carry out its mission on a year-round basis. The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest member nonprofit dedicated to planting trees. The strength is in the network – a diverse group of individuals, municipalities, corporations, and planting organizations enabling the foundation to plant trees worldwide. It intentionally collaborates with partners who are deeply engaged in the areas they serve to plant the right trees in the right places to have the greatest impact. For more than 50 years, the Foundation has helped plant more than 500 million trees in neighborhoods and forests across more than 50 countries.

The Apopka Foliage Garden Club is part of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs celebrating its 100th year in 2024! Celebrations are planned throughout the state, including these Arbor Day plantings! The Florida Federation prides itself on its service to the communities and the state of Florida through conservation, beautification, education, and advocacy for sustainable environmental practices. Apopka’s club has been part of the Federation for more than 30 years!

The Tree City USA program has been greening up cities and towns across America since 1976. It is a nationwide movement that provides the framework necessary for communities to manage and expand their public trees. More than 3,400 communities have made the commitment to become Tree City USA. They have achieved Tree City USA status by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry, and celebrating Arbor Day. Apopka has been a Tree City since 1990 and continues celebrating that designation!