Arbor Day — Did You Know?
Every year, Arbor Day falls on the last Friday in April. This year, that date was Friday April 28th, 2023.
Arbor Day originated in the 1800s by a couple from Nebraska who bought 160 acres of land and began growing trees. They also founded a newspaper that explained the importance of trees, and specifically, trees in Nebraska. The couple encouraged their community to plant trees and the idea spread. Over the next 20 years, Arbor Day was becoming well known across the nation. It officially became a National Holiday in 1970.
President Theodore Roosevelt: “It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetimes the Nation’s need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed.”
Arbor Day 2023
Fast forward over 150 years, and we are still celebrating Arbor Day every April in the United States. Many people across the US get together and plant trees in celebration of this holiday. This Year, Streamline Landscaping is teaming up with others in the community to plant trees in the Village of Willow Springs, IL. Check out the video overviews of each project Below:
Transcript from “Arbor Day in the Village of Willow Springs, IL — Turn “CC” (closed captioning) ON!“
Jason: Hey Guys, Jason with Streamline Landscaping. Happy Arbor Day. Today we are coming to you from Lions Park in Willow Springs. We are going to be discussing tree planting. Arbor Day’s roots go back to the late 1800s, and the idea for Arbor Day is to propagate trees. Trees obviously take carbons out of the environment and introduce oxygen and specifically here at the park, we have a special dedication tree that we are going to be putting in, and Fred’s gonna tell us more about that.
Fred: Thank you Jason. In conjunction with Arbor Day, which happens to be today, he village decided that not only did we want to add another tree here at the park, which is a great idea Jason came up with, but we would like to dedicate this tree, The Village of Willow Springs would like to dedicate this tree, to Tyler Gallo, the young man that lost his life tragically and was a worker for Public Works. So he enjoyed being in this park, he enjoyed using the fire. We thought it’d be a nice thing to dedicate this to him. and Thanks to Streamline for volunteering to do the labor part of this.
Jason: Absolutely, and we’re going to be doing an Autumn Blaze? an Autumn Blaze tree. It’s going to come in around 10 feet tall and we’re going to keep it right in this area here. There’s possible going to be added a bench at a later time?
Fred: Yes at a later time and we would also like to dedicate a bench to his family and put it between those two trees there that face the toddler playground so that Grace can be with her two kids here and able to enjoy the park.
Jason: Absolutely. So that’s the dedication that we’re going to be doing here. When the tree comes in, it should be within the next couple weeks. We’ll get that in and planted, and, that is all for right now from Willow Springs. So we thank you for joining!
Fred: Thank You!
Transcript from Arbor Day – Legacy Garden Park Project in Willow Springs, IL
Jason: Hey Guys, Jason with Streamline Landscaping. Today we are over in Willow Springs at the Legacy Garden Park, and I’m here with Beth. We are going to be discussing Arbor Day. We are going to be discussing tree planting. And we are also going to be taking a look at some of the walkways that were put in over by the Eagle Scouts. So, initially Arbor Day was started in the late 1800s and it was a good time to plant trees and it was also a healthy thing to do for the environment as obviously trees take carbons out and they introduce oxygen to our environment. So what tree are we going to be planting here at the Garden Park?
Beth: We are going to be putting a Red Bud in right here, a multi-stem Red Bud, because it will kind of hide the telephone pole, and fill up this corner. There is not much here yet, but we got a grant from the Comed Green Region Grant and with the help of Streamline Landscaping and some other donors we have been really able to really design something that I think is going to beautiful next year after all the plantings are done. But this is kind of our cornerstone, what we’re going to start with, so that everyone can see when they come, the beautiful red bud. It will give off color every year and just really be something nice for the early colorings.
Jason: Absolutely. And in the Landscaping industry we call this a focal point planting. So when this tree grows in, this is really going to draw the attention of people sitting in the Gazebo, even people coming down the alley way, this will be a focal point. And then what are some of the other plantings that are going to go around the tree?
Beth: Well we are trying to mostly put in Natives. We are going to put in some Red Twig Dogwoods, and we’re going to put a small rain garden here in front of the tree because we are on a slope coming down. And so we’ll put natives in there, we’ll put some milkweed, we’ll put some other plants that really like the water, and that’ll keep it from all, all the water from going down into the neighbor’s yard and kinda
Jason: Washing Down
Beth: yeah, help this area.
Jason: Absolutely, and that is a good transition point as we pan around we can take a look at the walkway that was recently put in. One of our workers, Zack, with his Eagle Scouts was able to put in this nice crushed stone walkway that we can see here with a dark blue-light gray stone. And this will also help as far as the topography goes when the water runs off, it’s not gonna wash, just going to wash mulch down. It will be able to hold and keep rigidity, and be able to walk safer back to (if you want to pan around you can see) between all the planting beds as well. So Zack was able to get this installed with the help of his Eagle Scout Group, the Beautification Commission and my company, and it just looks terrific. And now we’re getting reedy to get into planting.
Beth: Yeah tomorrow we are going to have the gardeners come and start working on their boxes. We got a big pile of mushroom compost and dirt to fill ’em up. And hopefully with good weather in another week or two we’ll start putting stuff in and seeing what’s coming this summer.
Jason: Absolutely. Well I think that’s a wrap from the Legacy Garden Park. Today, again, we were discussing Arbor Day, Planting, and the Legacy Garden Park and future plantings. If you have any needs for estimates for any of these type of projects or more you can call Streamline Landscaping 708-296-4081.
Start Planting!
Now that we are in the Month of May, it is great time to start planting! Whether it is a tree in celebration of Arbor Day, or plant material to add color to your lawn, there is a large selection of plant material to choose from that is best when planted in the Spring season.
This site is a great helper to determine what plants are best for your area. It even will allow you the option to filter by plants that are best planted in the Springtime! https://www.gardenia.net/plant-finder
If you are ready to move forward with any Landscaping projects, or just want an estimate, Contact Streamline Landscaping Today!