Arbor Day is on the way

Denny McKeown
Special to Cincinnati Enquirer
Red bud taken at Denny McKeown’s Bloomin Garden Centre.

Do you ever wonder why we celebrate Arbor Day each year? For those of us in the green industry, the day is marked by tree plantings and celebrations. For everyone else, it may just seem like a day like any other, when in fact, its roots run quite deep.

The first Arbor Day took place on April 10, 1872, in Nebraska. It was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), a Nebraska journalist and politician originally from Michigan. Throughout his long and productive career, Morton worked to improve agricultural techniques in his adopted state and throughout the United States when he served as President Grover Cleveland’s Secretary of Agriculture. But his most important legacy is Arbor Day.

Morton felt that Nebraska’s landscape and economy would benefit from the wide-scale planting of trees. To set an example, he started planting orchards, shade trees and wind breaks on his own farm, while urging his neighbors to follow suit. Morton’s real opportunity arrived when he became a member of Nebraska’s state board of agriculture. He proposed a special day be set aside dedicated to tree planting and increasing the awareness of the importance of trees. Nebraska’s first Arbor Day was an amazing success with more than one million trees planted. A second Arbor Day took place in 1884 and the young state made it an annual, legal holiday the next year, using April 22 to coincide with Morton’s birthday.

In the years following that first Arbor Day back in 1872, Morton’s idea spread beyond Nebraska with Kansas, Tennessee, Minnesota and Ohio all proclaiming their own Arbor Days. Today, all 50 states celebrate the holiday, although the dates vary in keeping with the local climate. At the federal level, President Richard Nixon proclaimed in 1970 that the last Friday in April is National Arbor Day.

In Ohio, Arbor Day is celebrated annually on the last Friday in April. Indiana celebrates on the same day, while Kentucky celebrates on the first Friday of April. Whatever day your state marks the occasion, any tree – dogwood, maple or a fruit-bearing apple tree – can be your Arbor Day tree.

Remember, the best time to plant a tree is 25 years ago. The next best time is this weekend. If you can, have your kids or grandkids assist in the planting process. They will always remember this special occasion and may even carry on the tradition with their kids.

While originally an American holiday, Arbor Day is now celebrated in other countries around the world, including Australia. Variations are celebrated as ‘Greening Week’ of Japan, ‘The New Year’s Days of Trees’ in Israel, ‘The Tree-Loving Week’ of Korea, ‘The Reforestation Week’ of Yugoslavia, ‘The Students’ Afforestation Day’ of Iceland and ‘The National Festival of Tree Planting’ in India. Julius Sterling Morton would be proud. Sometimes one good idea can make a real difference.

Other Arbor Day family projects:

Take the children to the garden store and choose some early veggie seeds like lettuce, cabbage, onion sets and other cool-season veggies to start their garden. How about some pansies? There is a good selection of early perennials you and the kids can plant for early color like bleeding hearts that will bloom for the next few weeks. I would still hold up on summer flowers and vegetables like impatiens and tomatoes. When planting these early you run the risk of having the kids fail and that doesn’t teach them success. Remember, we can still have frosty nights till mid to late May.