Unlike most other states, Florida celebrates Arbor Day on the third Friday in January.
That’s today.
You’re not wrong to ask why.
Maybe it’s because of the climate, although if we get any cold weather (under 35°F), it happens right about now.
Interesting thinking, especially if you’re gonna shell out cash for a nice tree.
Where Arbor Day came from
It should be obvious to everyone by now why trees are good.
They shade the house in the summer so that the air conditioner doesn’t run all the damn time.
They provide wind breaks for other plants in the yard so they don’t get all beat up.
They clean the air, the ground and the water by filtering out and breaking down pollutants.
One would have thought that people have always known that trees are good things, but at some point in the past that must not have been so evident.
That’s why we have Arbor Day.
Plant more trees
The very first Arbor Day happened on April 10, 1872, in Nebraska City, Neb., because of Julius Sterling Morton, Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture and prominent Bourbon Democrat (political, economic and social conservative).
Arbor Day inaugurators planted an estimated one million trees planted that day.
If you’ve ever been to Nebraska and the Great Plains, you know they didn't and don’t have enough trees.
What Trees Mean
Before you make your big Arbor Day purchase, do some studying.
There are as many explanations of trees as symbols as there are cultures and religions.
Find a mythology that works for you.
Here in GreaterJax™, you can’t go very far wrong with these trees:
- Bay Laurel – earth’s calling and glory
- Citrus – energy, fairness and justice
- Crepe Myrtle – unity
- Cypress - heaven’s calling
- Dogwood – charm and finesse
- Fig – fertility and good fortune
- Ginkgo Biloba – longevity, love
- Holly – action, assertion, objectivity
- Live Oak – liberty, strength, stability, nobility
- Magnolia – dignity
- Palm – trust
- Pecan – money, employment
- Pine – vitality
- Sycamore – growth, persistance, strength and endurance
- Willow – imagination, intuition, vision
There are all kinds of places to go when you want to learn more about trees: Greenscape of Jacksonville, area garden clubs, your county Ag Extension.
Or you can ask your local Druid.
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