Today is National Arbor Day!
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 04.28.06
It’s National Arbor Day here in the United States and we’re encouraging you to get out there and plant a tree. Did you know that Arbor Day is actually celebrated around the world? For example in Australia it’s “National Tree Day” (celebrated in July) and they even have an Arbor Week at different times throughout the year, depending on location. In China, “Tree Planting Day” is a public holiday in March and for New Zealand “World Environment Day” is in June. Nebraska is actually home of the Arbor Day roots, deemed at one time to not have enough trees, and was founded by J. Sterling Morton. On January 4, 1872, Morton first proposed a tree-planting holiday to be called “Arbor Day” at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture. The date was set for April 10, 1872. Prizes were offered to counties and individuals for planting properly the largest number of trees on that day. It was estimated that more than one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day. Amazing! We’re jealous of those folks that actually get the day off to dig in the dirt, but for those of us that don’t we can make a contribution through the Arbor Day website. ::National Arbor Day
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In France the special day for planting trees and bushes is St Catherine's Day - the 25th November. This is because of a tradition country saying: "à Ste Catherine, tout bois prend racine" or "at St Catherine's, all wood takes root".