Hoover celebrates Arbor Day 2017 with tree giveaway, planting at Aldridge Gardens
Trees were the center of attention at Aldridge Gardens this morning as the city of Hoover celebrated Arbor Day.
City forester Colin Conner had 135 trees of 11 species to give out for free, and nine Hoover elementary school students were honored for having the top essays in an Arbor Day essay contest.
People who came by the gardens on March 4 were able to choose from blueberry, American hazelnut, American fringe, dwarf Chinkapin oak, red mulberry, common persimmon, Eastern red cedar, bald cypress, white oak, bur oak and longleaf pine trees. The trees ranged from 3 to 6 feet tall.
Laura Price, a teacher from Green Valley Elementary School, picked out an American fringe tree for her home in the Shades Mountain community.
“They look like sticks to me,” she said, but Conner told her it’s a pretty tree when it blooms, has nice curb appeal and won’t get too big for her front yard.
“I have no trees in my front yard,” Price said. “I hope when it flowers, it will look really nice.”
Sarah Morgan and Pi-Ling Chang of Vestavia Hills didn’t realize today was the Arbor Day celebration and had just come for a walk at Aldridge when they stumbled upon the tree giveaway. Each took home an American hazelnut tree.
The Hoover Beautification Board conducted the Arbor Day essay contest and received entries from 935 fourth-graders at nine of Hoover’s 10 elementary schools, said Jennifer Gregory, the chairwoman for this year’s celebration.
The students were asked to imagine they were a small animal living in a tree and to describe how the tree would support their needs and how they would show appreciation for their home.
Maddie Bedsole, a fourth-grader from Deer Valley Elementary, was this year’s winner. Honorable mention awards went to Judson Touchstone of Bluff Park Elementary, Zuri Gagakuma of Green Valley Elementary, Yuri Nukaya of Greystone Elementary, Ashleigh Dinkel of Gwin Elementary, Rebecca Stafford of Riverchase Elementary, Nola Davenport of Rocky Ridge Elementary, Micah Breland of Shades Mountain Elementary and Brannan Trotter of South Shades Crest Elementary.
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, who attended Arbor Day tree plantings at various elementary schools this past week, congratulated each of the students and said Arbor Day is a great opportunity for young people to learn about the environment, plants and trees.
Brocato encouraged all Hoover residents to plant one or more trees this year. The Beautification Board also celebrated Hoover’s 18th year as a “Tree City USA” city, which means the city has an Arbor Day celebration, a tree board, a tree care ordinance and a budget for tree care.
To close out the ceremony, Conner and Aldridge Gardens Executive Director Rip Weaver led a tree planting ceremony in the gardens. They and others helped complete the planting of a sourwood tree, which Weaver said is a native tree that normally grows to be 35 to 40 feet tall with great fall colors.