DAVIS ISLANDS GARDEN CLUB AND CITY OF TAMPA TO CELEBRATE ARBOR DAY 2022
Who: Sondra Heiken, Davis Islands Garden Club President, Garden Club Tree Chair Kathryn VanSpanckeren, Brian Knox, City of Tampa Senior Forester Examiner, Sherri Mullis, City of Tampa Tree Project Specialist with the Tree-Mendous Tree Program.
What: Arbor Day Celebration and Planting
Where: Davis Island Garden Club (81 Columbus Drive)
When: Friday, April 29, 2021
Time: 10:00 AM
This Arbor Day, the City of Tampa will celebrate its 30th Anniversary as a “Tree City” at the Davis Islands Garden Club. Since 1981, Tampa has been nationally designated a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation. A Tree City USA designation recognizes the work of elected officials, staff and citizens who plant and care for the community forest.
The City’s commitment to tree planting was seen just last week in Mayor Jane’s Tree Giveaway, where free trees were made available to residents. Recently the city, working with the Davis Islands Garden Club, planted a line of trees along Davis Islands Trail leading out to popular Seaplane Basin Park.
This year, Tampa Parks & Recreation will plant three bald cypress trees (Taxodium distichum) through the City’s Tree-Mendous Tree Program.
“These native Florida trees are beautiful and extremely useful,” said Sherisha Hills, Tampa Parks & Recreation Director. “Not only do they grow as high as 80 feet, these trees absorb water and prevent flooding while filtering out pollutants, showcasing the City of Tampa’s commitment to resiliency and sustainability.”
The Davis Islands Garden Club collaborates with the City of Tampa in observance of Arbor Day, in line with its mission to protect natural resources and promote civic beauty through horticulture, and to work with other agencies to further conservation.
About the Davis Island Garden Club
First organized in 1936, the Davis Islands Garden Club is a member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs and of the National Garden Clubs, the largest volunteer gardening organization in the world. There are more than 6,000 clubs and some 200,000 members in 50 states and more than 400 affiliate organizations worldwide. Like the Arbor Day Foundation, it is a charitable organization that sponsors education and conservation. Usually Arbor Day in Florida is observed on the last Friday in January, but due to covid the celebration was postponed to the last Friday in April, National Arbor Day.
For More Information:
Kathryn VanSpanckeren
Davis Island Garden Club Tree Chair
e: KathrynVanSpanckeren@ut.edu
Jessica Serre
Projects & Services Coordinator, Parks and Recreation Department
c: (813)450-5225 / e: Jessica.Serre@tampagov.net