Published on Friday, April 29, 2022 | 6:17 am
Pasadena Beautiful Foundation is celebrating Arbor Day on Saturday, April 30, with a community tree-planting event at Robinson Park, in cooperation with the Department of Public Works and Council District 3.
Starting at 8 a.m. in the south parking lot, staff from the Department of Public Works will provide a tree planting demonstration, and then take teams of volunteers to plant trees in the surrounding area.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this will be the first time in three years that Pasadena Beautiful is able to celebrate Arbor Day as a community gathering, said Brad Hanson, President of Pasadena Beautiful Foundation.
“It’ll be nice to get back to work and to be able to plant some great trees in the city,” Hanson said. “We move around the city for Arbor day. We don’t stick to just one area. We obviously want to do plantings all around the city in various neighborhoods or parks, and it’s hard to tell how many people will attend, but we usually get a pretty good turnout.”
The organizers will make tree care information available, and giveaways and light refreshments will be provided. Free mulch will also be available for pickup.
“We will be planting some jacarandas, some live oaks, some silver-dollar gum trees and a strawberry tree, and more than one of those,” Hanson continued. “So it’s a diversified group of trees but selected by our tree expert, Emina Darakjy, who understands which trees do best in certain areas. So hopefully they’ll last for generations to come.”
Pasadena Beautiful was founded in 1960, and one of its primary goals from then on was to plant street trees to enhance the beauty of Pasadena. Currently, in accordance with the City’s Master Street Tree guidelines, the Foundation’s tree expert hand-selects each tree for a specific site, and trained professionals supervise the planting and maintenance of trees to ensure a healthy tree canopy for the City.
Pasadena is known as one of the ‘tree cities’ in America, and Pasadena Beautiful attributes much of that to the community coming together on Arbor Day yearly, planting trees as well as advocating that trees are important for fighting climate change and for lowering the temperature.
“If you look at Pasadena from space, I think you can see the wonderful canopy that we have,” Hanson said. “This is a result of just planting trees over the decades. And now we’re reaping the benefits because just in the city, we’ve got a wonderful urban canopy of trees.”
On Saturday, participants are advised to dress appropriately – with closed-toe shoes, jeans, and sun protection. The event could last up to 12 noon.
For more information, visit www.cityofpasadena.net/event/
Robinson Park is located at 1081 N. Fair Oaks Ave.