Live oaks shade the USC Horseshoe. In 1970 Arbor Day became a national observance when President Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April National Arbor Day. Twenty states and the District of Columbia celebrate the onset of tree–planting season on that day.

Other states, including South Carolina, have selected a date to coincide with the most favorable tree–planting weather. Since legislation in 1934, South Carolina commemorates Arbor Day on the first Friday of December. Treeplanting season runs through the mid–March for us.

J. Sterling Morton, journalist and Secretary of Agriculture under Grover Cleveland, founded the first Arbor Day in Nebraska in1872. He loved nature and spread his enthusiasm for trees as editor of the Nebraska Ci ty News.

Nebraskan’s needed trees as windbreaks to hold the soil in place, for fuel and building material, and for shade from the hot sun.

Morton inspired individuals and civic organizations to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. He started the tradition of school children planting trees by grade and included a tree planting ceremony with speeches, poems, and a parade.

Today, the Arbor Day Foundation (www.arborday. org) is a major resource for educators and homeowners. The City of Columbia has been part of the foundation’s Tree City USA for 30 years.

How might you participate in Arbor Day events?

• Take a tree walk in the many special tree zones in and around Columbia: Congaree National Park, USC Horseshoe, Belser Arboretum, grounds of old State Hospital on Bull Street, Sesquicentennial State Park, State House grounds, USC School of Medicine campus, and Riverbanks Zoo and Botanic Garden.

• Consider buying a live Christmas tree this year. Arizona cypress, deodor cedar, Leyland cypress, Virginia pine, and eastern red cedar are suited to our climate zone. The disadvantage of a live tree is that it needs to be planted right after the holiday and should be kept indoors for as short a time as possible, no longer than 10 days but five to seven is best.

The mimosa is a supple tropical looking tree with frondlike leaves and feathery pink flowers. • Give gift trees to friends and neighbors for the holidays or give gift trees in celebration of birthdays, anniversaries, or any special occasion.

• Plant a tree in memory of a person or pet.

• Volunteer to lead a tree planting activity and ceremony at a local school.

• Work as a U.S. Forest Service volunteer in a national park

• Add a tree or two to your home landscape this December. Once the tree is planted, it will need regular watering for the first year. Do not fertilize newly planted or existing trees until the spring.

Talking bald cypress trees at Swan Lake Ir is Gardens in Sumter. • Enthuse children about trees by reading treethemed books to them such as: Big Tree by Mary and Conrad Buff, It’s Arbor Day, Charl ie Brown by Charles Schulz, Night Tree by Eve Bunting, Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert, or The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry.

• As a family read together The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, the story of a shepherd’s reforestation of a desolate landscape in the south of France.

Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us that in the woods we are all very young in comparison to the trees that surround us. Celebrate your youth by planting a tree.
Trees outline the Chicago skyline.
Dahoon holly, Ilex cassine, is a wonderful native tree for birds and other wildlife.
Skeletal pine tree on exhibit at Mint Museum of Ar t in Char - lotte.