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Celebrate Arbor Day In Your Florida Panhandle Landscape

by Emily Durgan | Tue, Jan 14, 2014

 

Everyone's heard of Arbor Day, the nationally celebrated holiday that encourages everyone — from homeowners to municipalities and park districts — to plant trees.

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Arbor Day is a great celebration of all the benefits trees offer: For instance, the cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the International City/County Management Association says that landscaping that includes trees can also help increase property values up to 20 percent.

Bottom line: Trees are a wonderful addition to landscapes for aesthetic, practical and economic reasons.

Florida Arbor Day

National Arbor Day is celebrated the third Friday in April, but individual states can choose to hold theirs on another day, according to their environmental conditions. And because Florida warms up so much earlier than the rest of the country, our state celebrates a full three months early: Florida Arbor Day is Jan. 17, 2014, the third Thursday in January!

We Live In Tree City, USA

residential landscaping 9 640x360Florida also has more than 150 cities participating in the Tree City USA program, which recognizes a town or city for its commitment to tree management. To be designated as a Tree City USA, a city has to meet four basic requirements:

  • A tree board or department
  • A tree care ordinance
  • A community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita
  • An Arbor Day observance and proclamation

Three of GreenEarth's main service areas, Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven and Destin, have earned the designation of Tree City USA, and we're proud to help our service areas hold onto that recognition every day.

We love to incorporate both native trees and exotic tree specimens into our customers' landscapes.

Plant a Tree!

If you love citrus fruit, why not plant an orange tree, grapefruit tree or even a kumquat tree in your landscape for Florida Arbor Day? If more traditional trees are up your alley, consider an American beech, which performs well in the Florida panhandle climate.

Or, plant one of Florida's state trees, a sabal palm (it's even on our state seal). It thrives in North Florida and panhandle landscapes!

And if your landscape is already full of trees, consider getting involved with your community's Arbor Day festivities: Plant a tree at a school, church or other local gathering place to create benefits for years to come.

I'll leave you with a Chinese proverb I came across while writing this: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now."

If you want to seize the opportunity to plant a tree on or around Arbor Day, contact the landscape professionals at GreenEarth Landscape Services. We can help you select the perfect tree for your property, incorporate it into your landscape and even care for it over the course of its life.

Call our Panama City Beach office at (850) 236-1959 or our Santa Rosa Beach office at (850) 267-0010 to set up an appointment. Or, fill out the simple online form on our website to schedule a free consultation.

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