Garry wonders: What does Earth Month mean for a tree (or shrub)?
Dear Diary,
Earth Month is here! How do I celebrate Earth Month? I plant trees. I meet up with friends. I stop and smell the flowers and take a minute to think about how all the plants and animals and lands and waters interact in ordered chaos across this giant globe spinning through space. Woah!
One of my favorite flowers to smell is the red-flowering currant, a native shrub we plant in so many of the natural areas where we work. It’s more than just a pretty red flower, of course. Those flowers provide nectar for bumblebees and hummingbirds, then they turn into delicious berries for other birds and critters. They can live on rocky bluffs or forest edges or in your backyard!
We’ll be mulching around our new native plants at stewardship events throughout April, making sure they have what they need to make it through the summer. And we’ll be sending out summer inspector volunteers to visit new neighborhood trees to make sure they’re set up for success too. It’s all about taking care of each other!
Some native shrubs, like another fave of mine the Western serviceberry, can be in the form of a tree or a shrub, raising the question I ask myself literally all the time: what does it mean to be a tree?
You might be thinking, Garry, you know what a tree is! It’s a tall, woody perennial plant characterized by a central trunk… Of course I know all that! But there’s a deeper answer to the question. A tree is more than just its structural parts. It’s part of a whole ecosystem, whether it’s in the middle of a forest or in your backyard. Of course, that’s true for shrubs too. Maybe we just abandon the dictionary investigation, Garry, and talk about what really matters: the spirit.
A tree is a testament to all the services we provide each other, starting with the simple exchange of air. I breathe in what you breathe out, and vice versa. That’s a fun fact we learn in elementary school, but it’s still amazing to think about! A tree is also a witness to history. Because trees can live for decades and even centuries, we get to see the way the land around us has changed and how it’s stayed the same.
When you plant a tree—or shrub, or some other plant—you’re kicking off a life in community with so many other lives. That’s what being a tree is all about, that’s what Earth Month is all about. I breathe in, you breathe out.
It’s almost the end of the planting season at Friends of Trees, and we’re almost at our goal of 30,000 new trees and native plants, all planted with the power of volunteers. Talk about community!
It’s totally worthy of a month-long celebration, and we want you to join us! You can come out to a planting or stewardship event, make a special gift to help us reach our goal, or just take a moment to appreciate the Earth and all the amazing things that live on it together.
Take care,
Garry