Can you say 8,274 trees and shrubs?

In its 20 year history, Friends of Trees has planted over 382,000 trees and shrubs in the Portland-metro area.

During our current planting season, which runs through April, this tally is going up every weekend.

It’s an impressive mechanism to watch: teams of volunteers lending each other a hand; and a dedicated staff working as long as it takes to ensure every tree at every planting gets put in the ground properly.

There are 21 plantings remaining between the Neighborhood Trees (NT) and Green Space Initiative (GSI) programs. Among them are this weekend’s Valentine’s Day planting—which is hosted at the Friends of Trees office on NE ML King Jr. Blvd.—and future bike plantings and a March 28 Gift Trees planting.

Here are some highlights so far from this season:

• The first of two Gift Trees plantings this season at Collins Sanctuary in Forest Park
• The I-205 Multi-Use Path is getting trees, and community members are excited
• GSI already planted in Tigard, along the Willamette River, and at the Audubon Society this season
• Oh, and before we forget, for those who haven’t signed up for trees yet, a special discount for blog readers is available.

Thanks again—and let’s get to planting trees!

–Toshio Suzuki