Category: Gift Trees
Give the gift that fights climate change
Surprise your friend or loved one this holiday season with a gift that will grow over time, improve local natural areas, and clean our air & water!
Surprise your friend or loved one this holiday season with a gift that will grow over time, improve local natural areas, and clean our air & water!Gift Trees are a lasting legacy that honor or remember loved ones while improving our environment. All Gift Trees are planted through our Green Space Program, which restores sensitive natural areas in our region. And with Friends of Trees, Gift Tree purchasers and recipients have the option to plant their Gift Tree. However, if you cannot attend a Gift Trees planting event we will make sure your Gift Tree gets planted.
For each Gift Tree (or grove of 6 trees), you will be able to choose a certificate you can customize with your recipient’s name and print at home.
You and your gift recipient can join Friends of Trees to plant the tree, if you wish, during one of our Gift Tree planting events during the coming year—or we can plant it for you. Gift Tree FAQs
Please note: The deadline has passed if you’d like to have a paper certificate mailed to you in time for Christmas giving; however, if you’re in a crunch, please email Kathy directly and we’ll try to make it happen. Remember, you can order a Gift Tree and print your own certificate at any time. Donate to order your Gift Tree here.
All Gift Trees support natural area restoration through Friends of Trees’ Green Space Program. Thank you for greening our world through your holiday giving!
The Many Loves of Garry Oak
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, our mascot, Garry Oak, has been thinking about a new treeheart.
It’s hard being alone on the day of love, commitment, and romance. So Garry has been getting his roots wet meeting potential partners.
It’s difficult to find that special someone when you’re a mascot. Not all the choices are healthy…
Although there are sporty options, cats and trees don’t always mix…
Birds and Trees are a little better.
Garry, seriously, ask what this guy does for a living! Talk to Joey about how he came by the nickname, Timber.
We hope Garry gets what he needs for Valentine’s Day. We can still help you honor that special someone. This year, we’re excited to offer special gift certificates you can give to your Valentines. See our Valentine’s Day Gift Tree packs
Gift Trees: A perspective from behind the lens
By Lucia DeLisa
My favorite volunteer activity is taking photos for Friends of Trees (FOT). This organization has planted over a half million trees in Portland neighborhoods and surrounding areas in the past 25 years. One of their best events is the gift tree planting in the Collins Sanctuary, a preserve adjacent to Forest Park. FOT has been offering this service for many years, in which people buy one or more trees to dedicate to an event, anniversary, or memorialize loved ones. Last weekend, was the actual planting. Almost 200 people of all ages came to plant their trees. I must tell you, this is no easy task. There’s a bit of a trek to the planting area and it’s hard work.
There are a lot of tears and laughter during the these plantings, as people reminisce and celebrate their special occasions. And when it’s over, people leave exhilarated. For me, this is a moving experience as I walk around taking photos and listening to people talk and tell their stories. In this photo, I wanted to depict the calm before the storm, so to speak. The shovels are lined up in the early morning light, made ready by the FOT staff for the arrival of the enthusiastic tree planters.
The next gift tree planting is Sunday, March 29, 2015. If you’re interested in celebrating a person or event in your life, go to the Friends of Trees Gift Tree page.
– Lucia is co-founder of Imagine Productions and is a long-time volunteer with Friends of Trees.
Celebrate Dads & Grads by Planting a Tree in Their Name
It’s that time of year when we celebrate Dads and Grads and some of life’s greatest milestones. At Friends of Trees we think all of life’s celebrations are better with trees!
Your $35 Gift Tree donation allows us to plant a young native tree at the Collins Sanctuary in honor of your loved one and send a handsome oak-themed card acknowledging your gift. And during the entire month of June you can plant a grove of six native trees for $75. That’s 25% off the regular price! Just use discount code SPECIALGROVE to enjoy your discount.
Your growing gift is a meaningful gesture for your loved one and leaves a legacy for years to come. Gift Trees give everyone in the community cleaner air and water, and planting them draws us closer to nature.
Thanks to Gift Tree donations, thousands of native trees and shrubs have been planted in the Collins Sanctuary since Friends of Trees began partnering with Metro and the Audubon Society of Portland to restore the sanctuary in 2010.
Since 1989, Friends of Trees’ thousands of volunteers have planted half a million trees and native plants in Northwest urban communities. To learn more or to order Gift Trees, visit FriendsofTrees.org/GiftTrees or call Blair McMillan at 503-467-2531.
Your Gift Tree May Grow to be a Mother Tree
By Katie Neis
In a forest you can find trees so massive that, no matter how many steps you take backwards, you might never see the tops. Sunlight filters down through their canopy giving just enough light, and darkness, to inspire new flora and fauna to push up through the mossy ground and stretch their branches to the sky. Some call these trees that establish the delicate balance of a healthy forest Mother Trees.
Mother Trees’ large root networks form a thick blanket that bridges all life in the forest. Root systems reach out and form physical connections sharing nutrients between plant species. These networks facilitate amazingly diverse plant life, and resiliency builds throughout the forest.
Setting the stage for the evolution of the forest, the Mother Tree provides seeds for the future—each tiny capsule a replica of herself, to nourish the forest floor with food and life.Read More