Learn the History Behind Arbor Day—and Plant a Tree!
Arbor Day sprouted from the mind of a zealous tree lover named Julius Sterling Morton. A popular Arbor Day tradition is to plant a tree in honor or memory of a loved one. Learn some interesting facts about this day, and learn about the power of trees, which support our well-being!
“Other holidays repose upon the past;
Arbor Day proposes for the future.”
–J. Sterling Morton
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When Is Arbor Day?
Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April, although some states observe it on dates that better coincide with the local area’s planting times. For instance, Hawaii celebrates Arbor Day on the first Friday of November, and Alaskans celebrate it on the third Monday in May. Find out when your state observes Arbor Day.
| Year | Arbor Day |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Friday, April 25 |
| 2026 | Friday, April 24 |
| 2027 | Friday, April 30 |
| 2028 | Friday, April 28 |
What Is Arbor Day?
Arbor Day, much like Earth Day, is a holiday that celebrates nature.
Its purpose is to encourage people to plant trees, and many communities traditionally take the opportunity to organize tree-planting and litter-collecting events on or around the holiday.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest’s heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see—
These things he plants who plants a tree.–Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855–96), in The Heart of the Tree
A popular Arbor Day tradition is to plant a tree in honor or memory of a loved one.
The History of Arbor Day
Julius Sterling Morton, an avid tree planter and enthusiast, created Arbor Day.
The first Arbor Day occurred on April 10, 1872, in Nebraska City, Nebraska. It’s estimated that nearly one million trees were planted on this day.
By 1885, Arbor Day had become a legal holiday in Nebraska. (The date was changed to April 22 to honor Morton’s birthday.) On that day, thousands of Nebraska City citizens turned out for one big party, including 1,000 schoolchildren who formed a parade.
Within 20 years of its creation, the holiday was celebrated in every American state except Delaware, which eventually joined in.
Morton found it particularly pleasing that schools across the country began celebrating Arbor Day by dedicating the trees they planted to special people.
Who Was Julius Sterling Morton?
Morton was born in Adams, New York, in 1832, but his life took a decisive turn on his wedding day in October 1854. After he and his bride, Caroline Joy French, were married in Detroit, they headed west for adventure in the wilds of Nebraska Territory. The couple settled on 160 treeless acres (the key word here is treeless).
Despite having a busy career and four sons, Morton planted thousands of trees on the homestead he called the Morton “ranche.” He planted an apple orchard, as well as peach, plum, and pear trees, plus cottonwoods, evergreens, beeches, and more.
Morton took every opportunity he could to spread the word. He gave speeches and filled his newspaper with agricultural advice, urging Nebraskans to plant trees and try new crops.
Today, the family home, Arbor Lodge, is a state park in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Over the years, Arbor Lodge grew from a four-room home into a 52-room mansion, complete with a terraced garden, a pine grove, and 65 acres of more than 250 varieties of trees and shrubs.
J. Sterling Morton died on April 27, 1902, at the age of 70. Just a month earlier, he had written that he hoped to plant trees as soon as the weather turned warm. A statue of him stands in the National Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C.
Highlights from Morton’s Career
- Morton worked as a journalist and a politician, becoming secretary and acting governor of the Nebraska Territory from 1858 to 1861.
- In 1872, Morton declared: “If I had the power, I would compel every man in the State who had a home of his own to plant out and cultivate fruit trees.”
- In 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed him U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He also served on the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture and the State Horticultural Society.
Fun Fact: Arbor Day was almost called Sylvan Day, which means “wooded.” Several members of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture favored it, but Morton argued that sylvan refers only to forest trees and that the name Arbor Day was most inclusive, covering forest trees and fruit trees.
The Power of Trees
- Trees support our health and the health of our planet! They clean our air and water. They provide shade, which cools our urban areas. Even on a personal level, trees have been proven to calm us and reduce our stress levels.
- Trees also support wildlife and our entire ecosystem. One oak trees attracts thousands of pollinators and beneficial insects! Trees provide birds and aquatic animals with habitats. In addition, they provide humans with powerful medicine, materials for living, and agriculture.
- Finally, trees are our biggest allies as the world climate warms; they are a cost-effective way to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere today. Planting even one tree makes a difference.
Early spring is a good time to plant trees. Enjoy our post on How to Plant a Tree! Also, watch our short video on How to Plant a Fruit Tree.
Let’s also take good care of the trees that we do have! Here are pruning pointers for shrubs and trees.
Do you celebrate Arbor Day? What types of trees do you have in your yard? Share with us below!
Alice Cary
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I want to plant trees at my new subdivision house but my yard seems to be mainly clay and rooks when I dig. Should I amend the soil?
Hi, Regina,
Yes, it would be good to at least prepare/amend the soil at and near the planting sites. Trees usually appreciate a healthy, somewhat loose (non-compacted), well-draining soil, especially around the root ball. It’s best to first test your soil to see what the pH is and the kind of amendments/fertilizers that are needed (the link that Anne has listed in her reply gives you some details on that). Also, it is important to amend a clay soil to improve drainage, and to remove the rocks in the planting hole. Moisture-tolerant tree species may do better in heavy clay.
The depth of a tree planting hole for heavy clay should be two to three times as wide as the diameter of the root ball, and about the same depth as the root ball. (If you can not improve drainage, then the depth should be about 2 to 3 inches shallower than the rootball, so that water can drain away from the trunk.) Loosen the soil at the planting site and remove any rocks as best you can. Tree roots will, of course, grow beyond the root ball area, so loosening the soil beyond this area is beneficial to root growth. To improve soil structure, add one part coarse organic materials (such as compost; do not use fresh manure or commercial fertilizers, which will burn roots) to one to two parts soil in and around the planting area.
Hope this helps!
https://www.almanac.com/how-take-soil-test
This week I planted an apple tree (replacing one the critters got to this past weekend.
This weekend I am helping to plant 1,000 potted trees (MN native cedar, pine and plum
on conservation lands I share with cousins in southwest MN (near the Birch Coulee Battlefield site (1862)
Some trees I have planted over the years: Pink smoke tree, shademaster locust, sunburst locust, Siberian elms, snowdrift tree, hybrid poplars, dappled willow, & dawn redwood.
In my yard in Conway, SC, there are 6 trees I planted that were sent by the Arbor Day Foundation: 2 hawthorns, 2 crabapples, 1 white pine, and 1 redbud. There are also other trees I planted, either given to me or bought other places: a bald cypress, a magnolia, a flowering plum, a Bradford pear (though I would prefer a true pear tree). I have cultivated or transplanted a few "volunteer" trees: another bald cypress, 3 maples, several oak trees (willow oak and water oak). When I bought my land, there were also pecan trees already here! I love the shade that all my trees provide and I've seen a number of bird nests in them over the years. They make my yard a haven for me and wildlife. Most of all, I love looking at them because they are SO beautiful.
List of my trees I planted.
Bing cherry
Queen Anne Cherry
Red Plum
Maple
McIntosh Apple
Hazel Nut
Christmas Tree
Dozens of other tall growing varieties.
Earlier in April I planted a kousa dogwood, Scarlet Fire, in the small memorial garden I started last year in memory of my parents. I have always loved dogwoods, especially the pink ones, but living in Maine makes them very marginal. The little memorial garden overlooks the vegetable patch my parents started many years ago and aptly named, "The Bee Garden". I still farm their original original plot. Rutgers University developed the Scarlet Fire kousa dogwood as a hardy, disease and pest resistant variety and released Scarlet Fire in 2016. The National Arbor Foundation offered it in April of 2018 as part of their program to promote tree planting.
Arbor Lodge is a wonderful place to visit in Nebraska. Arbor Lodge State Historical Park and Arboretum is a mansion and arboretum located at 2600 Arbor Avenue, Nebraska City, Nebraska, United States. The park is a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1969. It is a wonderful way to celebrate Arbor Day any day of the year.
I was aware of Arbor Day as a young child as my Mother's birthday was on April 22nd. We have planted a lot of trees over the years. Our farm now has apple trees, peach trees, black walnut, coffee tree, maple trees, Oak trees, Cottonwood trees, locust trees, weeping willow, blue spruce, rosebud tree, hackberry, red cedar and many more pine trees. We go almost every year to Nebraska City to get apples at the Morton Orchard. Love Arbor day but wish it still was April 22,
