Tallahassee loves its trees. That helped prompt dozens of volunteers to express that love by planting nearly 200 new trees along the entrance to the Apalachee Regional Park on Saturday (1/20).
Marilyn Larson, a county extension office master gardner, was helping guide the Arbor Day planting.
"All the volunteers who are out here and doing it, it's always fun and nice to meet them and see them get excited about planting trees and doing something that's good for the community," she remarked.
Among the volunteers was Ben Godwin.
"I like planting trees a lot and at home I'm also making a soil to plant trees," he said between removing small shovelfuls of dirt from the hole that would ultimately be a new tree's home.
And although only a kindergarten student at DeSoto Trail Elementary, young Ben had a deep understanding of how trees figure in the larger ecology.
"They make oxygen for us to breathe," he exclaimed. "That's how plants are important!"
One hundred sixty-five native trees, mostly various kinds of oaks, tupelo and sparkle berry now line the road into the park.