Arbor Day R enton
W
ay out here in Renton, Washington
we have an annual Arbor Day/Earth Day
Celebration the last Saturday in April that involves
the entire community. We begin the year planning
the event with City staff who will be involved the
day of. These staff come from Parks Maintenance,
Special Events, Parks Planning, Natural Resources,
and Public Works. We have three such meetings
before the event to determine logistics, who does
what, planting design, and equipment needed. By
by Terry Flatley • Photos Courtesy City of Renton
Winter is often the time to plan the spring (or fall) Arbor Day celebration.
Here are good ideas from this bustling Seattle suburb.
March we know exactly what is going to go down.
The event includes tree and shrub planting—some-
times planting groundcovers—and always flower plant-
ing (gives the wee ones something to do) as well as
general site clean-up, invasives removal, mulching, and
whatever other things the site might require. Most of
our sites are park locations and typically between 5
and 60 trees are planted along with hundreds of shrubs
and flowers. We usually aim for between 100 and 200
volunteers to help with the planting.
32
