Fernwood celebrates the Earth by planting trees
Published 10:07 am Monday, May 1, 2017
Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles hosted an Arbor Day celebration Friday. Community members visited the gardens to assist staff in planting a river birch tree in the arboretum and take a guided walk through the arboretum. Guests were also given free tree saplings.
Arbor Day traces its roots back to 1872 when Julius Sterling Morton, a Nebraska journalist, established the first celebration. Morton, originally from Michigan, was the father of Joy Morton who founded the Morton Salt Company in Chicago and created the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Ill., in 1922.
Clarence Godshalk, the longime director of the Morton Arboretum, assisted Fernwood’s founder, Kay Boydston, in designing the Fernwood Arboretum in the mid-1960s. (Leader photos/KELSEY HAMMON)
