The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The Somerset County Park Commission Environmental Education Center (EEC), Horticulture Department, and Go Green Committee are planning an Arbor Day Celebration with a Native Tree Give-Away on Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25, 2015.
A full complement of activities will accompany the tree give-away at the Rudolf van der Goot Rose Garden at 156 Mettlers Road, in Colonial Park at Parking Lot A, and at the EEC located at 190 Lord Stirling Road, in Basking Ridge.
Arbor Day activities at the Rose Garden will include day-long planting demonstrations, advice on selection of the best trees for specific planting sites, and instruction on appropriate cultural care on both Friday and Saturday.
Activities planned for the EEC include daylong planting demonstrations on both Friday and Saturday. On Friday, April 24 at 9:30 A.M. and 2:30 P.M. the Bernards Township Library will host a story hour at the EEC with library staff reading age-appropriate stories about trees.
Also on Friday, at 10:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M., EEC staff will lead a Tree Identification Walk to the experimental American Chestnut Restoration project. The EEC has partnered with The American Chestnut Foundation to plant the first Restoration 1.0 hybrid blight resistant chestnut trees in New Jersey.
Through the generosity of the Somerset County Park Foundation a wide-ranging selection of native trees will be available from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at both locations. Twenty different tree species native to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States will be offered free of charge while supplies last. One tree per person or three trees per family will be given away.
The Park Foundation is a non-profit 501c(3) created to preserve, support, and promote Somerset County Park Commission programs, facilities, and open space through advocacy and fundraising.
For more information about Somerset County Park Commission activities at the EEC contact Jane Parks at 908-766-2489, Ext 336, and for activities at Colonial Park Gardens contact Mark Inzano at 732-873-2459 Ext 23. or visit www.somersetcountyparks.org.
