A collective effort to improve our environment for people and nature.
THE CANOPY SOCIAL
We celebrated Florida's Arbor Day in style with 300 CG supporters at our 4th annual fundraiser: "The Canopy Social". Friends, family, volunteers, board members, elected officials, non-profit professionals, media personalities and tree huggers united for a memorable party at the Shipley residence. This event gets bigger every year and it demonstrates how our community is taking pride in planting a healthy tree canopy for everyone. Thanks to the local business owners who contributed to the raffle and silent auction, DJ SoNyce for keeping it lively, CG's very own Stephen Seto for your amazing piano skills, everyone who donated, CG volunteers, CG's Events and Marketing Manager Indira Broch and CG's board member, Jen Gomez at WFP Law, for sponsoring the event.
FOR THE BIRDS, BEES, BUTTERFLIES & BALLGAMES
Thanks to City of Delray Beach Parks and Recreation, the children and families attending games will have more shade as they watch the kids play sports. Students from the Cardinal Newman High School Key Club joined CG volunteers to plant 40 shade trees near the south end bleachers including: Paradise trees, green buttonwoods, golden figs, red cedars, gumbo limbos and South Florida slash pines. Located only a few blocks north of our last tree planting at Plumosa Park, the trees not only add shade for park-goers, they connect the urban forest providing much-needed resting spots and food for birds traveling on the Atlantic Flyway, a major migratory bird path.
SO MANY FRUIT TREES, SO MANY QUESTIONS
CG hosted a "Fruit Tree Species" workshop in partnership with the City of West Palm Beach Office of Sustainability at the Food Forest at Henrietta Bridge Farm. Attendees learned more than they could ever remember from fruit tree savant, Phi Vo, the Operations Manager at Zill High Performance Plants. Did you know mangos don't like too much organic matter and love crushed oyster shells? Guavas grow more fruit if you weigh down the branches? Monroe avocados might not be the best for guacamole but they're good on a sandwich with mayo? Phi Vo led an educational walk through the 50 trees found at 1400 Henrietta Ave including jackfruit, breadfruit, sapodilla, sugar apple, persimoon, black sapote, and starfruit. Thanks to a winning idea from the City of West Palm Beach's Michael Rittenhouse, residents can visit this urban orchard and pick free fruit for their friends and family. Stay tuned for workshops on "Green Jobs" and "Pruning".
WELCOME TO THE TEAM: DONDRE McCRARY
Dondre McCrary has joined the CG Team as a Community Forester.
Why is Community Greening important to you?
Community Greening is important to me because it gives me the opportunity to make people happy through tree planting. Trees contribute to the environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. Here at Community Greening we aim to protect all trees. Where is a Green Space in Palm Beach County you like to visit?
A very cool green space for me to visit would be the Everglades. I haven’t been there since I was a kid. I can remember going there on field trips with my classmates. Going on an air boat ride is something I would be interested in doing in the near future. Going to the Everglades is a great adventure.
MEET A TREE
"I love every time I get to be out planting trees with Community Greening. It makes me so happy to see how much they've grown and the impact they've had on our community!"
- Mary Wozny, CG Volunteer with "Cassie" the Red Cedar
PARTNER APPRECIATION
For the third year in a row, The Colony Hotel & Cabana Club is a $5,000 Oak Level Sponsor of Community Greening. Did you know that Jestena Boughton, the third-generation owner of the Colony Hotel, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a master's degree in landscape architecture? Jestena, loved by so many in our city, believes that everyone benefits when we plant trees to create vibrant green spaces and a healthy urban forest. Thank you Jestena for being a special human being and supporting our mission.
DID YOU KNOW?
A study of the relationship between urban trees and the sales price of nearby single-family homes found that — in Tampa, a city facing major development pressure — trees were associated with an increase in single family home values.
In fact, a one percent increase in tree canopy cover was associated with an increase in sales price of $9,271 to $9,836, after controlling for independent variables and accounting for co-correlation.
Shoppers in business districts with robust tree canopy will spend 9 to 12% more for products, travel further and spend more time there
Shoppers indicate that they will travel greater distance to visit a district having high quality trees, and spend more time there once they arrive.
