Oxford to host 13th Arbor Day celebration

OXFORD – The Oxford Village Tree Board will be holding its thirtieth annual “Tree City USA” Arbor Day Celebration on Saturday, April 30, starting at 9 a.m., at the LaFayette Park bandstand. Plans include an award ceremony beginning with a proclamation, prize presentations to be made to three Oxford Academy fifth grade Arbor Day poster contest winners, and a give away of 100 seedling trees and, new this year, a variety of 125 seedling shrubs. The Oxford Village Tree Board encourages families and individuals to have a planting celebration of their own on Arbor Day.
Oxford was recently named a Tree City USA, for its twenty-third year in a row, by the National Arbor Day Foundation. One of the standards for that designation is that the community must have a tree board, which the village has. The Oxford Village Tree Board members are John Godfrey, Jeanie Petersen, Gray Stevens, Sandy Dain, and Jean Curtis. Accepting the Tree City USA flag and award from the DEC Forester will be the honorable Village of Oxford Mayor Terry M. Stark.
Having an Arbor Day observance is another standard, and the Tree Board enjoys coordinating this ceremony with a tree give away. The seedlings that were chosen for this year are the Norway Spruce, Picea Abies, and Balsam Fir, Abies balsamea. Both are hardy evergreen “Christmas” trees which have been purchased from the Meadowview Tree Farm LLC, a small nursery in Western NY. Both conifers have great features making the planting decision a difficult one.
The Norway Spruce tree (zone 2), is a fast growing tree that can grow to 150 feet. It has a conical form, with horizontal to upward sweeping branches that have gracefully drooping branchlets. The dense, dark green needles never get longer than 1", and it’s one of the best conifers for shelters and windbreaks.
The Balsam Fir tree (zone 3), is a medium tree, can grow (in sun to partial shade) to a height of 40-60’ tall. It exhibits a relatively dense, dark-green, pyramidal crown with a slender spire-like tip.
New this year, the Village Tree Board has opted for some attractive flowering shrub seedlings: Rose of Sharon, Butterfly Bush, Forsythia, Juneberry, and red dogwood. Rose of Sharon -Althea- is an erect shrub or small tree that flowers July through September. Butterfly Bush will have fragrant flowers July through the fall. Forsythia has yellow flowers in April for 2 - 3 weeks. Juneberry is a small, white flowering shrub that produces bluish-purple juicy, edible berries in July. Dogwood Redoiser is a slender, upright shrub with red stems and white drupe fruit in mid-August. (It’s best in wet or swampy conditions.)
Meadowview was established in 1983 in Byron, NY. They supply bare-root seedlings and transplants for conservation practices including reforestation, wildlife habitat and stream bank stabilization projects. Promoting tree planting is at the heart of what they do just like the Oxford Tree Board.
The founder of Arbor Day, J. Sterling Morton said it best more than 140 years ago, "Other holidays repose upon the past. Arbor Day proposes for the future."
The seedling trees will be wrapped in moist newspaper -all plantes need to do is pick a spot and dig the hole.

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