Arbor Day Celebration Invites Families To Plant Trees In Calabasas

CALABASAS, CA – Get your shovels ready! For its annual Arbor Day celebration on March 18, Calabasas is inviting families to plant trees and flowers at Lupin Hill Elementary School.

The community planting begins at 10 a.m. at the school and will be followed by an official ceremony at 11:30 a.m.

You can check in at the school’s main gate, located at 26210 Adamor Road. Make sure you bring a refillable water bottle for drinking and shovels and gardening tools (if you have them) for planting – the trees and flowers will be provided.

In recent years city officials have chosen school grounds for the annual celebration meant to beautify the community. Last year’s event was at Chaparral Elementary School, according to Mayor David Shapiro’s Friday letter to residents.

Arbor Day traces its roots back to 1872, after Nebraska settlers were met by a noticeable lack of trees as they moved across the Great Plains. It's estimated more than 1 million trees were planted on that first Arbor Day in the state, according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

The idea spread and by 1920 more than 45 states and territories celebrated Arbor Day.

While national Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April, climate differences across the U.S. mean that some states mark the holiday on a different day to align with ideal planting times.

In California, Arbor Day is actually celebrated for a whole week – March 7-14, in honor of the birthday of Luther Burbank – an agricultural pioneer whose work produced hundreds of plants and trees in the state.