Trees for Greener Schools
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Children all over the upstate of South Carolina are learning to be tree
stewards thanks to a new woody ornamentals program within Clemson's Horticulture
Department called "Trees for Greener Schools." The program provides
trees and technical support to public schools in need of landscape improvements
and having student or volunteer groups willing to care for young trees.
During the winter of 1995, 17 area schools planted over 150 bald cypress
provided by this program. Other types of trees will be made available to
schools in upcoming years.
Starts of trees came from the National Tree Trust in Washington, DC as
part of a national effort to furnish trees for public spaces. Last winter,
the Department received 700 one-year-old bareroot seedlings of dogwood,
red maple, sawtooth oak, shumard oak, willow oak, and bald cypress from
the Trust. The trees are held in pots in our nursery until they reach a
landscape-ready size as the bald cypress did this past year.
The first year's tree plantings were handled in various ways by
different schools. Many chose to commemorate Arbor Day with a single or
several tree planting on the First of December. Other schools had ambitious
landscaping plans for their campuses. Students at Seneca High School in
Seneca, South Carolina planted a whopping 60 bald cypress along the boundary
of their large campus. Science teacher Eddie Perry enlisted the help of
his biology classes for planting and mulching, instructing each student
to bring a shovel from home. Math classes were involved in designing the
layout of the planting, while journalism classes wrote press releases about
the project.
The Trees for Greener Schools Program will reap both immediate and future
rewards. Students currently involved in the program will have first hand
knowledge of tree planting and young tree care. They will see practical
applications of concepts they heard about in biology and agriculture education
classes. Looking into the future 10, 20, even 50 years, students will enjoy
shade on their playgrounds and take pride in the attractiveness of their
schools, because their predecessors took the time...to plant trees.
Last Updated 2/1/97
