2013-2014

News Release

REF NO.: 10

SUBJECT: Botanical Garden greening the community with support from Canon’s Take Root Program, presented by Evergreen

DATE: September 19, 2013

Memorial University’s Botanical Garden will be celebrating Canada’s National Tree Day through a tree planting ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 12:30 p.m.
National Tree Day is the celebration of trees and forests in towns, cities and neighbourhoods across Canada. 
MUN Botanical Garden suffered significant damage to its natural area during hurricane Igor in 2010 and post-tropical storm Leslie in 2012. Canon’s Take Root Program, presented by Evergreen, has awarded $5,000 in funding to help restore the grounds as part of the garden’s Hurricane Damage Restoration Project.
“Through this grant, we are able to replant more than 300 native trees and shrubs in our natural area,” said Liz Klose, director, MUN Botanical Garden. “Our plans for the redevelopment are focused on deciduous and fruit-bearing woody plants which would help expand the habitat diversity in our natural area. The culmination of this project will be the planting of a large red maple, acer rubrum – a native Newfoundland tree.”
Following the ceremony, Todd Boland, research horticulturist at the garden and author of Trees and Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador, will lead a tree walk emphasizing the native and ornamental trees and shrubs within the garden.
Evergreen is a national environmental organization that makes cities more livable through community naturalization projects. Canon’s Take Root Program, presented by Evergreen, will provide a $5,000 grant and a PowerShot digital camera to 30 local groups across Canada every year for the next three years. Take Root aims to add more than 7,500 trees to the Canadian urban landscape annually and encourage community engagement in public spaces through native tree-planting events, invasive-species removal and other community stewardship, monitoring and developmental activities.

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