On a beautiful sunny morning, City leaders, staff, and citizens came together at Bell Memorial Park to celebrate a major component of what makes Milton beautiful: trees.

Dozens on Friday attended Milton’s Arbor Day event, an annual opportunity to tout trees’ importance to our community and support planting more of them. To the latter point, four new trees – a Smoketree, Sweetbay Magnolia, Witchhazel, and Persimmons – were installed in different parts of Bell’s Mark Law Arboretum ahead of the festivities. (Thank you to Tri Scapes for their generous donation of the Persimmons tree.)

Shannon Fitzgerald, Milton’s new City Arborist, welcomed the attendees and told them about the new plantings. Councilmember Carol Cookerly spoke next, reflecting on the “love of trees” that she and many others in Milton feel. 

“There is simply no quality in our ecosystem without trees,” she said. 

Cookerly mentioned how Milton recently earned its 17^th consecutive Tree City USA distinction from the Arbor Day Foundation for its extensive tree-related efforts. This is on top of the Georgia Tree Council’s Outstanding New Initiative Grand Award for Plant! Milton, the City’s multi-faceted initiative to engage, educate, and encourage the planting and nurturing of trees. (You can learn more at www.miltonga.gov/PlantMilton.) 

“Trees are what make Milton Milton,” said Cookerly, noting how they collectively contribute to picturesque viewscapes and the city's overall natural beauty.

After Cookerly's remarks, a group used shovels set around the Witch hazel tree to finish off its ceremonial planting. Dozens also took home seedlings of their own to put in the ground – Persimmons, to be specific – in addition to Plant! Milton-branded trowels and kneeling pads handy for planting.