Photo: Meghan McCarthy, Palm Beach Daily
“Putting on gray work gloves and yellow helmets, students from local elementary schools Thursday morning helped celebrate Florida Arbor Day by planting a kapok tree at Phipps Ocean Park in Palm Beach.
‘This is hard work. But it’s real good to plant a tree,’ said Ryder Lazzaro, a third-grader at Palm Beach Day Academy.
The 13-foot-tall seedling, planted just east of the Little Red Schoolhouse at the park south of Sloane’s Curve, could grow to more than 100 feet tall and live more than 200 years.
The fast-growing trees, like the one on Lake Trail on the grounds of the Royal Poinciana Chapel, are known for luxurious canopies and thick buttress roots.
The Garden Club of Palm Beach organized the annual event, which was smaller this year because of the pandemic, said Garden Club President Mary Pressly.
‘We’re hoping to inspire students to help their community. Planting trees and watching them grow may motivate them to go into fields like conservation and botany,’ said Pressly, who was among about 40 other town officials, club members and students who gathered under cloudy skies for the event.
While the national Arbor Day observance is in April, Florida and other states celebrate the day to reflect their best planting time…”
— Bill DiPaolo, Special to the Daily News