Home and Garden: Seasonal Roots

Not sure of the best time of year to green up your local landscape by planting a few trees? Right about now, actually.

Maybe you already knew that South Carolina Arbor Day has been celebrated the first Saturday of December since 1934. What you might not have known is that it marks the beginning of our optimal planting season—and it sure beats fighting holiday traffic at the local shopping mall.

In fact, all the urban sprawl that comes with our consumerism—shopping malls, high-density neighborhoods, and the highways that get us from home to the store and back again—is culprit number-one when it comes to tree loss in the Greenville. That’s right, the Upstate rates as one of the most sprawling regions in the country, reports Trees Greenville, a nonprofit that works to improve quality of life in Greenville by planting, promoting, and
protecting trees.

So, plant a native arbor this winter—which grows stronger and lives longer than its non-native counterparts. It’s an inexpensive and effective way to clear the air—not just this season but all year long.