Planting and caring for trees is the heart of The National Arbor
Day Foundation's mission. Nowhere is that mission more visible than
here in the Trees for America Terrace. Trees that will make a world
of difference in communities across the nation begin their lives
here. See thousands of young seedlings growing in the Lied Greenhouse
and the John C. Negus Growing House.
The Trees for America Terrace is a working demonstration of the
Arbor Day Foundation's mission to inspire people to plant,
nurture and celebrate trees. Trees from all of these facilities
may be used in the Tree Adventure, Lied Lodge, Gift Tree Program,
membership tree program, and with corporate sponsors.
Hero Gallery
The Trees for America® program embodies The Arbor Day Foundation's belief that each of us has a responsibility for wise environmental stewardship. Each year, through their participation in the Trees for America program, members are making a difference by planting their own trees they receive from the Arbor Day Foundation.
Many of those trees are packed and shipped from right here in the Hero Gallery to members across the nation.
By planting trees members become part of a movement begun by Arbor Day founder J. Sterling Morton in 1872 and now carried on throughout the world. The trees they plant today will soon shade and cool homes, bring songbirds close by, and beautify communities and countryside.
Just as important, these trees will conserve energy, reduce soil erosion, clean the air, and protect rivers and streams.
Trees are a gift given to the world. Join
nearly a million other Arbor Day Foundation members
who are making the planet a cleaner, healthier place. Take part
in Trees For America and receive 10 free trees to plant wherever
you call home.
Lied Greenhouse
The Lied Greenhouse is a state of the art, computerized, 2,800
square foot growing facility. Arbor Day Farm is able to utilize
the latest technology to grow approximately 50,000 hazelnuts per
growing season. We are growing hybrid hazel seedlings for the Foundation's
member research program. Nuts are collected from the Arbor Day Farm
hazel plantation and hand-seeded into the greenhouse.
The greenhouse environmental system utilizes an outdoor weather
station and indoor sensors to control the climate equipment in the
greenhouse. The young crop is watered and fed through a boom irrigation
system which allow the staff to inject just the right amount of
fertilizer into the water.
The water drainage from the greenhouse feeds to a pond with plants
that act as filters by using the fertilizer before it runs off into
the surrounding fields. The young tree seedlings are conditioned
or "hardened-off" outside in the Terrace's Shade House.
The Shade House roof structure is covered with a porous cloth material
that allows 60% of the sun's light through it. By moving the trees
outside to the shade house, they become acclimated to the outside
conditions before they are given to our members. The trees are then
better able to handle the sunlight, wind, and temperatures when
planted outside.
John C. Negus Growing House
Arbor Day Farm's newest greenhouse is the John C. Negus Growing
House. This facility is a working production greenhouse where we're
maximizing growing space to produce conifer seedlings for the National
Arbor Day Foundation. The ability to control each tree's environment,
feeding, and watering allows the greenhouse to grow a 6 inch conifer
tree in approximately 6 months. It takes nature years to grow the
same size tree.
