Released March 18, 2010
URBANA, Ill. -- Beginning with Memorial Day and continuing into June and July, we are in a period of the calendar marked with graduations, reunions, and weddings. It is a time to remember, said a University of Illinois Extension unit horticulture educator.
"Planting a tree in someone's honor can make a very long-lasting gift of remembrance," said Jeff Rugg. "Trees that have a history known to the giver and recipient are even more special."
Rugg gave this example of a tree gift that keeps on giving. In 1829 President Andrew Jackson planted a southern magnolia in the south lawn of the White House in remembrance of his wife who had died before his inauguration. The tree came from a cutting of a tree at their home plantation of The Hermitage in Tennessee. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan gave his retiring chief of staff former Tennessee Senator Howard Baker a cutting from the Jackson magnolia. In May of 1995, Baker planted a cutting from his tree at the Hermitage Plantation, which is now a museum.
continued on University of Illinois news
--30--
