Happy Arbor Day Kansas City!
We Love Trees
It’s Arbor Day! We are excited because Gutter Cover KC is in the tree saving business!
Maybe that sounds like a bit of a stretch, but in a way we really are. In fact, we have had several customers tell us that they’ve either cut down trees in an effort to reduce the frequency of gutter cleaning or that we were the last resort before they cut all of their trees down.
It’s a shame to have to cut your trees down to reduce gutter cleaning. Trees are often considered the most valuable plant in your yard since they take so long to grow and contribute greatly to a home and to a neighborhood. If you have a luxurious shade tree in your yard – don’t discard it just to reduce gutter cleaning. Besides, many who have chosen to cut down trees find that they still have clogged gutters from their neighbor’s trees.
Save the trees and get Advantage Gutter Guard® – it’s a win-win for everyone.
5 Reasons To Keep Your Trees
1) Energy savings
A shade tree can help keep your home 20 degrees cooler in the summer!
2) Landscaping
Trees reduce flooding and soil erosion. Trees help the ground absorb more water and help hold the soil together with their roots. Believe it or not – an established oak tree is able to transpire more than 40,000 gallons of water in a year. That would average out to 109 gallons a day! That’s enough water to fill your average neighborhood pool twice!
3) Trees Clean Up After Us
Trees are busy – they clean pollutants in the air and soil:
Air
It has been reported that city trees are “one of the most cost-effective methods of curbing urban air pollution levels and combating the urban heat island effect.” In the U.S. alone, pollution removal by urban trees is estimated to save 850 lives per year and $6.8 billion in total health care costs.
Soil
Trees soak up soil pollutants. One sugar maple can remove 60 milligrams of cadmium, 140 mg of chromium and 5,200 mg of lead from the soil per year, and studies have shown farm runoff contains up to 88 percent less nitrate and 76 percent less phosphorus after flowing through a forest.
4) Trees Make Us Feel Better
Feel more relaxed when enjoying a shade tree? This isn’t just because of its beauty. Trees release phytoncides into the air. Research studies have shown that exposure to phytoncides reduced blood pressure, reduced anxiety, increased pain threshold and even increased expression of anti-cancer proteins.
5) Trees increase property values and lower crime rates
The U.S. Forest Service, reports that landscaping with healthy, mature trees adds an average of 10 percent to a property’s value. Research also shows urban trees are correlated with lower crime rates, including things from graffiti, vandalism and littering to domestic violence.
History of Arbor Day
Arbor Day or Tree Day began in the 1870’s in Nebraska. Journalist Julius Sterling Morton had moved to the state and bought 160 acres in Nebraska City. Noticing a lack of trees and shrubbery, he and his wife started planting a wide variety of trees and shrubs. For years he used Nebraska City News to educate the community on the ecological impact of trees. This was important because for example, adding just one tree to an open pasture can increase its bird biodiversity from almost zero species to as high as 80.
The First Arbor Day
On January 7, 1872, Morton proposed a day that would encourage all Nebraskans to plant trees in their community. The agricultural board agreed and on April 10, 1872 one million trees were planted! Adding to the enthusiasm prizes were awarded to those who planted trees correctly.
The tradition quickly began to spread. In 1882, schools across the country started to participate, and more than a decade after its introduction, Arbor Day became an official state holiday in Nebraska in 1885.
The Expansion of Arbor Day
Within 20 years, Arbor Day was celebrated in every state except for Delaware. The holiday spread even further with the help of fellow agriculturalist Birdsey Northrop. In 1883, Northrop introduced the concept of Arbor Day to Japan, and continued to influence the creation of Arbor Days across Europe, Canada and Australia.
Official Recognition
On April 15, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt, gave an “Arbor Day Proclamation to the School Children of the United States,” telling them:
“It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetimes the Nation’s need of trees will become serious. We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed.”
However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that Nixon made it an official national holiday – establishing it as the last Friday in April. A time of year where every state would have ideal weather for tree planting.
Celebrating Arbor Day
This year Gutter Cover KC became members of the Arbor Day Foundation and planted a tree for each of our employees.
Next year we plan to have even more fun with Arbor Day. COVID allowing – we are going to have a company party with all the fun t-shirts, hats and crazy socks available through the Arbor Day Foundation. We’re also going to taste-test “shade-grown” coffee from the rainforest.
Look for other ways to celebrate? There’s actually an Arbor Day theme park in Nebraska – Arbor Day Farm. You can tour the 52-room Arbor Mansion, stay at the Lied Lodge and relax in their spa or explore the farm’s Tree Top Village. Finish the day with a 4 Course Farm and Forest Dinner at Steinert Lodge in honor of Arbor Day.
Planting Trees In Your Yard
Ready to plant some trees in your yard! Fantastic! But do your research first – some trees can cause foundation issues if planted near the foundation of a home. Check out our tree planting tips.
One Last Tree ‘Fun Fact’
Trees can talk and strategize!
When threatened by leaf-eating insects, trees send airborne chemical signals to each other, warning nearby trees to prepare for an insect attack. Research has shown that a wide range of trees and other plants become more resistant to insects after receiving these signals.
Trees’ airborne signals can even send messages outside the plant kingdom. They can send chemicals that essentially “call for back up” by attracting predators and parasites that kill the attacking insects. Researchers have mainly focused on chemicals that attract other arthropods, but in 2013 a study found that apple trees under attack by caterpillars released chemicals that attracted caterpillar-eating birds.
Check out treehugger.com for more fun facts about trees.
Keep Enjoying Your Trees
So go ahead and plant a forest in your backyard! If you’re trees are requiring too much guttering maintenance, let us know. We’ll be happy to install Advantage Gutter Guard® so you can relax under your shade trees and never clean your gutters again!