Arbor Day, always the last Friday in April, is all about planting trees.

This year, the Shade Tree Commission will oversee the planting of 55 trees along Hillside Avenue. But homeowners also tend to get an itch to plant trees;

and for many that tree is a ...



Because of these beliefs, cherry trees have been revered, cultivated and crossbred over hundreds of years in Japan, leading to the development of more than 100 exquisite and distinct species. 

In 1885, a young American woman, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, who would go on to become an famed author and the first female member of the National Geographic Society, visited Japan and became enamored of cherry trees. Upon returning home, she began a quest to have them brought to Washington, DC. 

After decades of rejections, she was finally able to engage Helen “Nellie” Taft in the plan, leading to the Japanese consulate’s donation of 2,000 trees in 1910. Unfortunately, the entire lot was diseased and had to be destroyed. But a second batch of 3,020 trees were sent in 1912 by the mayor of Tokyo and successfully planted, beginning America’s obsession.

Interestingly, it was another woman, Caroline Bamberger Fuld, who brought 2,001 Sakura to Branch Brook Park in the 1920s. (At the time, Washington, DC, was reputed to have 2,000 trees, giving the edge to NJ.) But it was due to the relentless efforts of county executive, Joe DiVincenzo, that led to the park’s now having 5,000 trees, representing 18 varieties, compared to Washington’s 3,800 trees and 12 varieties.

At what point Glen Ridge jumped onto the Sakura bandwagon is hard to say. But a simple drive around town this spring is almost as immersive an experience as a drive through Branch Brook Park. The vast majority of these are private trees, but there are also 131 street trees, all of which were planted several years ago.

While Japanese cherry trees are undoubtedly good for the soul, purists will point out that they are not natives, arguing that the American obsession with Sakura has marginalized equally beautiful early-blooming natives, such as …

A rose by any other name? Despite its being in the rose family (genus Malus), it’s hard to imagine that the cache of the crabapple tree hasn’t been severely hampered by its name. Yet, indisputably, the beauty of these trees’ fragrant white or pink spring blossoms rivals that of the Japanese cherry tree. The “crabapple,” of course, refers to the tart tiny apples these trees produce.

Many residents were devastated last year when the borough’s magnolia blossoms were nipped in the bud by a late frost. Perhaps that’s what made this year’s fragrant flowering especially spectacular.  

Fossil records suggest that magnolias were the earth’s first flowering plant, going back some 50 million years to before the Ice Age. In fact, they evolved before bees. Consequently, they rely on beetles for pollination. Instead of nectar, the flowers produce large amounts of pollen, which the beetles use for food. 

Perhaps because of their antiquity, magnolias are especially long-lived. Indeed, the two oldest trees on White House grounds are magnolias, planted by Andrew Jackson in memory of his wife, Rachel, making them at least 186 years old.



Although there are some 250 different magnolia species, some evergreen and some deciduous, only 8 are native to North America. Indeed, the only regions where magnolias are now indigenous are southern China and the American South. Besides providing vital early sustenance to beetles, these trees produce cone-like fruits with kidney-shaped seeds that are craved by many birds.

As such, their prime ecological significance is that they bloom early in the spring, providing a crucial source of nectar to pollinators, particularly native bees and early butterflies, when little else is available. (In fact, the redbud has been value rated among the top 10 trees for this attribute alone.) Interestingly, winter-hungry Native Americans and colonists were also known to feast on its flowers, fresh or fried. 

Not to be outdone, redbud leaves, which emerge after the flowers, are an important source of food for many varieties of caterpillars, and the pods these trees produce in late summer provide edible seeds for birds and mammals alike.

In other words, the redbud is not just a pretty face.

Still Prefer a Japanese Cherry? Go for It!

Although Japanese cherry trees do not provide as many ecological benefits as native trees, they do offer some. Pollinators enjoy their blossoms. And, of course, they provide shade and oxygen while filtering air and sequestering carbon. But what’s particularly crucial about them is that they are not invasive, as are many other Asian imports, including Bradford (Callery) pear trees, now banned in half the states. 



Once the darling of landscapers and homeowners for their profusion of white flowers in spring and fast growth, these trees have become a sickening menace, invading natural habitats where, with no natural predators, they have out-competed valuable natives and managed to run rampant along roadways and across parks and open spaces. 

So, whatever you do, don’t plant a Bradford pear! Japanese cherry trees, however, have been here long enough to prove their constrained domesticity.