cherry blossoms_150Sure, it’s one of the cornier lesser-known holidays, but I’ve always liked the idea of Arbor Day. I mean, it’s a day to celebrate trees fer gosh sakes. And yesterday—which I spent very pleasurably in my backyard with a raft of new plants—I got to thinking about how we should spend more time celebrating growing things.

But it wasn’t until I came to work this morning, planning to write a little Arbor Day post, that I learned that every day is Arbor Day. No, seriously: every day is Arbor Day.

If you live in Oregon, it’s actually Arbor Week right now. But I (and everyone else in Washington), only get a single Arbor Day, and it’s on April 11 this year. Idaho’s is April 27, the same day as Montana’s. California, I missed yours—sorry. Your Arbor Week ended two weeks ago. Alaska, on the other hand, has to wait until May 21.

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  • I’m guessing that the diversity of dates is related to the optimal tree planting time in local climates. But still, there’s something amusing about the fact that Americans can celebrate Arbor Day starting in early November (Hawaii) and keep on going through Alaska’s late spring date.

    What’s more, the holiday is celebrated everywhere from Barbados to Namibia to Yugoslavia. All—naturally—on different days or during different weeks, making it almost true that every day is Arbor Day.

    The oddity, however, is Canada. Admittedly, I only spent a couple of minutes with Google, but I couldn’t find much about Arbor Day in Canada. Ontario and Nova Scotia both have springtime dates, but I’ve got nothing for British Columbia. And nothing nationally. Is it because Canadians have already reached the next level of arborial conciousness?

    Surely our green northern friends have a dedicated day of dendrology. Or something. Does it go by another name in Canada? Someone please help me out.

    But even better than searching the web for Canadian holidays, get outdoors to soak up a little spring sunshine—and then go plant something. You’ll feel like a million bucks.