Sonnenberg Welcomes All to Hug-A-Tree

Celebrate Arbor Day with More Than 100 Different Kinds of Trees from the 19th Century.Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park in Canandaigua, NY invites you to celebrate Arbor Day and the kings of the plant world, our trees, on Saturday, April 26.This special day-long workshop will help you learn the art of planting a tree from Sonnenberg’s Executive Director and Horticulturist David Hutchings; how to best use mulch with the trees in your backyard from Finger Lakes Community College’s Berna Ticonchuk; and the benefits of creating rain gardens in urban areas from the Tree Advisory Board of Canandaigua. Representatives will discuss the rain gardens along the city’s Main Street and tree preservation throughout Canandaigua. In the afternoon, Hutchings will also discuss The Vanishing Act Exhibit on loan from the Morton Arboretum and Sonnenberg’s tree preservation. In the morning, there will also be a special tree planting to honor the late Dr. William Clark, a generous benefactor to Sonnenberg and a direct descendant of the site’s founder, Mary Clark Thompson.The 50-acre Sonnenberg Estate is home to more than 100 different species of trees, many of them are among the oldest of their kind in the United States. You will never forget coming to Sonnenberg and walking under what is called the aristocrat of trees, our gray-trunked Copper Beech, a favorite of park members and visitors. Visit our Japanese Garden and Tea House and enjoy our Scholar-tree which is primarily planted around Buddhist Temples. Witness the rarely seen Female Gingko Tree or the Japanese Katsura Tree which has heart-shaped leaves. Some famous people also visited Sonnenberg in its early days including Thomas Edison, who planted a White Pine Tree here in 1922. Our first Hug-A-Tree Workshop Day happens on Saturday, April 26, 2014 from 10 am – 3 pm. Admission is $20 per person with a soup lunch provided by our volunteers. Call 585-394-4922 or visit www.sonnenberg.org for reservations.