Celebrating Plantlanta 2020

Here are some numbers from the weekend:

550 trees planted
73 different tree species or cultivars
370 volunteers, including City Councilmembers and Trees Atlanta Board members
Planting sites in all 12 City of Atlanta Council Districts
3 amazing days (including one rainy morning that helped water the new trees!)

This year is the 5th annual celebration of Plantlanta!

What a year it has been, but what an amazing reality that our volunteers continue to grow with us.

Plantlanta is our annual celebration of our long-running partnership with the City of Atlanta. It is our largest planting project of the year that earns the support of our City Council, Department of City Planning, and Department of Parks & Recreation.

Although Plantlanta is typically a whirlwind of projects hosted simultaneously in 12 separate sites on a single day, due to safety and public health protocols currently in practice, we modified this year’s celebration to be conducted over three days from November 6-8. Our volunteers showed up with smiles and made it our most memorable Plantlanta yet. Some volunteers even came for two and three days! Despite smaller group sizes and individuals working spread apart, our goal of 500 trees planted was exceeded!

Several moments throughout the weekend captured our hearts. Jessica, a new volunteer, planted her very first tree. Many of our volunteers have fond memories of their first tree planting, and a first planting during Plantlanta is certainly worth bragging about. Just look at that mulch “donut”! Of course, our Green Shirt volunteers were heroes once again, leading small groups and hustling to get every tree in the ground.

We were glad to see so many volunteers posting photos of their work on social media. We welcome you to share yours and tag us @treesatlanta. View our photo gallery below, and we’ll also be posting more photos from Plantlanta on our Facebook page.

Jessica planting her first tree

Thank you Atlanta City Council

Members of the Atlanta City Council came to work side by side with their communities and get their hands dirty with us. We were joined by Amir R. Farokhi (District 2), Cleta Winslow (District 4), Natalyn Mosby Archibong (District 5), J.P. Matzigkeit (District 8), Andrea L. Boone (District 10), Marci Collier Overstreet (District 11), and Joyce Sheperd (District 12).

Atlanta City Council put together this great video recapping the weekend. Amir R. Farokhi explained in the video, “One of my favorite quotes about trees was from the poet Kahlil Gibran who said ‘Trees are the poems that the earth writes upon the sky’ and so everyone today is planting a tree that will one day be a backdrop on the sky when we look up. And so we’re all a little bit…doing our role to be poets today in Poncey Highland and across the city.” In the recap video, you can also get a glimpse of the project at Greenbriar Mill that got rained on, but Marci Collier Overstreet was pleasantly surprised. “It’s raining and it’s fine because trees love rain.” What a great attitude to have!

We are endlessly thankful for the City of Atlanta for their strong partnership and the volunteers who continue to donate their time to help grow and preserve our beloved tree canopy.

You don’t have to wait until next Plantlanta. We’re planting every weekend, and if you want to get involved with us on another project, take a look at our upcoming projects on our events calendar.

To see a map of all the trees we planted and project locations for Plantlanta 2020, check out the storymap below:

Plantlanta Storymap