IU Health Bloomington celebrates Arbor Day with tree planting

IU Health Bloomington leadership and representatives from Indiana University gathered at the Indiana University Regional Academic Health Center for the traditional National Arbor Day tree planting on Friday, April 25.

IU Health South Region President Denzil Ross started the fifth-annual event by congratulating the team on the facility’s continued recognition as an Arbor Day Foundation Tree Campus Healthcare Facility.

“Welcome to our Arbor Day celebration, a day to honor the incredible power of nature and the profound healing that trees provide,” said Ross. “Today, as we plant a new tree and care for existing ones, let us remember how they sustain us physically and spiritually. Together, let's celebrate Arbor Day by acknowledging the gifts that trees bestow upon us and working towards a more sustainable and harmonious relationship with our environment.”

The event culminated with the planting of a 3- to 4-year-old Taxodium distichum, a Bald Cypress “Shawnee Brave” variety, tree. This tree is native to Indiana and the southeastern United States, and is highly adaptable to both wet and dry growing conditions, clay soils, urban pollution, and stressful growing sites. The ‘Shawnee Brave’ cultivar has a more narrow, upright growth habit than a typical Bald Cypress, which should be ideal for the area in which it was planted.

Mia Williams, University Landscape Architect at Indiana University, said, “Any and every addition we can make to the natural environment that surrounds us is a benefit on many levels. Trees, in particular, have the ability to beautify our world but also clean our air, help handle our stormwater and help us pay attention to the world around us.”