Trees, plants available at Iron Horse

The Green Thumb Garden Club is doubling its annual plant swap as well as having a Tree Festival.

The club members have had a plant swap in the spring for many decades, but they are adding a second event Saturday at the Iron Horse Festival.

It will be held in the Little, Schellhammer, Richardson & Knowlan law office parking lot, on the side nearest the Butler County Courthouse.

Others are invited to bring their own plants to swap for new varieties.

The plant swap is a chance for club members to get acquainted with some people in the community, according to organizers. There are some people who come every year, in the spring and they look forward to it, they said. It’s a way for the garden club to get out into the community and for the community to get to know the garden club, and perhaps beautify the city.

People are welcome to bring things to swap, but this is going to be more of a Tree Festival because attorney Ron Little is going to bring trees for people to take, organizers said. Fall is the best time to plant trees and so he wanted to do this, they shared.

Little will be providing dogwood, redbud, mimosa, pecan, white pine, Norway Spruce, tulip poplar, maple, northern red oak, cypress, black gum and deciduous holly.

People need to plant trees to replenish and compensate for the carbon dioxide they cause to be emitted use during their lifetime, the group said. Little has planted between 500 to 1,000 trees per year for about 50 years.

Little began planting trees in his early 20s when a good friend told him about the Missouri Department of Conservation’s seedling trees and made some suggestions about trees to order. He has been ordering and planting trees ever since.