Pick Up & Grow even
NSU to give away trees for Pick Up & Grow event
TAHLEQUAH — This April, Northeastern State University will celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day
2022 by giving away tree saplings during its Pick Up & Grow event.
Sixty saplings will be available by request to the surrounding community. There will be 15 saplings available of each of the following species:
Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)
Bur Oaks are planted for shade, ornament and shelter. They are hardy in cold, dry
climates and can have a height up to 80 feet with abundant acorns. This species tolerates
all soil types and may live for up to 200 years.
Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
Persimmon trees are planted for small rounded fruit that is orange to purple in color
which mature in autumn before frost. These trees have a height of up to 60 feet with
a dense rounded crown. They prefer moist soil but are hardy in all areas of Oklahoma
except the panhandle area.
Osage Orange/bois-d'arc (Maclura pomifera)
Osage Orange trees are small-to-medium sized spiny trees up to 40 feet high often
with crooked trunk and widespread crown. They are native to Oklahoma and were used
a century ago as fences in grassland plains before the invention of barbed wire. This
species tolerates most soil and generates large yellow/green fruit balls about the
size of a softball.
Sand Plum/Chickasaw Plum (Prunus angustifolia)
Sand Plum trees are usually a thicket-forming shrub under six feet high with small
flowers in early spring and rounded fruit with shiny red or yellow skin under one
inch in diameter. They are often found in sandy soil along streams and roadsides and
are native to Oklahoma.
To request a sapling, applicants should send an email that includes their first and last name, the type of tree they are requesting and the address of the sapling’s future home to treecampus@nsuok.edu no later than April 15. Applicants may only request one tree per application.
The saplings will be distributed first-come, first-serve based on the date applications are submitted. Recipients will be notified via email with sapling pick up dates to be held April 27 and 28 from 8 a.m. to noon at the NSU Tahlequah Facilities building at 600 N Lewis Ave.
Michael Jefferson, tree campus coordinator for NSU, hopes to continue the Pick Up & Grow program in the future to provide more trees to the surrounding community.
For more information on the NSU Tree Campus committee, visit https://academics.nsuok.edu/