Happy Arbor Day! To celebrate, Sikora Wells Appel planted a Franklinia alatamaha, commonly known as the Franklin Tree, at the Children’s Sculpture Zoo in Haddonfield, NJ. This beautiful native tree with fragrant, white blooms was discovered by John Bartram in 1765 and was cultivated in Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia, the oldest surviving botanical garden in North America. The tree has been extinct in the wild since 1803. Planting a Franklin Tree today helps with the conservation of the species and continues the education about an amazing story of local rich botanical history.
