Lehigh Valley Zoo's Annual Tree Planting Ceremony

About this activity:


Parkland Garden Club members donate trees in honor of loved ones or special events, with the benefit to their families, all visitors to the Lehigh Valley Zoo, plus the beautification of lands provided by the historic Trexler Trust.

Lehigh Valley Zoo 43rd Annual Tree Planting Ceremony September 1, 2023

Parkland Garden Club held its Memorial Planting Celebration on September 1 at Lehigh Valley Zoo. Plants were donated and planted in honor of members' friends and loved ones.  The program recognizes the importance of conservation and nature and commemorates bonds of family and friends by dedicating new life to a local treasure, the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

Lehigh Valley Zoo 42nd Annual Tree Planting Ceremony September 16, 2022

A Purple Magnolia was planted in honor of Sue Weber, recipient of the Community Action Award 2021-22.

The Parkland Garden Club recently held its 42nd annual tree planting ceremony at the Lehigh Valley Zoo.  As of this year, the club has reached 343 donated specimens.


The program was begun in 1980 under the direction of past-president Bernadette Marushak who was remembered with a magnolia tree planting this year.  


This was also a milestone year for the Lehigh Valley Zoo groundskeeper, Scott Fenstermaker, as it was a celebration of his 40th year working the plantings of trees, shrubs, bushes and grasses provided by the garden club into the overall zoo landscape. Mr. Fenstermaker has kept a numbered record of each planting with location and variety.  In 2008 Scott Fenstermaker also worked with several garden club members to design and install a native medicine wheel garden at the zoo which is still thriving today and signifies the circle of life through which we all pass, changing with each season.  


The President and CEO of Lehigh Valley Zoological Society, Amanda Shurr, and many staff members came to honor Scott during our ceremony. They joined club members in recognizing his many contributions to the zoo landscape with these living tributes that enhance the natural experience of so many people, young and old, who come to visit the zoo. 


During the ceremony the plantings are donated in remembrance or to honor someone. Family members and garden club friends attended and took part in the planting ceremony. Two plantings were done this year as two Parkland Garden Club members were honored with Garden Club Federation of PA state level awards. Only one accomplished person per year is recognized for each of these special awards. These are cumulative awards and two of our members received an individual award for outstanding ability and service.



This year trees were planted in memory of Mary Paukovitz, Joseph Ceci, and faithful club members Jeanne Partel, Sally Longenberger, and Bernadette Marushak.