Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden celebrates Arbor Day with a special tree planting.
Representatives from Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, the City of Des Moines Parks & Recreations, and other area organizations at the tree planting.
This April, representatives from the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, City of Des Moines Parks & Recreation, and other area organizations gathered in the Robert D. Ray Asian Garden to celebrate Arbor Day. The group planted a Ginkgo biloba tree, a direct descendant of a ginkgo that survived the WWII atomic bomb destruction in Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.
Hibakujumoku (hibaku for short), also called survivor trees or A-Bomb Trees of Hiroshima, are a group of trees that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. While many of the surrounding buildings and vegetation were destroyed by the blast, these trees managed to withstand the intense heat and radiation, regenerating from their surviving underground root system.
Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden President & CEO Kim Perez helps plant the tree.
There were an estimated 170 A-Bomb Trees that survived the bombing, including various species like camphor, ginkgo, willow, and pine trees. Over the years, the Mayors for Peace program has distributed seeds from the hibaku trees to cities and organizations around the world as a symbol of peace and to promote awareness about the dangers of nuclear weapons. The aim of this program is to raise public peace consciousness through citizens. Member cities are asked to plant them in places where many citizens frequent, and to encourage communities to participate in the nurturing of these trees as a symbol of peace.
Des Moines has been a member city of the Mayors for Peace program since the city passed a resolution in support of the program in 2019. The program currently boasts 8,256 member cities. Des Moines received ten seeds of hibaku trees and in addition to this new planting in Robert D. Ray Asian Garden, another will be planted at The Brenton Arboretum.
The A-Bomb Trees and the Mayors for Peace program serve as powerful reminders of the importance of peace, the devastation caused by nuclear weapons, and the need for global cooperation to eliminate them. The trees are living witnesses to the horrors of the atomic bombing, and their survival, despite the intense destruction, is a testament to the resilience of nature. The Mayors for Peace program is an example of how local governments can work together to promote peace and disarmament and build a more peaceful and secure world for future generations.
The Ginkgo biloba planted in the Robert D. Ray Asian Garden can be viewed from the northernmost boardwalk.
