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Group Lauded For Planting Idea

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By MEGAN HUSSEY

Tribune correspondent

Published: January 16, 2009

ZEPHYRHILLS - As one-time president of the Garden Gate Circle of the Zephyrhills Garden Club, Raybelle Surratt decided that the club should plant a few trees around town. Twenty years later, the circle - under Surratt's guidance and with the cooperation of the city of Zephyrhills - has planted more than 700 trees in the city. And every one of them has a story.

"We offered these trees to people who wanted to order them in honor of someone," said Surratt, who was named Zephyrhills Citizen of the Year in 1993. "The trees were owned by the city, but dedicated to those people that the buyers wished to honor."

"Every piece of property owned by the city, we've planted a tree on it," she said.

More trees will be planted today, when the Zephyrhills Garden Club and the city of Zephyrhills will co-host the Garden Gate Circle: Celebrating 20 Years of Planting Trees Since 1989 celebration. At this Arbor Day observance, at 2 p.m. today in the city Butterfly Garden, 20 oleander trees will be given on a first-come, first-served basis as a part of the 20 Trees for 20 Years project.

In addition, three red crepe myrtle trees will be planted in honor of three Zephyrhills luminaries that, according to Surratt, have been instrumental in the tree dedication project. They are City Manager Steve Spina, Director of Public Works Rick Moore and Zephyrhills Garden Club Garden Gate Circle President Liz Geiger.

These dedicated trees will be the only ones planted this year, Surratt said. In the future, palms planted in the city cemetery may be made available for dedication.

"We've filled the city with our trees and don't have room for more," she said, adding with a chuckle, "It's a nice problem."

Rows Of Memories

The dedicated trees, many of them holly and Washington palms, can be found throughout the city, from Oakside Cemetery to the Zephyrhills Public Library to Alice Hall, and along the median on Fifth Street.

In addition, a Memory Walk of trees stands along Lake Zephyr. City workers place and tend the trees, the first of which was planted Oct. 9, 1989; Garden Gate Circle members host annual thank-you picnics for these workers, and in 1990 decorated wicker baskets to sell and raise money for additional trees to be planted along the city median. In 1993, circle members handcrafted a king-size quilt for a Founder's Day drawing, with proceeds going to support the beautification of Zephyrhills.

But beyond that, Surratt remembers with fondness the many families who have dedicated memorial trees to fallen soldiers.

And a line of trees behind city hall consists of those planted in honor of Zephyrhills mayors, by their families.

"It's called Mayor's Row," said Surratt, adding, "Many of our members also have bought and dedicated trees."

'These Are Amazing Women'

Garden Gate Circle Secretary Barbara Lawson said Surratt and the women of the Zephyrhills Garden Club deserve to be honored for their great efforts at city beautification.

"This club has evolved from flower arranging to community activism," she said. "These are amazing women and it's a blessing to be around them."

It is because of the Garden Gate Circle tree project, in fact, that Zephyrhills was nationally dedicated as a Tree City in 2002.

The city honored the garden club with a proclamation from Mayor Cliff McDuffie at Monday's Zephyrhills City Council meeting.
Surratt agrees that the dedicated trees have added a great deal to the Zephyrhills landscape.

"The trees are among the first things people notice when you drive into town, and they're good for the birds," she said.

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