Sixteen trees — western red buds, Chinese Pistache, and oaks — were planted at Antigua Park across from Veritas School.

They join more than 16,000 other city trees in Manteca parks, landscape maintenance districts, city right of way, and at the municipal golf course.

Manteca Garden Club President Michele Newman noted Antigua Park was selected as there was a need to provide more shade for the playground area as well as walkers who regularly walk the perimeter of the neighborhood park.

The Arbor Day tree planting  conducted Thursday by the city’s park division was made possible by the Manteca Garden Club.

The non-profit donates an average of 15 trees a year to augment those already in place at city parks.

That means in the past two decades, 300 of the 16,000 plus city trees now in place on city property in Manteca were the result of the garden club’s annual Arbor Day efforts.

Last year, the club planted trees at Yosemite Village Park. 

The park had lost trees in a storm as well as when a new water well and associated building was constructed.

Garden club member Tom Powell, who volunteers his time at the Thomas Toy Center and Lincoln School for students to explore gardening and learning to grow their own food, noted trees provide more than just shade and eye candy.

“Trees attract a lot of bugs that birds feed off of,” Powell said.

A large tree can also produce enough oxygen daily for the needs of four people, according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

At the same time, a mature tree over the course of a year will absorb 48 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Trees, in providing shade, can play a big role in reducing urban heat islands.

The large, mature trees along Union Road south of the tracks to the golf course can reduce temperatures under their canopies by up to 10 degrees on a summer day. That, in turn, can reduce the demand for electricity to cool homes.

The Manteca Garden Club funds the tree plantings that are part of roughly $20,000 a year they invest in the community primarily with proceeds from their annual garden tour that is set for Saturday, May 17, this year.

Other endeavors include awarding four $1,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors, providing gift cards for homeless students, working with the Mayor’s Committee on the Arts, among other things.

The club also has done other community planting projects besides tree plantings on Arbor Day. Those have included landscaping at the library and the Louise Avenue fire station.

Garden Club members also tend to the community rose garden at the Manteca Senior Center and have helped establish numerous school gardens over the years.

The 80-member garden club meets the third Monday of every month except July and August at 1 p.m. on the second floor of the Manteca Golf Course clubhouse.

Guest speakers share their knowledge on subjects ranging from gardening to floral arranging.

Newman noted people are welcome to attend the monthly meetings. If they decide they want to join the group, the annual membership fee is $25.

Not all members join primarily to share their love of gardening and to learn more about it.

Newman said a good number are members due to the camaraderie.

The club organizes excursions that are free of charge to nurseries and garden-related concerns.

The tree planting as well as municipal efforts to prune trees and add more trees on their own helped the City of Manteca earn Tree City USA status in 2024 for the 34th consecutive year.

Garden tour May 17 

The annual Manteca Garden Club Garden Tour is on Saturday, May 17, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Visit five beautiful and interesting gardens on the tour.  One home will have light refreshments, a door prize and a raffle. 

Funds raised on the tour support the non-profit work of high school scholarships, school gardens, maintaining the rose garden, the annual Arbor Day celebration and more. 

Tickets are $25 and are available at Tipton's Stationery Gifts and New York Diamonds in Manteca as well as Park Greenhouse and Thompson Building Materials in Ripon.  Tickets will also be on sale the day of the tour at two gardens. 

 Contact Paula on 209-482-3660 or Kathy on 209-629-2969 for tickets. Find more information go to  mantecagardenclub.org and Facebook.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com