The Trowel Garden Club Champions Tree Path, Arboretum Status for Historic Washington, DC, Cemetery

Learn about Native Trees at Historic Congressional Cemetery on Arbor Weekend

April 23, 2025

By: Sharon Metcalf and Cam Crockett

To celebrate Arbor Weekend 2025, Historic Congressional Cemetery (HCC), The Trowel Garden Club (TGC), and Casey Trees will host a tree education event at HCC showcasing new plantings.   Funded by a GCA Partner for Plants (P4P) grant awarded to TGC, three native species—American witch hazel, Eastern redbud and Cherrybark oak--will be planted at the 35-acre Cemetery (HCC), in Washington, D.C. 

Since 2023, TGC has championed the planting and tagging of trees to restore the tree canopy at the 200-year-old cemetery. HCC is a National Historic Landmark located on Capitol Hill where diplomats, elected officials and members of the Underground Railroad are buried.

The grant helps preserve and care for select old-growth trees and native species that were recently planted by longtime GCA partner Casey Trees, as well as tag the trees with their scientific and common names.  The arboreal path will serve to highlight prominent gravesites that represent over 200 years of American History.  The Trowel GC members — along with representatives from Casey, HCC grounds staff and members of Garden Club of Chevy Chase and Perennial Garden Club — surveyed trees for the nature path designated ‘Tree Walk Through History.’

Along with the visual and environmental benefits, the planting of the three additional native varieties will help HCC meet Arbnet’s—the official arboretum accreditation--Level 1 threshold of 25-plus tree species. 
GCA P4P grants are awarded to member clubs on local projects that inventory, map, propagate, and transplant endangered species.  Each project is unique and often requires great time and commitment.