Members of the Parkland Garden Club took part in a day of tree planting this fall at the Lehigh Valley Zoo, Schnecksville.

Plantings were sponsored by the club to memorialize past club presidents who died during the past year.

Club members and friends also sponsored plantings to commemorate or to honor someone.

This year, two past club presidents were remembered.

A weeping cherry tree was planted for past president, Bernadette Marushak, who initiated the Arbor Day at the Zoo project as the club president in 1980.

A mountain laurel bush was planted in memory of past president, Viola Takacs.

She worked tirelessly on the zoo project for many years as the longstanding conservation chairwoman.

First planted in 2008, Takacs and Barbara Dempsey collaborated with zoo Groundskeeper Scott Fenstermaker on the design and planting of a native medicine wheel garden.

The medicine wheel symbolizes the circle of life through which everyone passes, changing with each season.

Each direction is associated with a color and paths divide the garden into four separate quadrants representing the four cardinal directions.

The wheel was groomed and several new plants were added this year.

These plants were provided by a grant from the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania obtained by current Parkland Garden Club President Brenda Aubert.

A kousa dogwood was also planted by club member Roberta Lee Robbins in remembrance of her father and brother.

The club will continue with its Arbor Day at the Zoo project in April 2022.