Children at the Palm Springs Boys & Girls Club celebrated Arbor Day by helping plant trees and taking home a desert willow seedling.

“I’m going to take my tree home and plant it in my garden,” said 6-year-old Jaysan. “I can’t wait!”

The seedlings were donated by Southern California Edison (SCE) and are in addition to the 500 mature trees that were donated to the city of Palm Springs.

The trees are drought-tolerant desert willows, silks, Chinese elm and river she-oak, which consume little water while providing welcome shade and beauty. Some of the trees will be planted in city parks and the rest will be offered to residents to adopt for their own yards.

“I was so excited when SCE told me they would provide trees for Arbor Day,” said Michelle Mician, sustainability manager for the city of Palm Springs. “We normally buy trees for the city’s Arbor Day celebration, and this year we didn’t have to.”

All of the trees were grown at SCE’s tree nursery in Auberry, California. Since the facility will soon be closing, thousands of trees will need to find homes.

“This effort was a community partnership between SCE and the city,” said Nena McCullough, SCE Local Public Affairs region manager. “We’ve completed several maintenance projects in the city recently and had to remove trees close to power lines, so this was an opportunity to give back to the community.”