Project Canopy

Project Canopy is the club’s  initiative to plant native and flowering trees in public green spaces and schools in the City of Coral Gables.  This project encourages our youth and residents to be stewards of the earth and good gardeners, tending and watering their young trees.  Trees and plants that encourage our native wildlife and pollinators to visit are a focus for the Coral Gables Garden Club.

Project  Canopy's new initiative will be supporting the City of Coral Gables plan to install a microforest on the land north of Coral Way on the Country Club Prado. Microforests are small, dense patches of forest plants native to the location of the forest. These tiny forests are increasingly being used as a climate change solution. 

The project will feature approximately 100 native trees and large shrubs, helping the City Beautiful maintain more than 40% tree canopy coverage and preserve its Tree City USA designation of over 40 years.

Located at a major gateway into Coral Gables, the microforest will provide lasting environmental and community benefits, including increased shade, improved stormwater management, enhanced wildlife habitat for birds and pollinators, and a beautiful passive park with walking paths and benches for residents to enjoy. Below is an example of a microforest.

Your support of the Coral Gables Garden Club's Project Canopy Micro-Forest Initiative will help fund the installation of a native micro-forest along Coral Way at Country Club Prado.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

$25,000 Southern Live Oak Sponsor

The Signature Tree of Coral Gables

The magnificent Southern Live Oak is the undisputed monarch of the City's tree canopy. Reaching 50–80 feet tall with branches that can spread more than 100 feet, these iconic trees can live for centuries. Exceptionally wind-resistant and salt-tolerant, they provide abundant shade, wildlife habitat, and enduring beauty for generations.

Current Sponsor: Coral Gables Garden Club

$10,000 Gumbo Limbo Sponsor

The "Tourist Tree"

Known for its distinctive red, peeling bark that resembles a sunburned visitor, the Gumbo Limbo is one of South Florida's most beloved native trees. Growing up to 40 feet tall, it is remarkably resilient—withstanding hurricanes, drought, and coastal conditions while providing valuable shade and habitat.

Current Sponsor:  The Jude Family Foundation

$5,000  Dade County Pine Sponsor

A Florida Native Landmark

The Dade County Pine is a towering native evergreen that can reach heights of 80–100 feet. Once a defining feature of South Florida's landscape, it plays an important role in supporting birds and wildlife while adding year-round beauty to the urban forest.

Current Sponsors: The Davey Tree Company • Symx Corp

$2,500 Wild Tamarind Sponsor

A Haven for Butterflies and Birds

With its graceful, fern-like foliage, fragrant white blooms, and broad umbrella-shaped canopy, the Wild Tamarind is one of South Florida's most attractive native trees. It serves as a host plant for several native butterfly species while providing shelter and nesting habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Current Sponsor: Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson

$1,000  Bay Rum Sponsor

Fragrance Meets Function

The Bay Rum tree is prized for its aromatic leaves, long used to produce the classic bay rum fragrance. This attractive evergreen features glossy foliage, delicate white flowers, and dark berries that provide food for birds while adding year-round interest to the landscape.

$500  Jamaican Caper Sponsor

Small Tree, Big Impact

The hardy Jamaican Caper is a Florida native celebrated for its fragrant white blossoms, striking bronze new growth, and exceptional tolerance of salt, wind, and drought. A favorite of pollinators, it is also the primary host plant for the Florida White Butterfly, making it an important contributor to our local ecosystem.

Photo by Witney Tree Keepers.

The City of Coral Gables Microforest

Coral Gables High School receives forty-five native trees.

This September of 2024, forty-five young native trees were planted through the efforts of the Enviromental Chair of the Coral Gables Garden Club, Vice-Mayor Anderson. Forty-one small gumbo limbos and four mahogany trees are in the high school's parking lot on the east side. Many volunteers came out for this planting, including garden club members, the fire department, the Rotary Club, and the students of the environmental and PACE clubs. We are continuing our legacy of increasing the tree canopy of Coral Gables one planting at a time. Thanks to Principal Balboa and Natacha Lezscano for their coordinated efforts with the club and the Vice- Mayor.

Coral Gables Golf Course was gifted 4 new flowering trees.... 

Thanks to Vice-Mayor Rhonda Anderson's generous contribution  to support tree planting around the Coral Gables Golf Course, an area with insufficient shade, the Coral Gables Garden Club planted 4 new flowering trees.. Given that the course is popular among walkers, the Club saw an opportunity to enhance the landscape by adding flowering trees to complement the existing Silk Floss and Royal Poinciana trees.

In 2023, the Club’s President collaborated with the City's Public Works Department to identify optimal planting locations. Additionally, she contacted homeowners whose properties faced the golf course to ensure their support and approval, as the Club wanted to avoid obstructing views. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with residents expressing enthusiasm for adding 3 Cassia Bakeriana and 1 Cassia Fistula trees, the latter of which Vice-Mayor Anderson rescued and relocated.

The city sourced and planted the 45 gallon trees in the Spring of 2024, ensuring a vibrant display of Summer, Fall, and Spring blooms while providing future shade. To further support this project, the Coral Gables Garden Club donated $3,500 to the City’s Tree Trust Fund, which included Vice-Mayor Anderson’s original donation earmarked for these plantings.

Coral Gables High School was our last school of the 2020-2021 school year to gift native trees. 

Principal Ullivarri and the PTA chose native Mahogany trees, which grace the east side of their athletic fields.

On Dec. 4th, 2020, we planted trees at Ponce De Leon Middle School and Henry S. West Lab K-8.  

Early Friday morning, three large, beautiful Live Oak trees were delivered to Ponce De Leon Middle School, as Principal Herb Penton greeted our members and the truck carrying the trees. Bordering the school’s basketball courts, the installation was seamless thanks to Abel and his assistant Nelson. How heartwarming it was to receive thanks from attending students and staff.

Henry S. West Lab K-8 was next. We were enthusiastically greeted by members of the school’s PTO, Ana Azpúrua Knoll, Maria Martínez, Principal Barbara Pujades-Soto, the teachers, and charming little students of two kindergarten classes.  They all were delighted with their new Cassia Bakeriana trees, and the children especially loved watching the big truck and auger digging the three large holes. We were impressed with how the teachers embraced this planting as an important and fun learning experience for their small charges.