Jennifer Garner Plans To Celebrate Her Birthday Planting Trees

Jennifer Garner’s birthday is coming up on April 17, but this year she’s going to be the one giving the gifts. The actress plans to mark the occasion by giving back to the planet by spending the day planting trees.

Last year Garner marked her 50th birthday with a lavish celebration. This year, she is planning to go a little more low key. “I'm gonna plant trees,” the star of the upcoming Apple TV+ series The Last Thing He Told Me shared in an interview with Extra, noting that "51 is a lot less exciting than 50."

Garner’s day of service in the dirt is definitely a worthy cause. Planting trees is great for your yard and for your planet. A few of the benefits to planting trees include providing shade, helping remove pollutants and smoke from the air, and trees can help reduce stormwater runoff and flooding. They can also provide homes to wildlife and, perhaps most importantly, they produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide. “Studies show one acre of trees produces enough oxygen for 18 people every day,” the Georgia Forestry Commission reports. 

If that’s not enough reason to convince you to plant trees, perhaps this will do the trick: trees look great in the yard, too. Plant a maple for gorgeous fall foliage, add a dogwood, choose a stately magnolia for the front of the house, adding a few shade trees to the yard, or opt for an adorable dwarf fruit tree. Although you might want to take a quick look over the Grumpy Gardner’s guide to trees you should not plant before you plan your project. 

We think birthdays are for celebrations and celebrations are the more, the merrier in our book. So let’s all join Garner’s festivities and make this April all about planting new life in our own yards.