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Tribute gifts

Tribute gifts are a unique way to celebrate, honor, and remember those people who make a difference and the occasions that matter. Recognize your family, special friends, or business colleagues; a wedding, anniversary, birthday, or retirement. Your personalized tribute gift supports The Morton Arboretum and our goal to encourage the planting and conservation of trees and other plants for a greener, healthier, and more beautiful world. 

Whether you give a general tribute gift or you dedicate a tree, bench, brick, or library book, your name and the names of those celebrated, honored, and remembered, will be entered into our Tribute Book kept in perpetuity in the Sterling Morton Library. All tribute gift donors receive an acknowledgment of their gift. Donors of $2,500 or more receive a complimentary one-year Morton 4 membership.
 

To learn more about our Tribute Program and the dedication of a tree, bench, brick, or library book, please contact the Development Office at 630-725-2027. To give a tribute gift online, click here. 

Make a gift

 

Tribute tree labelTribute trees

Find a perfect setting to celebrate, honor, and remember. With guidance from our Manager of Plant Records, you may select a tree from among our living collections to dedicate. We’ll add your personalized dedication to the engraved tag on the tree and provide copies of that tag for you and your loved ones. 

  • Tree located in Central Landscape: $4,000
  • Tree located in Living Collections: $2,500

The intent of The Morton Arboretum is to maintain tribute trees for their full life span. However, tree longevity varies with the species and environmental conditions. The Morton Arboretum commits to replacing failed trees up to ten years after a dedication.

 


 

Tribute benchTribute benches

Our tribute benches create an opportunity for visitors to sit and enjoy the Arboretum’s beauty from our gardens and trail walkways. Dedicated benches are graced with a personalized nameplate.  

  • Bench dedication of 50 years: $25,000
  • Bench dedication of 15 years: $10,000
  • Benches are subject to our limited availability. Please contact our Development Office to discuss locations currently available.

 

 

 



Tribute brick

Tribute bricks

Dedicate an engraved brick in the Tribute Walkway, located in the forecourt of the Visitor Center. The Tribute Walkway is sheltered by a stately ivy covered sugar maple and adjacent to our Tribute Garden. Newly engraved tribute bricks are placed twice a year, in spring and fall. 
  • Walkway Brick 8" X 8": $500
    (six lines of personalization, 13 characters per line)
  • Walkway Brick 4" X 8": $300
    (three lines of personalization, 13 characters per line)

 

 

 

 

Tribute book

Tribute books

The collections of The Sterling Morton Library are devoted to the literature of botany and horticulture; they also include botanical art, natural history, and children's books. With the guidance of an Arboretum librarian, you may select a book on a specific topic or with special significance. The dedicated bookplate features a woodcut print of a hawthorn branch and your personalization.
 
  • Library Book Dedication: $250