🌳 Community Spotlight: Sandhill Native Growers 🌳

When creating a memorial meant to last forever, we look to nature – specifically, to native forests. In those forests, we see the qualities that define true community: resilience, interdependence, relationships, and support. Those same qualities felt like the perfect way to honor Sgt. Elio Diaz through his own memorial forest.

But how do you jump-start a forest that will one day stand on its own? We turned to the Miyawaki Method, developed more than 50 years ago by a Japanese botanist and now used around the world to create fast-growing, self-sustaining forests. A core principle of this method is biodiversity – recreating the layers and variety found in a natural ecosystem. And for that, we needed trees. Hundreds of them. Over 400, in fact.

So we reached out to Sandhill Native Growers, a fantastic local nursery dedicated to Florida’s native plants. Sandhill generously contributed more than 100 trees and shrubs, including live oaks, elms, red bays, slash pines, and water oaks – foundational species that will help anchor the memorial forest as it grows.

Because of their support, visitors will someday walk beneath a canopy that offers shade, shelter, and habitat. A living legacy that honors Sgt. Diaz not only for how he served, but for how his spirit continues to take root in the community he loved.

Please join us in thanking Sandhill Native Growers for their generosity and partnership.