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Spring 2026 Giveaway is now up.
Place your order at
the bottom of the site.
Native Tree Giveaway
Trees for our Next Generation
Native Trees Restore Biodiversity and Keep us Cool.
40% tree coverage is needed to get a cooling effect in a city. In Toronto, we have neighbourhoods that lack tree coverage, and we want to help change this. We can all plant another native tree in our yard and therefore will play an active part in making the world a better place for us, future generations, and wildlife alike. And we thank you for planting the biggest possible tree for your available space to make the most significant impact.
This tree giveaway, we also want to ask you to take some time and find a way to share the tree giveaway with people in neighbourhoods with low tree canopy. This will have a greater benefit to the living standard of our City as a whole. Through providing excellent shade and through transpiration, trees reduce the City's heat island effect by 5ºC in summer. As a windbreak, they also save heating costs in winter. Their green appearance, beauty, and scent reduce stress, increase school performance, and contribute to our overall health and well-being. One Oak, Maple, or other medium-sized tree sequesters over 3200 kg of CO2, mitigates about 513,000 litres of stormwater, and removes around 77 kg of air pollutants during its life. Trees provide privacy and increase property value by up to 20% for your property and neighbourhood.
Native trees also greatly benefit wildlife by providing food and shelter, thereby helping counter biodiversity loss.
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The City of Toronto has the visionary goal of a 40% tree canopy cover by 2050 to become one of the most livable cities in the world. The City has made this event possible by generously providing all the trees through a
Community Planting & Stewardship Grant for this Neighbourhood Tree Giveaway.
Therefore, the trees and shrubs are for Toronto residents only and can only be planted within City boundaries on private property.
​​ We will have the spring tree pick-up in cooperation with Anson Park Public School this Spring.
NEW LOCATION!
Anson Park Pubic School
30 Macduff Crescent,
Scarborough, M1M 1X5
on May 13th, 2026
from 5 pm to 7 pm
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Anson Park Public School will hold their Family Wellness Night at the same time. Everyone is invited.
​You can order free native trees/shrubs to plant on your private property within Toronto's borders. Check out the offered species below and match them to your garden conditions and space. ​
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Good to know:
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All trees are native to Toronto and suited for our urban environment.
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The trees come in 1-gallon pots and are small enough to be carried home easily.
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For the long-term health of a tree, it is much better to plant younger trees than more developed trees since their root system is not damaged from growing too long in too small pots and becoming root-bound or grown in nursery beds and getting their roots regularly cut and severed. The very best way to achieve the long-term success of a tree would be to plant a few-month-old saplings if you can protect them.
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When you plant any tree, make sure to open up the roots so they do not keep growing in a circle!
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In the wild, trees grow in communities. Planting in groups of at least two to three trees together on a 6-foot center is ideal. The tree roots will interlock, giving them excellent stability, and they will support each other in producing a healthy, resilient environment.
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It is best to remove the lawn generously around the tree/s and replace it with some understory trees, shrubs, ground cover or sedges. This enables a small ecosystem to get to work; insects will complete their life cycle in the soil because they have a soft landing when they fall off the tree and, therefore, can fulfill their role in the food web as a protein-rich food source for other wildlife, like our birds. Additionally, the soil around the root system will not constantly get compacted by mowing the lawn, so the soil organisms can form beneficial mutual relations with the trees and enhance their health. Check out the concept of a soft landing on Heather Holm's fantastic website.
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The soil around the tree must always be covered to stay alive and for the tree to thrive. Mulch, like wood chips or leaves, is commonly used. Even better are plants as ground cover, like wild strawberry, wild ginger, native Solomon's seal or native sedges. Rainfall on bare soil compacts the soil and causes depletion of nutrients and all beneficial soil life.
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The mulch cannot touch the tree trunk, which causes rot, but it should be put around in a doughnut shape.
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Thanks to Birchcliff Treecare, we have free mulch available at the old location, 3995 St. Clair Ave East, behind the white garden fence. Please feel free to go there and pick up mulch.
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A pollinator garden with short plants so that the tree gets enough sunlight can also be planted around the tree and maintained as long as the tree is still small and doesn't shade the pollinator plants.
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Fall is the best time to plant a tree since it doesn't need to produce seeds, and the roots still grow as long as the soil isn't frozen.
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Spring is the second-best time to plant a tree because trees don't need to deal with the stresses of the summer heat, but since they need to produce leaves and flowers, they need a lot more water to perform these tasks.
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It is imperative to protect young trees from damage. One small nick with the lawnmower will develop into a larger wound as the tree grows. Trees can never heal their injuries, and the injuries will always stay a weaker entrance point for disease.
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Plant your trees and shrubs as soon as possible, best within a week.
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Call OntarioOneCall at least five days before you dig. It's the law.
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Species of the trees/shrubs are subject to availability and may change or be substituted.
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Some of the offered species are edible for humans. Please conduct thorough research on how to prepare the plant for safe human consumption. Also, remember that wild food is very potent. Please always test with small quantities if you might be allergic to a particular compound. And only eat small quantities.
Profiles of the Powerhouse Trees
Appearance. Ecological Value. Growing Conditions.
Bur Oak
Quercus macrocarpa
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Bur oaks have a beautiful open crown and are most tolerant of urban conditions.
These resilient trees are incredibly adaptable to all soil and moisture conditions. They thrive even in poor and compacted soils and are salt tolerant. Once established, their vast root system will enable them to access moisture deep in the ground and survive droughts but also seasonal flooding.
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Like all oaks, the bur oak is an ecological powerhouse:
In the spring, they support breeding birds with an ample supply of caterpillars, and even though they are wind-pollinated, they are an essential pollen source for early emerging bees, like bumblebee queens.
Many birds and mammals favour their sweet acorns, which are also edible by humans, ground into flour to make bread.
The tree’s branches will be homes for many birds and mammals.
Bur oaks need at least 5 hours of direct sunlight between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
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In ideal conditions, bur oaks live up to 400 years, and their thick bark allows them to survive fires.
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Large​
Height: 70+ ft
​Width: 70+ ft
Requires a minimum of 4 hours of sun
Adapts to moist and dry soil conditions
Basswood
Tilia americana
Basswood trees are large, fast-growing trees with dense foliage and a uniform round crown. By providing excellent shade, they lower our energy usage and provide shelter for wildlife.
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The beautiful, huge, heart-shaped leaves support 140 caterpillar species in Toronto. The most beautiful ones are the Eastern tiger swallowtail, the Luna moth, the mourning cloak, the Promethea silk moth and the question mark. Abundant caterpillars are instrumental in stopping bird decline since they are the most essential food source for all migrating songbirds rearing their young.
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In midsummer, the bountiful yellow to cream-coloured flowers fill the air with their sweet fragrance and offer rich nectar to pollinators.
In the fall and winter, chipmunks, songbirds, and even foxes, among other wildlife, feed on their seeds.
Basswood trees like to grow with sugar maple, American beech, ash, shagbark hickory, and oaks. Great understory shrubs are common snowberry, serviceberry, viburnum, and American hazelnut. Wild ginger, Virgin's bower, spikenard, native Solomon's seal, and goldenrods are perfect groundcover plants.
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Large
Height: 60+ ft
Width: 30+ ft
Full sun to partial shade
Moist, well-drained soil
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Source: www.lrconline.com/Extension_Notes_English/pdf/bsswd.pdf
Photo credit: Fritz Flohr Reynolds
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum
The sugar maple is a large shade tree with light green leaves that turn an attractive yellow-orange or fiery red in the fall. It is slow-growing and can live for more than 200 years. Sugar Maple is of great value to our native wildlife. Maples are among the first trees to bloom in spring. Even though they are wind-pollinated, they offer nectar and pollen and are vital for pollinators emerging from dormancy. The leaves feed almost 300 caterpillar species that provide ample food for breeding birds. Orioles, wrens, warblers, and various mammals eat the seeds. The twigs, buds, and bark become a lifesaving winter food source for small mammals, birds, and deer.
Sugar Maple trees draw water from lower soil layers. They exude that water into the upper, drier soil layers, which benefits all the understory plants.
Great companion trees for sugar maple trees are ironwood, beech, basswood, white ash, black cherry, yellow birch, Eastern white pine, Northern red oak, and Eastern hemlock. Great understory trees are American elderberry, hazelnut, pagoda dogwood, and bush honeysuckle.
Native Solomon's seal, Canada wild ginger, wild geranium, foamflower, and even wood asters, New England asters, grey goldenrod, blue stem goldenrod, and zigzag goldenrod are perfect ground covers and pollinator plants beneath sugar maples.
Height: 60+ ft
Width: 40+ ft
Requires full sun to part shade
Prefers moist, well-drained soil of any type
Cannot tolerate swampy conditions, salt, heavy air pollution or foot traffic
Large Shrubs
Serviceberry
Amelanchier canadensis
Serviceberry is an adaptable large shrub or small tree, depending on whether it is pruned to a single-stem tree or left to form a multi-stemmed shrub.
Serviceberry trees provide very high ecological value for wildlife and are beautiful year-round.
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Serviceberry trees put on a show of white flowers in spring and provide an excellent early-season source of pollen and nectar. The open form of the flowers allows many different kinds of bees access to their nectar. The leaves support 100 different caterpillar species, including the caterpillars of the White admiral and the Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly. The small, round, sweet berries ripen in the summer. They are edible, super delicious and healthy, even in large quantities. They are a sought-after berry for over 40 species of birds, including orioles, bluebirds, cedar waxwings, scarlet tanagers, northern flickers, and robins, so we might not get too many. The tree produces more berries when it gets more sun.
In the fall, the leaves turn into an array of stunning colours, from orange to purple and red.
Serviceberry is a versatile tree but doesn't tolerate pollution.
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Height: 10-20 ft
Width: 15+ ft
Minimum of 4 hours of direct sun
Moist to dry, well-drained soil of various types
Common Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
Common Elderberry, also known as American Elderberry, is a hardy, fast-growing shrub that can tolerate some air pollution.
Showy, big clusters of tiny white flowers bloom in July and attract small bees of different genera with their pollen. The fragrant flowers, once cooked, are incredibly delicious as fritters, syrup, or jelly, and are reminiscent of lychee and pear. Plenty of berries ripen in August and turn black and sweet. Many birds devour the berries, including Eastern Bluebirds, Northern Cardinals, and Cedar Waxwings. Uncooked berries are toxic to humans. Once cooked, the berries are said to boost our immune system and are a treat as jellies or in pies. Many moth species can eat the leaves of this plant in their caterpillar stage, including the spectacular Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia), North America's largest moth!
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Height: 5-8+ ft
Width: 6-10 ft
Very adaptable to full sun and partial shade
Prefers acidic soil but can grow in moist, well-drained to dry soil of various types
Eastern Red Cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Eastern Red Cedar is actually a juniper.
As a very hardy pioneer species, it is great for tough places as it is wind, cold, drought, and salt tolerant and grows on sandy, rocky or heavy clay soil. But it requires a sunny spot.
Don't plant it close to apple, pear, or quince trees since it is an alternate host for cedar-apple rust, a Gymnosporangium pathogen that is destructive to those fruit trees.
Eastern red cedar provides significant food and shelter for wildlife. The fruits on female trees provide food for many songbirds, including the Cedar Waxwing and a wide variety of wildlife.
Height: 30+ ft
Width: 6-9 ft
Grows in full sun
Moist to dry, well-drained soils of various types
Drought-tolerant once established
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Smaller Shrubs
Shrubs are essential for birds, providing cover and nutritious berries and seeds.
Shrubs also provide abundant nectar and pollen for bees and often bloom early.
Pictures of shrubs are only available on desktop.
Witch Hazel
Hamamelis virginiana
Witch hazel is an attractive and unusual small tree or large shrub because it blooms in late fall, often after the leaves have fallen. The yellow ribbon-like flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees, beetles, flies and predatory insects. Witch hazel is the larval host plant for many moth species, including the unicorn caterpillar moth. Its seeds attract many birds, and they can shoot out of the seed pods up to 30 feet. The leaves turn yellow lin fall.
It can tolerate shady spots, but not full shade, and is salt-tolerant.
Height: 10-20 ft
Width: 10+ ft
Very adaptable to partial sun, partial shade or even shade
Prefers moist to medium well-drained soil
of various types, including clay
Common Ninebark
Physocarpus opulifolius
Common Ninebark is a wide, large, and tough shrub, tolerant of urban conditions but requires good airflow. In early summer, a sea of clusters of white flowers attract many pollinators, and their leaves feed over 30 caterpillar species, including the Cecropia silkmoth. The green leaves turn coppery-bronze in the fall, and for an all-season interest, the seed capsules persist throughout fall and winter. The birds love the seeds and the dense growing habit as a safe place.
Photo: Jean-Pol_GRANDMONT
Height: 8 ft
Width: 8 ft
Best grown in full sun, but can tolerate partial sun.
Moist to dry, well-drained soil of various types
Meadowsweet
Spirea alba
Meadowsweet is a small shrub with light green leaves that blooms in summer. Its white flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees, and its nectar also attracts butterflies. It grows best in full to partial sun in moist areas, ideal right at the downspout or in a rain garden. It is the host plant for the spring azure butterfly.
Birds enjoy the seeds.
Golden fall colour.
Height: 6 ft
Width: 4-6 ft
Thrives in full sun
Moist to wet soils, can tolerate occasional flooding
Red Osier Dogwood
Cornus sericea
Red Osier Dogwood is a prolific early bloomer that attracts many bees. The white berries ripen in summer and are devoured by songbirds. It puts on a second show of flowers with berries in the fall.
Red osier dogwood spreads fast in moist conditions, and the bright red young stems look gorgeous in a snowy winter.
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Height: 5-8+ ft
Width: 6-12 ft
Very adaptable to full sun and partial shade
Adapted to alkaline city soil, clay. It can grow in moist to dry soil of various types.
How to Support Your Tree for best Growth and Health
All the offered trees and shrubs are quite easy to grow and are adapted to our climate and urban stresses. It is still important to find the right tree for your needs and the right location in your yard for your tree.
Assessing Your Yard
What should the purpose of your tree be?
Space, sun and moisture determine greatly which species can grow in a given spot.
Planting Your Tree
Trees and shrubs are best planted in the fall. It is most important to loosen and open up the roots in the root ball. If the roots have grown in a circular motion, they will stay that way but become bigger and eventually strangle the tree. By taking care while planting, you can significantly increase your tree's resilience, health and the age your tree can reach.
Mulching with wood chips or leaves will keep the soil moist longer, suppress weeds and kick-start the mycorrhizal fungal networks and other soil microorganisms that have beneficial relations with your tree.
Caring for Your Tree
Deep Watering!
It is essential to help develop a healthy root system in the first years. Keep the hose close to the tree on a slow trickle for 15 minutes to allow the water to infiltrate deep into the soil. Then move the hose and repeat 3 times so that all four corners are well watered. This will encourage the tree to develop a deep rather than a shallow root system which makes your tree more resilient to drought and storms.