The Fall 2025 Giveaway is now closed. We give out all the trees that have not been picked up at 2 pm.
Native Tree Giveaway
Trees are Cool!
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 tremendously benefit wildlife by providing food and shelter, and therefore counteract biodiversity loss.
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.
The Scarborough Food Security Initiative has graciously allowed us to hold the tree pick-up at their Fall Market, which is at a NEW LOCATION!
Golden Mile Parking Lot
1880 Eglinton Avenue East,
on September 27th, 2025
from 10 am to 2 pm
The Scarborough Food Security Initiative will organize a Market with local vendors, kids' games, food & drinks, live music and more. Click here to learn more about the Scarborough Food Security Initiative and how to support their essential work.
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.
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
from the Fall Tree Giveaway 2025
Appearance. Ecological Value. Growing Conditions.
White Oak
Quercus alba
White Oak is a large, hardy, long-lived shade tree and very tolerant of urban conditions. The attractive leaves often stay on the lower branches during winter and can add some privacy. Researchers believe this was a helpful defence mechanism to protect the young twigs from browsing giant sloths that went extinct about 13,000 years ago. Today, oaks sustain a complex and fascinating web of wildlife and are the ecologically most productive tree species. The leaves provide food for over 500 species of caterpillars. Caterpillars are crucial since they are the most critical food source for birds raising their babies. E.g. one pair of chickadees needs 9,000 caterpillars within six weeks of raising their young. And oaks will produce them. To better understand how vital oaks are for our ecology, especially for birds, watch Doug Tallamy's presentation and check out his newest book, "The Nature of Oaks." Oaks are the host plant for the beautiful Hairstreak butterflies.
In the fall, the leaves turn a beautiful purple and red. Once fallen, oak leaves are better mulch than wood chips. They likewise don't decompose during one season. Still, they are loose enough to offer habitat to firefly larvae, bumblebee queens, and many other beneficial insects during winter, and they are said to repel slugs and grubs.
Acorns are an abundant food source for small mammals, birds like ducks, turkeys, woodpeckers, blue jays, and even beavers and black bears. Blue Jays hide over 100 viable acorns up to one mile away from the mother tree every day for a month, making them the number one planter of oaks. Older trees often have cavities that provide shelter and nesting sites for birds and mammals.
Natural companion plants are Sugar Maple, other Oak and Hickory species, Pagoda Dogwood, Chokeberry, Asters and woodland plants.
Large
Height: 60+ ft
Width: 60+ ft
Requires full sun
Adapts to moist and dry soil conditions
Prefers acidic soil, but can grow in any soil
White Spruce/ Canadian Spruce
Picea glauca
White spruce trees are beautiful evergreens and have aromatic foliage. All evergreen trees provide superb habitat and coverage for nesting. Bark, buds, branches and huge amounts of seeds are an excellent food source, especially in winter, for birds, mammals and insects.
A spruce tree will bring a lot of life into your garden.
Photo credit: Ryan Hodett, Nova Scotia
Large
Height: 40+ ft
Width: 10-20 ft
Full sun to part shade
Moist, well-drained soil
tolerates clay
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 supply 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 underneath sugar maples.
Height: 60+ ft
Width: 40+ ft
Requires full sun to part shade
Prefers moist soil of any type
Cannot tolerate swampy conditions, salt, heavy air pollution or foot traffic
Paper Birch
Betula papyrifera
Paper birch is a medium-sized tree that can grow one or multiple stems. Its white bark is very attractive.
The role of the paper birch in ecology is to revegetate disturbed sites quickly as an early successional tree.
As a pioneer species, it can tolerate disturbed soil, typical of our city's soil, and will grow rapidly.
The seeds are food for many birds and mammals. The bark, twigs and buds are loved by many animals, from moose to deer to beaver.
Large
Height: 50 ft
Width 20 ft
Requires full sun
prefers moist, well-drained soil
of all types
Pin Cherry
Prunus pensylvanica
Pin cherry is a small, slender tree with a round, narrow crown. The attractive, reddish-brown bark features horizontal bands of orange-coloured lenticels, typical of cherry trees. Pin cherry is a fast-growing pioneer tree, living up to 40 years. Its seeds can stay viable for 100 years. The tree is also named fire cherry because it is often the first to sprout after fires.
Fragrant white flowers offer nectar and pollen to early emerging mining bees in early spring. Being part of the Prunus family, the leaves of the pin cherry are food for the caterpillars of hundreds of species of butterflies and moths. Some of the most iconic ones are the Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly, the Coral hairstreak butterfly, the Cecropia moth, the Promethean moth, and the Elegant sphinx. The berries first turn green, then red, and finally dark blue in the summer. They are a favourite of cardinals, robins and blue jays and many songbirds, hence it's also called bird cherry.
The small sour cherries can be eaten raw and made into delicious jelly, jam and preserves.
In fall, the leaves turn a vibrant orange-red colour.
Small tree
Height: 25 -30 ft
Width: 18-25 ft
full sun
Adaptable to many soil types, well-drained
Silver Maple
Acer saccharinum
Silver maple is a large, fast-growing shade tree of great value to our native wildlife.
Silver maple is among the very first trees to bloom in spring. Even though it is wind-pollinated, its pollen is vital for pollinators emerging from dormancy. The leaves feed almost 300 caterpillar species that supply ample food for breeding birds. The early-ripening seeds are eaten by finches, grosbeaks, wild turkeys, ducks, and various mammals. The twigs, buds, and bark become a lifesaving winter food source for small mammals and deer. Silver maple sap, which is not as sweet as sugar maple sap, will drip out of minor injuries and is enjoyed by birds and small mammals in late winter.
Great understory trees are American elderberry, hazelnut, pagoda dogwood, and fragrant sumac.
Native Solomon's seal, Canada wild ginger, wild geranium, foamflower, wood asters, New England asters, grey goldenrod, blue stem goldenrod and zigzag goldenrod are perfect ground covers and pollinator plants underneath red maples.
Silver maple is easy to establish since it is adaptable to a wide variety of soil conditions and will grow rapidly, providing great shade. It is a pioneer species and, therefore, requires full sun to very light shade. It has a beautiful shape. The silver-green leaves turn an attractive gold in the fall.
Great companion trees for silver 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, wood asters, New England aster, blue-stemmed goldenrod, and zigzag goldenrod are perfect ground covers and pollinator plants underneath silver maples.
Height: 50+ ft
Width: 30+ ft
Requires full sun
Prefers moist, well-drained soil of any type
Large Shrubs
Downy Serviceberry
Amelanchier arborea
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.
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.
Downy serviceberry is a versatile tree but doesn't tolerate pollution.
Height: 15-25 ft
Width: 15-25 ft
Minimum of 4 hours of direct sun
Moist to dry, well-drained soil of various types
Red Elderberry
Sambucus racemosa
Red Elderberry is an attractive shrub for a woodland setting that gets at least 4 hours of sun. It has white flowers and very showy red berries. As a late-successional shrub, it thrives in humus-rich, moist woodland soil.
Showy, pyramidical white flower clusters bloom in May and attract small, early emerging bees of different genera with their pollen. The berries are a valuable food source for birds during fall migration and winter. Robins, thrushes, cedar waxwings, grosbeaks, tanagers and finches can be observed eating the berries.
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!
Uncooked berries are toxic to humans because of their seeds. Once cooked, the berries are a treat as jellies or preserves. Indigenous peoples have used red elderberry to treat many ailments.
Height: 4-8 ft
Width: 3-6 ft
Very adaptable to full sun and partial shade
Prefers acidic soil but can grow in moist, well-drained to average soil of various types
Round-leaf dogwood is an attractive understory shrub. In the wild, it grows under large trees, like oaks and maples.
It has clusters of white flowers in spring and provides an excellent early-season source of pollen and nectar. It allows specialist mining bees that depend on its specific pollen to reproduce, but it also allows a wide array of different species of bees access to its nectar through its open flower form. Round-leaf dogwood feeds the caterpillars of the elegant Spring and Summer Azure butterfly as a host plant. The bluish-white berries provide food for many fruit-eating birds, including cedar waxwings and cardinals.
Its leaves put on a colourful show in the fall; depending on the year's weather, in shades of pink, orange, crimson red, yellow or purple.
Note: The picture is of a red osier dogwood. Round-leaf dogwood looks very similar, but the leaves are rounder.
Small
Height: 5- 10 ft
Width:5+ ft
Very adaptable to full sun to partial shade
Dry to medium-moist, well-drained loam or clay
Round-leaf Dogwood
Cornus ragusa
Smaller Shrubs
Shrubs are essential for birds, providing cover and nutritious berries and seeds
Black Chokeberry
Black chokecherry is one of my favourite plants! It is a very adaptable, small to medium-sized shrub that tolerates salt, compacted and wet soil.
Showy white flower clusters bloom in late spring and offer pollen and nectar, accessible to small and large bees. The berries are very high in antioxidants and vitamin C, and are enjoyable made into jam, juice, syrup and wine. They often stay on the shrub into winter and provide a winter food source for resident birds.
The fall colour is stunning, when the glossy green leaves turn into bright orange, red and purple.
Height: 3-8 ft
Width 2-6 ft
Very adaptable to full sun and part sun
Wet to average soil of various types
Common Ninebark
Common Ninebark is a large, wide, and tough shrub, tolerant of urban conditions, but requires good airflow. In early summer, a sea of clusters of white flowers attracts 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.
www.mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/common-ninebark/#overview
Height: 8+ ft
Width: 8+ ft
Full sun with good airflow
Various soil conditions
Flowering Purple Raspberry
A small, fast-growing shrub with large fragrant rose-like flowers and a mounded growth habit.
Provides exceptional high value for songbirds and small mammals by providing berries and safe nesting sites through thicket-forming growth. Attracts all-sized bees with its fragrant flowers. The hollow stems, once cut, provide ideal natural nesting sites for native stem-nesting bees. Needs good airflow.
Height: 5+ ft
Width: 8+ ft
Grows in full sun to partial shade
Moist to dry soils of various types
Bush Honeysuckle
A hardy shrub with small yellow trumpet-shaped flowers, tolerant of various conditions.
Mounded, multi-stemmed, thicket-forming. Bees, butterflies and other pollinators love the plant’s nectar and pollen. Check out the great article about honeysuckle on www.wildseedproject.net
SOLD OUT
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.
Finding the right spot
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 three 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.
Get a sign for your garden
