Plant a Native Tree in Your Yard
Enhance your yard and start building your home oasis! Homeowners in eligible neighbourhoods can request a free tree that CVC’s home planting team will deliver and help plant.
Planting trees on your property provides shade and privacy, adds beauty and colour, creates habitat for pollinators and birds and helps reduce the impacts of climate change. Plant more than one to add layers or create a grouping.
Eligible Neighbourhoods
Free trees are now available to homeowners in Georgetown’s Hungry Hollow SNAP, Brampton’s Fletchers Creek SNAP and Community Tree Project neighbourhoods, the Village of Inglewood and Mississauga’s Cooksville SNAP. Please check your address on our eligibility map.
Live in an eligible area? Share this opportunity with your neighbours! Send this webpage link and let them know you’ve signed up.
Additional Information:
- There is a limit of one free tree per household.
- Additional trees and shrubs are available for purchase at the time of your free tree order.
- Our home planting team will plant the free tree and teach you how to plant any additional trees or shrubs.
- Plantings will be scheduled for spring and fall.
- Free trees will be in two gallon pots.
Top Trees for Your Yard 2025
Latin name: Quercus rubra
Type: Large tree, 15 to 20 metres tall
Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Soil: Sand, loam or clay soils
Moisture: Dry to slightly moist
Tolerances: Drought, salt, juglones
Description: Supports hundreds of species of caterpillars that many birds feed on during migration and breeding season. Mature trees produce acorns in the fall, attracting birds like blue jays. Leaves turn red-brown in the fall.
Planting Notes: Plant a minimum of three metres away from house or structures.
Watch this video to learn why red oak is one our top trees.
Latin name: Amelanchier laevis
Type: Small tree, five to eight metres tall
Exposure: Full sun to shade
Soil: Sand, loam or clay soils
Moisture: Dry to slightly moist
Tolerances: Juglones
Description: White blooms provide nectar for pollinators in early spring. Dark purple berries attract birds in June. Leaves turn a brilliant red-orange in the fall.
Planting Notes: Plant in part shade below large trees to create layers of different heights in your yard.
Watch this video to learn why smooth serviceberry is one of our top trees.
Latin name: Cornus alternifolia
Type: Small tree, five to eight metres tall
Exposure: Full sun to shade
Soil: Sand, loam or clay soils
Moisture: Dry to slightly moist
Tolerances: Compaction, juglones
Description: Attractive horizontal layering of branches and deep green leaves support flat-topped clusters of cream-coloured flowers. Blue berries appear on red stems come summer, attracting a variety of birds, such as gray catbirds, cedar waxwings and grosbeaks.
Planting Notes: Plant in part shade below large trees to create different heights and variety in your yard. Will tolerate clay soils that drain well.
Watch this video to learn why alternate-leaved dogwood is one of our top trees.
Latin name: Juniperus virginiana
Type: Medium tree, 10 to 15 metres tall
Exposure: Full sun
Soil: Sand, loam or clay soils
Moisture: Dry to slightly moist
Tolerances: Drought, salt, juglones
Description: Good windbreak and screening provides privacy around homes and protection for birds like owls and sparrows year-round. Bluish-grey berries provide food for birds like cedar waxwings.
Planting Notes: Do not plant near apple, crabapple, hawthorn, serviceberry or roses due to cedar-rust diseases.
Watch this video to learn why eastern red cedar is one of our top trees.
Latin name: Acer x freemanii
Type: Large tree, 15 to 20 metres tall
Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Soil: Sand, loam or clay soils
Moisture: Dry to slightly moist
Tolerances: Drought, compaction
Description: Hardy and fast-growing. Small red flowers appear in early spring providing bees with a much-needed food source. Bright green leaves turn brilliant yellow, orange or red in the fall. Supports almost 300 different caterpillar species.
Planting Notes: Plant a minimum three metres away from house or structures.
Watch this video to learn why eastern red cedar is one of our top trees.
Latin name: Betula papyrifera
Type: Medium tree, 12 to 17 metres tall
Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Soil: Sand, loam or clay soils
Moisture: Dry to moist
Tolerances: Salt
Description: Distinctive white peeling bark. Seeds attract caterpillars and birds such as goldfinches. High sap content is also attractive to many birds and insects. Leaves turn yellow in the fall.
Planting Notes: Plant with an evergreen like red cedar for a striking winter display and year-round habitat.
Watch this video and learn why paper birch is one of our top trees.
Latin name: Celtis occidentalis
Type: Large tree, 13 to 18 metres tall
Exposure: Sun to part shade
Soil: Sand or loam soils
Moisture: Dry to moist
Tolerances: Urban conditions, salt
Description: Smooth bark when young matures into corky, deeply-ridged bark. Flowers appear in dense clusters and produce small dark purple fruit that attracts birds.
Planting Notes: Plant a minimum of three metres away from house or structures. Can be planted in moist areas such as swales.
Watch this video to learn why common hackberry is one of our top trees.
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Top Trees
Residential Plantings
