Get Trees for your Home, Free!

A few months ago a friend told me about an amazing service that gives home owners free trees for their yards! Yes, you heard right – absolutely FREE trees! And as someone that just bought a new house,  that price sounded perfect!

Our landscaping is brand new, and shade hasn’t been established in our yard yet. I admit, it sounded too good to be true – but having been through the process, I can tell you it’s not!

The first step to getting your Free Trees is to go to this website: http://energysavingtrees.arborday.org/#Home

• You will need to enter your address and Utility company among other information. This service is paid for by your Utility company, and The Arbor Day Foundation. If your Utility company does not participate in the program there is a form on the site to request they join.

•  Once your address has been found you will be prompted to drag a square over your property. It can be sized to fit the unique dimensions of your yard to create any shape. Next you will be asked to drag a green circle over the shape you created.
• The green circle is the Tree, and it will show you where a good place to plant is, by taking into consideration obstructions like utility poles and pools.

• Next comes the fun part! Picking out your trees! The site will let you scroll through several tree options that are right for your geographic location.
• They will also show you how much you are likely to save on your energy bill by planting each kind. I’m including an example above. You can see that planting the Mexican White Oak will save me twice as much as the Burr Oak. This tool helps you strategically plant trees for the greatest energy- and money-saving benefits!

• No guess work. Your tree will be sent to you when it’s time to plant it. It may come bigger or smaller than the two saplings I received above, depending on what tree variety you choose.
• No one will ask you for a credit card, no one will ask you for any money!

*TIP* At one point I couldn’t get the computer to locate my home. I called the hotline and they walked me through a different way to register my address. So if you have technical difficulties – try calling them. Also – if your area doesn’t have tree availability now, try again in a few months. It seems that sometimes an area reaches its max of trees to give away until the next cycle.

I hope lot’s of you will get some use out of this information! Not only do trees save you money on your energy bill – they also make your community look more beautiful! It’s a win- win!