Your trees are coming!

April 12, 2021

Dear Grandparents, Parents, Guardians, Teachers, Volunteers, Coordinators, Students, and Children,

Your trees are coming soon – sometime next week (hopefully before or on Earth Day – April 22nd)!  Your school, library, or youth group leader will be in touch with you.

This message contains important information about your new tree, including planting instructions and species information.

First, I want you to know that you are one of 18,500 people that will be planting trees for Earth Week. You are part of one of the largest coordinated, volunteer, urban / residential tree planting projects in America!

This year has been special for us. In late February, our program went viral among librarians.  We had a 20x surge in interest in our program from last year and a record 3x growth in the number of trees we are giving away.

We are thrilled that you are participating!

We would love for you to share a photo of your newly planted tree with your child(ren) on our Facebook page (or you can email us directly). We love collecting “then and nows” of the kids with their trees.

Our program is funded by a growing community of generous sponsors.

If you or someone you know would like to be a sponsor of our program, please let us know.

Since we had such an unexpected increase in demand for trees, we found ourselves in a bit of a funding gap. One of our friends decided to help us by starting this lovely GoFundMe campaign.

Check out her cool video and song, “I Love Trees!”

Katie Strand's "I Love Trees" Neighborhood Forest

If you know anyone who might like to contribute to our program, feel free to spread the word!

We are giving away 7 different species of trees in 35 states this year:

Coast Live Oak
(California)

Eldarica Pine
(New Mexico and Texas)

Hackberry 
(Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, parts of Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee)

Loblolly Pine 
(Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, parts of North Carolina, South Carolina)

Virginia Pine 
(Parts of North Carolina, Virginia)

White Pine 
(Connecticut, Massachusetts, parts of Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island)

White Spruce 
(Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming)

These are all beautiful trees!

Please click here to learn more about your tree.

Please click here to see planting instructions for both evergreen and deciduous variety.

Some key points to keep in mind:

1) Keep your tree in a cool, dark place (refrigerated for those in northern states) until you plant it

2) Protect your newly planted tree from wildlife and lawnmowers with a little fence and netting

3) Put some mulch around it

4) Water generously or in accordance with recommendations for your particular tree species

5) Please take a picture of your child(ren) with your newly planted tree (and share on our Facebook page, if you are comfortable) – watching your tree and kids grow together is a magical joy!

Finally, I want to say that these trees are small and vulnerable.  Not all of them survive and that is Ok.  It is a part of life and a part of the tree planting process. We do our part and then we have to leave the rest to Mother Nature. A lost tree seedling might break your child’s heart and there is a great lesson in this too. We mustn’t give up! We will keep sending you trees each year and we will keep on planting them.

I had to plant many trees before this one finally made it and reached maturity!

One of my favorite lessons around this is from Tyler Perry. He has great wisdom, which not only relates to planting trees but all aspects of life.

Thank you, again, for participating in Neighborhood Forest’s 12th annual free tree giveaway.  We are excited to see all the smiling faces with their little trees!

Happy Earth Day, Happy Arbor Day, Happy Earth Week, and Happy Spring!

Warmly,
Vikas

____________________________

Vikas Narula
Founder
Neighborhood Forest
5244 Zenith Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55410
www.neighborhoodforest.org

2021 Tree Species Details

Coast Live Oak

(California)

The Coast Live Oak is a beautiful evergreen oak native to California. It is drought-resistant and can reach a height of 25-82 ft tall. Some trees have been recorded to live longer than 250 years! Oaks attract a variety of birds and butterflies.

A great many birds, mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates utilize oak trees and oak woodlands, and they’re among the most important wildlife plants.

Many butterflies use Oaks as a host plant, including California Sister, Propertius Duskywing, Golden Hairstreak, and others.

This tree is relatively easy to care for. It does best in full sun or part shade, low moisture, medium soil drainage, and only needs summer irrigation one time per month (max) once established.

Oaks provide tremendous benefits for all. They provide homes to wildlife, feed pollinators, clean and recharge groundwater, provide a playground for kids, and cool shade for all.

Source: Calscape.org

Eldarica Pine

(New Mexico, Texas)

The Eldarica pine is a tree with strong, wide-spaced branches.  It gives off a mild, fresh fragrance and has stiff, long, dark green needles at maturity.

It tolerates heat, wind, and dry conditions very well, and can also thrive in colder climates.

The Eldarica pine grows to a height of 30–60 feet and a spread of 25–40 feet at maturity. This tree grows at a medium rate, with height increases of 13–24 inches per year.

Full sun is the ideal condition for this tree, meaning it should get at least six hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight each day.

An Eldarica pine windbreak makes valuable cover, nesting, and breeding areas for songbirds.

Source: Arbor Day Foundation

Hackberry

(Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, parts of Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee)

The hackberry is commonly heralded by tree experts as “one tough tree.” Found on a wide range of soils east of the Rockies from southern Canada to Florida, these trees thrive in a broad span of temperatures and on sites that vary from 14 to 60″ of annual rainfall. They can even stand up to strong winds and tolerate air pollution.  

The hackberry grows well in a variety of soils.  It has some tolerance for both flooding and drought.

All of this hardiness adds up to a good landscape choice, particularly if you’re looking for an energy-conserving shade tree that doesn’t require watering.

The hackberry grows to a height of 40–60 feet and a spread of 40–60 feet at maturity. This tree grows at a medium to fast rate, with height increases of anywhere from 13 inches to more than 24 inches per year.

Hackberry
Hackberry seedlings - Celtis occidentalis - Chief River Nursery - Chief  River Nursery

Full sun is the ideal condition for this tree, meaning it should get at least six hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight each day.

The hackberry forms characteristic corky ridges and warts on trunk and branches and tolerates strong winds, pollution, heat, drought, and salt.  

It has a growth pattern that resembles the elm – without the susceptibility to disease.

The fruit of the hackberry is popular with winter birds, especially the cedar waxwing, mockingbird and robin. The tree also attracts many butterfly species including American snout, hackberry, mourning cloak, and tawny emperor.

Source: Arbor Day Foundation

Loblolly Pine

(Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, parts of North Carolina, South Carolina)

The loblolly pine is one of the fastest-growing southern pines. This tree is used as a quick-screen in many landscapes. It grows in a wide variety of soils and is drought tolerant.

The loblolly pine grows to 60-100 feet in height with a 25-35 foot spread. It grows at a fast rate, with height increases of more than 24 inches per year.

Full sun is the ideal condition for this tree, meaning it should get at least six hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight each day.

While it prefers normal moisture, the tree can tolerate some flooding and moderate drought.

Loblolly pines provide shelter and food for many southeastern animals, including birds such as Carolina chickadees, brown-headed nuthatches, rufous-sided towhees, northern bobwhites, and wild turkeys. The seeds are also consumed by chipmunks, squirrels, and other small rodents.

The loblolly is native to the east coast of North America from New Jersey to Florida and Texas. It has a long history with the pioneers and is very aromatic, thus sometimes known as “rosemary” pine.

Source: Arbor Day Foundation

Virginia Pine

(Parts of North Carolina, Virginia)

The Virginia pine is a medium-sized tree that can grow to a size range of 10–60 feet but can grow larger under optimum conditions. The trunk can be as large as 20 inches in diameter. This tree prefers well-drained soil or clay, but will also grow on very poor, sandy soil, where it remains small and stunted. The typical life span is 65 to 90 years.

Wholesale Virginia Pine Trees $3.75 - Tennessee Nursery

This pine is useful for reforesting and provides nourishment for wildlife. Virginia pine is a distinct pine in the United States and can be identified by a key characteristic; the relatively short needles are twisted and come in bunches of two. The needles are typically two to eight centimeters in length. 

Virginia pine trees inhabit dry forested areas. Unlike some other pines, Virginia pine produces cones in all parts of the canopy.

Source: Wikipedia

White Pine

(Connecticut, Massachusetts, parts of Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island)

The eastern white pine tree is one of the most valuable trees in North America. There is a whole one-hour movie about how this tree was instrumental to the birth of our country!

The white pine grows 50-80 feet tall with a 20-40 foot spread.

Managing eastern white pine forests | UMN Extension
GLT's Grow: White Pine Threat | WGLT

Eastern white pines have a long life, usually living to 200 years of age, with some trees living over 450 years!  Considered a fast-growing tree, it can reach up to a height of 100 feet and 42 inches in diameter at maturity.

The white pine’s graceful presence and long, evergreen needles give this tree a majestic look.

The trees grow best in fertile, moist, and well-drained soil with full sun. Sapling eastern white pines are tasty food for white-tailed deer and eastern cottontails, so if you have some in your area, it’s a good idea to protect the plant with a small fence / netting after planting!

Though the tree is an evergreen, the aromatic needles usually drop after two or three years after they turn yellow in early fall. Eastern white pine seeds are favored by black bears, rabbits, red squirrels, and many birds, especially red crossbills. White pines provide nesting sites as well for many birds including woodpeckers, common grackles, mourning doves, chickadees, and nuthatches.

Source: Arbor Day Foundation

White Spruce

(Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming)

The white spruce grows to a height of 40–60 feet and a spread of 10–20 feet at maturity. This tree grows at a medium rate, with height increases of 13–24 inches per year.

This tree thrives in a lot of sunlight – ideally six hours of direct sunlight per day. The white spruce grows well in a variety of different soils and has some drought tolerance.

The white spruce does well when transplanted. It can withstand wind, heat, cold, drought, crowding, and some shade. It does well in cities and often serves as rural windbreaks.

Aside from providing nesting for birds and shelter for other animals, white spruces provide food for many kinds of wildlife. Crossbills, evening grosbeaks, and red-breasted nuthatches feed on its seeds. The foliage is eaten by grouse, rabbits, and deer. Red squirrels bite open cones to eat the seeds, and they delight upon young, tender spruce shoots.

When Jacques Cartier sailed up the broad St. Lawrence River in 1535, he became the first European to see North America’s white spruces. As he laid claim to the lands he beheld, he proclaimed them to be “as beautiful…as one could wish for.” The trees, he said, were “the finest trees in the world.”

Source: Arbor Day Foundation