The City of Annapolis is partnering with the Arbor Day Foundation to offer free trees to homeowners to help expand the urban tree canopy. In all, 150 trees are available. Residents who would like to request their free trees (maximum two free trees) can make a reservation online at www.arborday.org/annapolis. This is a pickup event and trees will be available for pickup at the Kenneth R. Dunn Municipal Pool in Truxtun Park on November 11.
The types of trees offered include the following:
- River Birch. This tree, native to the Eastern United States, is a deciduous flowering tree with cinnamon-brown, exfoliating bark and yellow fall foliage. These trees can grow to 50 to 75 feet in height.
- White Oak is a native, large shade tree with light gray furrowed bark and lobed green leaves. These trees can grow 50 to 80 feet in height.
- American Sycamore is a fast-growing native tree. Considered the largest deciduous tree in North America, it can exceed 100 feet in height and has scaly, light-colored bark
- Eastern Redbud are easily recognizable in early spring, when clusters of tiny magenta buds swell into showy rosy pink flowers. This is one of the smaller of the offered trees, growing to 20-30 feet.
- Sweetbay Magnolia is showy in the fall with fragrant white flowers and glossy leaves with silvery undersides. This small tree is excellent as a shrub border, along wood edges and is tolerant of wet sites, like pond edges or low areas of a landscape. Mature height is 10-20 feet.
Residents reserve trees using an online mapping tool that takes the guesswork out of where to plant the tree on a specific property to help maximize the air, water, energy and carbon benefits. Community Canopy allows residents to strategically plant trees to reduce their energy costs. Carefully positioned trees can reduce a household’s energy consumption for heating and cooling by up to 25 percent. Computer models devised by the U.S. Department of Energy predict that proper placement of only three trees can save an average household between $100 and $250 in energy costs annually.
The City’s arborist, Brian Adams, worked with the Arbor Day Foundation to implement the free tree giveaway. He said the urban tree canopy, the layer of leaves, branches and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above, provides important stormwater management functions by intercepting and filtering rainfall and runoff. It also benefits residents by capturing carbon and reducing energy consumption.
Adams added, “plus, trees are beautiful. They provide shade, homes for wildlife, and enhance property values.”
The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest membership nonprofit dedicated to planting trees. Its Community Canopy program is designed to offer companies, cities, states, and nonprofit organizations an easy solution to providing trees to customers, employees, or their community.
“Through our Community Canopy program, we aim to provide the tools other organizations need to make a difference in their community,” said Kristen Bousquet, program manager at the Arbor Day Foundation. “This program not only encourages more trees planted in neighborhoods and communities but the right trees planted in the right place.”
