NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennesseans who want to plant a dogwood, redbud or oak next spring can lock in their trees now, as reservations have opened for the 2027 edition of Tennessee Tree Day.
The Tennessee Environmental Council runs the statewide giveaway, now in its 13th year. Residents may reserve as many as 10 native seedlings and then collect them on March 19 or March 20 at a community pickup site. Sites are spread across all 95 counties.
Roughly 100,000 trees are expected to go out through the program, and reservations are filled first-come, first-served. The menu includes 10 native species, among them elderberry and pawpaw along with the more familiar redbud, dogwood and oak.
Signing up is done online. Participants choose a convenient pickup location from a map, then go to that site’s online store to pick their species and a time slot. The council recommends using one email address for every order and keeping the receipts.
The trees are promoted as free, but the council asks for a small donation per tree to keep the program going. Residents facing financial hardship can apply for a Tree Day scholarship, and approved applicants receive a set number of trees at no cost.
Planting advice comes with the trees. The council suggests matching each species to the right hardiness zone and spot in the yard, thinking about mature size, sunlight, soil and nearby utility lines, and watering new trees regularly for their first three years.
Since the council launched its tree initiative in 2007, upward of 1.2 million native seedlings have gone into the ground statewide.
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