Garden tree

giveaway

Trees are brilliant for people, wildlife and our planet and we urgently need to plant more. Every winter, together with Community Action Groups Oxfordshire, we give away free trees for people to plant in their gardens.

How does it work?

Late September
Apply for your free garden tree. Complete the form and choose your tree and your local collection point.

October
You’ll hear whether your application was successful and more details on collecting your tree at the end of October.

November/December
You can collect your free tree from a local distributor and plant it in your garden.

What to expect?

The trees are bare-root whips up to 90cm tall of native species suitable for small and medium-sized gardens, and carefully sourced from responsible nurseries.

To request your tree, you need to complete the order form. You can choose one tree from a list of 10 native species. And you’ll need to choose a collection point from one of the 30 across the county. You’ll be able to collect your trees between Thursday 28th November and Sunday 1st December.

When you pick up your tree, you will also receive a handy tree-planting guide which tells you how to plant and look after your tree as it grows.

Apply for your

free tree

The order form has now closed. Thank you to everyone who ordered a tree. If you didn’t manage to get a tree this year, sign up to our newsletter and you’ll hear when the giveaway reopens in 2025.

For those who did order a tree, we’ll be in touch in the last week of October to confirm if you were successful and to share more collection details.

FAQs

All the trees we’re giving out are native UK trees. You can choose from:
• Spindle
• Wayfaring tree
• Guelder rose
• Crab apple
• Mountain ash
• Hawthorn
• Hazel
• Field maple
• Wild cherry
• Silver birch
The trees are all native species and they will be in the form of ‘bare-root whips’ between 60-90 cm high.
Trees in the Garden Giveaway are limited to one per household.
Small gardens are generally suitable for one or two small trees, usually near the boundary. They provide a point of interest and dimension to a closed off space. But be careful not to plant your tree too close to yours or your neighbour’s houses.

Spindle, wayfaring tree and guelder rose are best for smaller gardens.
A medium garden gives you more freedom in tree choice and lessens the impact of shade from any one tree. At this scale, you have the possibility of experimenting with a combination of trees, as well as planting larger trees.

Crab apple, mountain ash, hawthorn, hazel and silver birch are all great options for a medium garden.
Larger gardens offer you the chance to plant a good mixture of trees. These trees can become very big in time and may live for hundreds of years, so planning ahead is crucial.

Field maple, silver birch and wild cherry are best suited to larger gardens.
The best time to plant a tree is between October and mid January (preferably before Christmas). As these trees are ‘bare roots’ they should be planted as soon as possible after receiving them.
In most gardens, you won’t need to protect your tree.
But if your garden is open to the countryside, a spiral and a cane can help protect from rabbit damage. If deer or muntjac are regular visitors to your garden, you’ll need a 1.2m guard and stake to protect your tree. These are readily available to order online or through local tree nurseries.
When you order your tree online, you’ll be able to choose a collection timeslot and location that suits you.
Trees will be ready for collection from our local distributors from Thursday 28th November until Sunday 1st December 2024.
Please keep a record of your confirmation email for when you collect your tree.
If you have other question which haven’t been answered here, please email lucy@internationaltreefoundation.org.

Sign up to hear more from International Tree Foundation

If you’d like to get more involved with trees, Oxfordshire Trees Collaborate organise regular webinars, events and support community groups in the county.

Email Lucy for more information.

Email Lucy

Support a greener Oxfordshire

We’re currently fundraising to make the Garden Tree Giveaway even bigger and better. Oxfordshire needs more trees. Can you can be part of the solution?

Help nature to thrive, donate today.

Donate now