Tree planting

Landowners who live in the Grand River watershed and have more than 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of land are eligible to order trees. Tree orders can be reserved from the beginning of October through to the end of March. Tree pick-ups occur every spring starting approximately the third week of April through to the second Wednesday in May (depending on seasonal weather conditions).

• View the list of trees and shrubs that are available for spring 2022, then submit your order online.
• If you prefer a PDF copy of the order form for printing, instead of using the online ordering form, please send us an email.
• Important: The minimum order size is 200 seedlings or 20 saplings and/or potted stock. A non-refundable deposit of $50.00 must accompany each order, or the order will not be processed.

• A visit to your property to assess potential tree planting areas
• The creation of a custom planting plan for your property
• Assistance applying for grants to offset the costs of tree planting projects
• Arranging for the trees to be planted by contractors

Grants are available through funding programs such as, Forests Ontario’s - 50 Million Tree Program and the Rural Water Quality Program (RWQP). For more information about grants, visit the Landowner grants page.

Our planting program is geared to large-scale tree planting projects, farm windbreak plantings and riparian buffers. For seedling projects, this means a minimum quantity of 1000 trees, and for tall stock projects (saplings and/or potted stock) a minimum quantity of 50 trees.

Landscaping projects or sites requiring a small quantity of trees are not eligible for this program.

If you are interested in scheduling a site visit with a Forestry Specialist, please contact the team by email or call 519-621-2761 to have your name added to the waitlist. 

Please note: Demand for a site visit with a Forestry Specialist is often very high. 

On the second Friday in May (8 a.m. to noon), we hold an end-of-season tree sale. All watershed residents are welcome to purchase trees at this tree sale. 

• Trees that are normally available at the sale are based on cancelled orders and nursery stock overruns. This usually results in a wide variety of native trees and shrubs being available. Sizes range from small bare root and plug seedlings to potted trees and saplings.

• The species and price list is posted two days prior to the sale.

Please note: The tree sale may be cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please check back to this webpage for updates.

If you are interested in supporting tree planting but don’t have the ability or space to plant trees yourself, you can donate as little as $30 to the Grand River Conservation Foundation to support tree planting initiatives on GRCA lands. Go to the Foundation section of our website for details and for more information on donating.