Tree planting on City property - by Urban Forestry

Urban Forestry plants trees on the City street allowance in front of residential properties free of charge.

Visit the City of Toronto website and see the information on tree planting

An inspector will visit your address to help determine appropriate tree selection and location.

Requests for tree planting are taken throughout the year. You can indicate your tree preference when you submit your service request.

When the tree is planted will be determined by the results of the location inspection and the suitability and availability of the chosen tree species, as well as the current number of requests. The earlier your request is made the earlier your request can be processed. The City promotes the planting of large growing tree species, where permitted by local site conditions.

The following criteria is used to determine the planting location:

  • proximity to other trees, hydro lines, street lights
  • clearance from buildings, sidewalks, curbs, signs, street corners, retaining walls
  • presence of soft landscape (paved surfaces may limit planting sites)
  • presence of underlying soil contamination (eg. Methane or hydrocarbons)
  • available soil volume (ideally more than 30 square metres, 1 metre depth)

A service request for a tree to be planted on the City street allowance, can be submitted online at www.toronto.ca/311 or call 311.

Once a tree is scheduled for planting an information card will be left for the homeowner notes: tree species and alternate tree species (a back up if we can't get the first choice), planting location, and season (spring or fall)/year in which the tree will be planted.

Urban Forestry is unable to provide the exact planting date. Planting is impacted by weather, when they receive the tree stock, when we obtain the utility locate, and a number of other factors.

If you do not wish to make your request through Urban Forestry and you would like to pursue planting a tree on your own please see: