Lancaster Water Week

Free Native Trees

Register Your Free Native Tree or Shrub!

Please note: This form is just for registering trees you receive during 2025 Lancaster Water Week. This is not an order form to receive a tree.

NATIVE TREE BENEFITS

  • Are essential for our health and wellbeing! They filter the air you breathe and water you drink. Not to mention reduce stress and lower your blood pressure!
  • Capture and breakdown pollutants in our stormwater, keeping our local streams clean.
  • Absorb 48 lbs. of carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to climate change, and provide enough oxygen for 18 people per year when mature.
  • Lower temperatures and o­ffer shade in our neighborhoods during hot summer days.
  • Grow Pennsylvania’s booming outdoor economy, which adds $14 billion per year! Activities like fishing, hiking, and hunting wouldn’t be possible without healthy streams and forests.
  • Keep Pennsylvania’s rich fertile soils in place on our farms and in our communities preventing rainwater runoff from polluting our rivers with the soils that help grow the food we eat.
  • Provide wildlife habitat, like shelter and food, for birds, mammals, and insects.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TREES PROTECT WATER HERE

Which native tree or shrub will work best for your home?

Not all tree species shown below will be available at each Water Week event. Supplies of each species are limited.

Sweetbay Magnolia

(Magnolia virginiana)

  • Height 10-20′
  • Width 10-20′
  • Pard shade
  • Moist soil
  • White flowers late spring/early summer
  • Late summer red fruit

Elderberry

(Sambucus canadensis)

  • Height 6.5-13′, width 12′
  • Part shade
  • Moist soil
  • White flowers in June/July
  • Purple-black berries in August/September

Red Osier Dogwood

(Cornus sericea)

  • Height 7-9′
  • Part shade
  • Moist, well-drained soil
  • White spring flower
  • Fall fruit
  • Red winter stems

Redbud

(Cercis canadensis)

  • Height 20-30′
  • Full to part shade
  • Tolerates many soils
  • Blooms in spring

(Photo courtesy of Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

River Birch

(Betula nigra)

  • Height 30-50′ (can reach 90′)
  • Part shade
  • Sandy, moist soil
  • Usually multi-trunked tree
  • Silver bark peels to show brown trunk

(Photo courtesy of Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

Buttonbush

(Cephalanthus occidentalis)

  • Height 6-12′
  • Full to partial shade
  • Moist sandy to clay soil
  • White/pink spherical flowers late spring to summer

(Photo courtesy of Lee Page, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

Winterberry

(Ilex verticillata)

  • Height 5-15′
  • Any shade, any soil moisture
  • Green-white flowers in April-July
  • Red berries late summer to winter

(Photo courtesy of George H. Bruso, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

PLANT & CARE FOR YOUR TREE IN FOUR EASY STEPS!

STEP ONE

Dig a wide and shallow hole, gently remove the tree from its pot, and loosen the roots.

STEP TWO

Place in the hole; the soil level of the tree should be even or slightly above ground level. Not too deep.

STEP THREE

Gently backfill and evenly compress the soil around the tree. Make sure the soil is broken up with no air pockets.

STEP FOUR

Water tree immediately and at least 1-2 times per week through its first growing season. Keep weeds and grass clear of the tree base to help it thrive.

Water Week Home Page →

Thank You, Water Week Sponsors!

Lancaster Water Week is additionally made possible thanks to a subaward of a Lancaster Clean Water Partners grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Chesapeake Bay Funders Network, and the Chesapeake Bay Program.

This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under 95338501 to the Chesapeake Bay Trust. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does the EPA endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document.