Trees Work Long and Hard to Benefit the Environment
Trees, especially large trees, offer a long list of benefits besides their natural beauty:
- Help clean air and water
- Absorb stormwater and reduce runoff
- Reduce erosion and protect our stream banks
- Provide wildlife habitat
- Shade our buildings, driveways, and outside air conditioners and air-source heat pumps, helping these systems operate more efficiently. (And they shade people!)
- The list goes on and on……
While trees come in all shapes and sizes, the trees that provide the most benefits are native shade trees. These are trees that grow to at least 50 ft in height at adulthood, such as maples, oaks, poplars, etc.
Photo by c_alexkatkov, shutterstock
By making a handful of careful choices before buying your new tree, your tree will be healthier, and you’ll enjoy it more. Consider these three things first: where to put it, what species is best, and how to select a healthy tree from the nursery.
Thankfully, we built a website to walk you through all the steps of planting your own tree. Visit treemontgomery.org for a step-by-step guide to planting your own tree (as well as to sign up for a free tree planting too!)
If you are interested in planting a tree, first determine if you are eligible for a FREE shade tree planting from the County's Tree Montgomery program. Tree Montgomery provides free shade trees for private properties, including residential, HOA, multi-family, business and school properties.
For those who are not be eligible for the Tree Montgomery program, we also created a webpage with an extensive list of other programs you may be eligible for. View the list.
Coupons are also available for those who want to buy and plant their own trees:
- Download a coupon to receive $25 offthe purchase of a native tree at participating nurseries across the State. This program is sponsored by the Maryland Forest Service.
- The Montgomery Planning Department sponsors the Leaves for Neighborhoods program to increase the County's tree canopy on residential properties.
- You may be able to combine the two coupons together for extra savings!!
Along with the list of benefits we mentioned at the top of this page, one additional one we want to mention is that a strategically sited shade trees can reduce home energy use by an average of 249 kilowatt-hours per year, or about 2%. We love trees! Check out this Maryland Tree Benefits calculator.
