Tag: Neighborhood Trees
Spring Splendor
How can you not be romantic about fresh leaves and flowers?
We’ve got a hot-button question for you: Does the spring leaf-out compete with fall color when it comes to visual splendor? Eugene Director Erik Burke thinks so.
“When trees are one-third leafed out and have that fresh yellow-green, they’re so full of life and vibrancy,” Erik says. “And trees leaf out at different times, so you have trees and all these different stages. For me, it’s equivalent to fall color.”
The days are getting longer and warmer, the trees and plants are waking up—these are the signs of spring that make it such an exciting time.
“This time of year people seem to really remember their trees and we get a lot of calls,” says Eugene-Springfield Program Manager Taylor Glass. “We get people wanting to plant trees but also worried that their tree might be dead. We tell them to wait a little bit longer because some trees are late bloomers (or late leafers!).”
Some trees like Oregon white oaks, Kentucky coffeetrees, and crepe myrtles don’t leaf out until later in the spring, which can be a bit worrying when their neighbors are fully leafed out already. Each species responds to its own set of parameters as to when to leave dormancy based on daylight, temperature and angle of the Sun.
“I really love the leaves that ginkgos put out,” Taylor says. “They’re tiny versions of the full grown leaf. They’re so cute!”
Trees take the energy that’s been stored in their trunk and roots and send it out to make leaves and grow buds. Some trees like magnolias and some maples will even put out their flowers before their leaves.
“We have a long spring ecologically,” Erik says. “It begins with the first osoberry bloom in early to mid-February.”
Just like with our own sleep cycles, there are benefits to rising early or sleeping in. Some native trees like California buckeye, Western redbud and Oregon Ash leaf out early, taking advantage of water in the soil for their growth pulse. These trees often will enter dormancy early, too, in the middle of summer drought, and will throw off their leaves as early as August.
Having trees flower in different stages is great for pollinators so that they have steady food sources throughout spring and summer. The Chinese scholar tree will be in full bloom in August or September when pollinators don’t have much else.
Friends of Trees stops planting trees during the summer months so that we can plant trees while they’re dormant, giving time for their roots to establish before they need to put their energy toward growing leaves. But spring and summer is the best time to think about what tree you want to plant, both for the conditions at the planting site and for the spring splendor you want to enjoy.
Our Annual Tree Sale is April 19th!
FRIENDS OF TREES ANNUAL
TREE SALE IS HERE!
MAY UPDATE: We have large-stock trees from our sale that are still looking for their fir-ever homes! Trees are available now at unbeatable wholesale nursery pricing.
Need a street tree? We’ve got you covered! We recommend bringing your permit information and/or a list of approved trees for your planting strip size. You can also review the Portland Approved Street Tree Planting List to confirm which trees are approved for your space.
We have a variety of medium to large trees available, including both deciduous and evergreen options. Because many trees are large (6–10 ft), we recommend bringing a truck or trailer for transporting your tree(s).
Please note: planting assistance is not included for trees purchased through this sale. However, we have trusted arborist partners who may be able to assist with planting.
Payment is accepted by cash, check, or card. For questions or more information, please call Thomas Meinzen at 503-345-7010. We look forward to helping you find the right tree!
Sunday, April 19th, 10am – 2pm
3117 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. Portland, OR 97212
Our shade tree sale is taking place April 19th, 2026 and is open to the public. It will be held at our office, 3117 NE ML King Jr Blvd, Portland, OR, 97212. Please share this with your friends, family, and anyone who you know might be interested in getting a tree.
We will have over 200 trees available! We source our shade trees from some of the best local nurseries in Oregon. These trees were purchased by Friends of Trees and are available after our planting season ends in April. We are thrilled to offer this unique opportunity to purchase high quality trees at a fraction of the price you’d find at a nursery!
✅ Many species available, ranging from small to large
✅ Wholesale Nursery Pricing
✅ Assistance with tree selection
✅ Loading assistance
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We cannot offer:
🚫 Planting assistance
🚫 Delivery of trees
🚫 A list of trees before the events
🚫 Reserving trees before the event
Need Street Trees? We got you! We suggest bringing the list of your permit info and/or a list of approved trees for your strip size. Check with your municipality’s Parks Department to get a list of trees and stock sizes that are approved.
This sale is separate from our community plantings. Planting assistance will not be available for trees purchased at the sale. If you’ve volunteered with us, you can follow the same method. We also have arborist partners able to assist with planting your trees!
Please keep in mind these trees are tall (some over 10ft!). you’ll need to bring a vehicle with space, or you can arrange to pick up the tree the following week. For scheduling a pickup please call (503) 467-2529 or email [email protected]. Trees not picked up within the time frame will be forfeited.
If you are able to, please consider making a donation to help us grow our urban forest for both this and future generations.
A Place For Celebration
A unique Hillsboro staging site makes for incredible community building
If you’ve ever volunteered at a Friends of Trees planting, you can picture a typical event staging site. A parking lot filled with trucks, some pop-up tents over registration and a breakfast spread. At our Hillsboro planting last month, volunteers encountered something a little different.
They walked through a heart-shaped arch to register at the entrance of M&M Marketplace, a multinational mercado in the heart of Hillsboro’s Calle Diez neighborhood. Volunteers sipped coffee and ate pastries at one of the dining areas inside, among the 80 independent business stalls and food vendors. Since the first planting there in 2023, M&M Marketplace has become a go-to staging site for Hillsboro plantings, a partnership that Neighborhood Trees Specialist Mario Catani is grateful for.
“It’s the perfect spot in the heart of the planting area,” Mario says. “And we get to show the marketplace and how cool it is to people in Hillsboro who haven’t been there before.”
Volunteers set out to plant 40 trees throughout Calle Diez and Downtown Hillsboro, including some trees at Lincoln Street Elementary School. One of the young crew members was so excited to plant at her school! This event also marked the 300th tree that Friends of Trees has added to the Calle Diez neighborhood.
Among the volunteers was a crew of students from Centro Cultural de Washington County, which among other programs, offers a youth STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) education program. Their Climate Justice Leadership program is designed to help young people of color learn about the environment and civic engagement through the lens of climate change. Students learn about wildlife, watersheds, and native plants, as well as topics like public testimony.
In between trees, Centro students talked about their Lego robotics competition the next day. Friends of Trees had partnered with Centro on a couple projects in the past, including a planting in Forest Grove designed to address the impending impacts of Emerald Ash Borer. We heard that students are already taking those lessons home and sharing with their families what trees they should plant to replace their ash trees when the time comes.
By the time crews got back to M&M Marketplace, the market was bustling with people shopping at stalls or getting lunch at one of the many food trucks—tacos al pastor carved right from the spit, creamy horchatas, and so much more—a perfectly lively scene to get swept up into after a morning planting trees in the neighborhood.
“The best moments of the day for me were after the planting,” Mario says. “Hanging out with volunteers on a sunny day, supporting the vendors there, especially with everything going on right now. We got to have that moment to bond and celebrate the day.”
Mario hopes to continue partnering with M&M Marketplace, exploring opportunities like community outreach, bilingual tree walks and presentations, and of course, more tree planting.
Garry Spreads the Seeds of Service for MLK Day
Dear Diary,
Volunteers are sort of like wildflowers. Each one is lovely and unique, but when you see a whole field of them, it’s totally, mind-blowingly beautiful. Seeing a huge group of volunteers together warms my heart on even the chilliest morning. And when they’re planting wildflowers? It can’t get any better than that.
Last weekend, I felt inspired to do something kinda wild myself. I went to three Friends of Trees planting events all in the same morning. This was an especially special morning, the weekend right before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The spirit of service really fills my canopy around MLK Day. Of course I love seeing volunteers almost every week at Friends of Trees planting events, but I really love that so many people are eager to make a difference in honor of Dr. King.
I started my morning in Forest Grove (what a great name for a town, right?) Volunteers gathered at Stites Nature Park to plant, you guessed it, wildflowers! I am a friend of native plants as much as I am a friend of trees, and our Green Space program gives me the perfect chance to hang out with some of my native plant buddies. We were planting red columbine, showy milkweed, Oregon iris, tiger lily, and more! The morning started off frosty, but the sun was out, shining on the volunteers and wildflowers that will bloom come spring. I literally cannot wait.
From there I went back home, to the Friends of Trees office, because we were staging an event there! Volunteers were planting in neighborhoods along the MLK corridor, perfect for this weekend of service. Our new partnership with the City of Portland is focused on planting trees to grow canopy where it’s needed most, in the most heat-vulnerable neighborhoods. So even though it’s winter now, we’re always thinking about those hot summer days and the shade trees can provide to the community. Volunteers can see their impact right away when they look at a tree they just planted, but that impact continues to grow and grow as the tree does.
It just feels so good to plant trees in my own neighborhood. Highly recommend if you get the chance. And City Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney agrees! We were stoked to have her at the event talking to our volunteers about why their work is so important.
“Look at the beautiful trees loaded up in these trucks,” Councilor Pirtle-Guiney said to the volunteers before they headed out to plant. “You’re going to some neighborhoods right near where I live, and there are blocks there that absolutely need these beautiful trees.”
We had some of our incredible community partners there too. The Blueprint Foundation and Wisdom of the Elders both brought crews. We also had a table set up for voter registration! One of the things I love about volunteers is that they are some of the most active citizens! Talk about wildflowers spreading seeds, am I right?
My last stop: more wildflowers. I popped over to the Columbia Slough Natural Area for the other Green Space event of the morning. I really love this place because it is a much needed slice of nature in the middle of an industrial area, right along the Columbia Slough, which is such an important waterway for my wildlife friends. Our friends from POIC were there leading crews, showing us what the next generation of environmental stewards is capable of.
I couldn’t help but bask in the good vibes of this place and the spirit of the people so committed to volunteering their time and energy to make our world a little bit better, one wildflower at a time.
Tree-mendously yours,
Garry
P.S. Read my whole diary here!
P.P.S. You can support these good vibes and good trees by donating!
Garry Shows Up Early in Vancouver
Dear Diary,
I showed up early to the Vancouver planting event last week. Like, really early, almost two hours before all the planting volunteers showed up! The sun had barely come up when I got to the church where the event was being staged. There were just a handful of Friends of Trees staff and a few staging volunteers in the parking lot, moving tools to parking spaces for each planting crew.
Then I met Adam. Adam was about to make my day. He’s a special volunteer, a “superstager.” When general volunteers show up on a Saturday morning, trees are already sorted by crew, ready to be loaded into a pickup truck and make their FINAL journey to their forever home. Adam knows this process like the back of his hand.
It turns out that sorting those trees is quite a task. You start with 80 trees, all sorts of different species. We were setting up for a dozen crews, and each one would plant about 7-10 trees at different homes in their assigned area. Of course, treecipients signed up to get a particular tree, so we had to make sure that the right trees went out with the right crews.
I’d ask Adam, “Where does this Golden rain tree belong?” “Crew J,” he’d respond after checking his clipboard. “J as in Joyful.”
“A is in Awesome.” “H as in Hippo.” “D as in Donut.” And on and on he went. Every time, Adam would come up with another random word. I started to try to come up with words too. It’s the perfect game for 7:30 A.M.
Rolling these trees to their dedicated parking spaces had me thinking about all the work that goes into preparing for an event. Outreach to community members about signing up for a tree, sourcing those trees from a local nursery, partner coordination, volunteer recruitment and communication, crew leader training. Even hole digging! And then there’s the physical logistics of getting all the tools, vehicles, trees, canopies, snacks, and most importantly, coffee—all to the same place at the same time. Wowee, it’s a lot!
When you think about it, it’s a bit of a miracle that we bring it all together. But it’s what Friends of Trees does best. We do it dozens of times a year. And it’s not a miracle when you think about all the people power behind the scenes that make it happen. So that when 100 volunteers show up at 8:45 A.M., it’s not long before they’re planting trees in the community. And after just a few hours, 80 new trees are in their new home soil.
Adela, the Neighborhood Trees Specialist leading this Central-South Vancouver event and famous from our social feeds, was all smiles as she welcomed the volunteers to the parking lot we prepared. “How many of you are here for your first ever Friends of Trees event?” she asked the crowd. About half the people cheered. I love to hear it.
We do it for the people who are joining us for the first time or the fiftieth time. For the people getting their first tree or their fifth. Saturday morning events don’t always run perfectly—how could they, with so many moving parts?—but they’re always meaningful and impactful
After we finished staging, I asked Adam over a donut and a coffee if he was headed home after he got such an early start.
“I’m going planting!” he said joyfully. “Me too!” I said.
Tree-mendously yours,
Garry
P.S. There are a bunch of different ways to volunteer besides planting! Stager, crew leader, summer inspector, and more. Learn more here.
P.P.S. You can support these good vibes and good trees by donating!
