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Here's how to get a free tree around NYC this spring

More than 3,000 trees will be given away across the five boroughs.

Rossilynne Skena Culgan
Written by
Rossilynne Skena Culgan
Things to Do Editor
A volunteer hands a tree to another person.
Photograph: By Chris Palermo / Courtesy of NYRP
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It's that magical time of year when red buds and green leaves finally burst forth from the brown tree branches we've been seeing for months. If you want a tree of your own to care for, you can get one for free this spring thanks to the New York Restoration Project (NYRP). 

Just in time for Earth Month, NYRP is hosting free tree giveaways with community partners throughout New York City from April 5 through May 4, 2025. They plan to distribute 3,500 trees across the five boroughs, including American persimmon, flowering dogwood, and Pawpaw trees, as a way to help NYC's environmental resilience. Keep scrolling to find a tree distribution spot near your neighborhood. 

RECOMMENDED: The best Earth Month events in NYC

Since the program started in 2008, NYRP has given away more than 75,000 trees as part of the MillionTreesNYC initiative led in partnership with the NYC Parks Department. As the climate crisis intensifies, trees do the important work of providing shade, creating wildlife habitats, reducing temperatures, improving air quality, and mitigating storm water run-off.

Three people hold small trees in pots on a sunny day.
Photograph: By Ben Hider / Courtesy of NYRP

This year 26 different native tree species will be distributed, including American persimmon, American plum, beach plum, black cherry, eastern redbud, flowering dogwood, pawpaw, sweetbay magnolia, and witchhazel. If you'd like a tree, be sure to register in advance here. 

"New York Restoration Project's free tree giveaways are a great spring tradition in our city," New York Restoration Project Executive Director Lynn Bodnar Kelly said in a press release. "This beloved program continues to spread the undeniable benefits of our urban tree canopy to the neighborhoods that need them most. Our city must get more trees in the ground if we want to truly increase New York’s environmental
resilience." 

In a statement, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine lauded NYRP for "prioritizing historically underplanted neighborhoods, like Harlem, as tree distribution sites." 

A woman holds up a small tree in a pot.
Photograph: Courtesy of NYRP

Free tree distribution sites 

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Week 5

A child sits on his dad's shoulders while holding a tree sprout.
Photograph: By Hip Torres / Courtesy of NYRP

Time Out tip

Even though registration for some events is full, you may still be able to get a tree at these events. Not everyone who registers in advance will come to pick up their tree, so there are always trees available for first-come, first-serve walk-ups during the second half of each event.

If you plan on attending an event with full registration, NYRP recommends arriving at the beginning of the event to add yourself to the waitlist. They will start distributing all remaining trees to people on the waitlist at the start of the second hour.

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