Branch Out with the City’s Adopt A Tree Program

November 03, 2025

The City of Tallahassee is once again offering free trees to eligible homeowners within the city limits. The Adopt A Tree program provides and helps plant native and naturalized trees to increase the community's urban forest canopy. To apply for the program, visit Talgov.com.

Homeowners may request up to four trees be planted in the front yard within 100 feet of the centerline of the roadway (within the city limits) and must agree to keep each tree watered for one year. City staff will assist with determining ideal tree placement and handle the installation.

The trees, depending on the species, are between 5 and 8 feet in height and are species native (or cultivars of native species) to the southeast. Trees available this year include:

• Brackens Brown Beauty Magnolia is a compact, evergreen tree known for its glossy dark green leaves with rusty-brown undersides and large, fragrant white flowers. It grows 30-50 feet tall and 15-30 feet wide, making it ideal for smaller landscapes. This cultivar is prized for its cold hardiness, dense foliage and year-round beauty. It thrives in full sun to part shade, prefers well-drained acidic soil and requires minimal maintenance once established. Often used as a specimen tree or privacy screen, it's one of the most adaptable and resilient Southern Magnolia varieties.
• Overcup Oak is a hardy, deciduous oak tree native to the southeastern and central U.S., known for its adaptability to wet, poorly drained soils. It typically grows 40-60 feet tall with a broad, rounded crown and distinctive lobed leaves that turn yellow-brown in fall. Named for its unique acorns, which are almost entirely enclosed by a warty cup, the Overcup Oak is flood-tolerant, making it ideal for bottomlands, wetlands and low-lying areas. It's slow growing but long-lived, offering strong wood and high wildlife value, especially for birds and mammals. Tolerant of both wet and moderately dry conditions, it's a low-maintenance, resilient shade tree suitable for parks, large yards and naturalized landscapes.
• Pond Cypress is an adaptable and wind-tolerant species featuring a conical silhouette that loses its needles each winter and grows a new set in the spring. Its foliage begins with a soft, bright green that turns rich shades of orange, red and golden brown in the fall. This tree is a spectacular feature along pond edges or within rain gardens but can also be grown in dry locations. This tree is virtually maintenance-free, requiring no pruning, and is pest and disease-resistant. This fast-growing canopy tree can reach between 45-60 feet tall at maturity, so it does need plenty of space.
• Winged Elm is this year's smallest growing tree with a top height average of 40-50 feet but has been found to reach upwards of 90 feet in certain habitats. It is a fast-growing deciduous tree, quickly identified by the corky, wing-like projections which appear on the opposite sides of twigs and branches. This highly adaptable tree can be found growing in wet sites as well as dry and prefers full to partial sun. During autumn, the leaves turn bright yellow, and in late winter, small red flowers mature in clusters.

Tree planting will begin December. Trees are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Adopt A Tree, which plants around 300 trees each year, is one of the programs that helps ensure the health of Tallahassee's tree canopy. At 55 percent, the City boasts one of the highest percentages of tree coverage in the nation.

To adopt a tree from the City, simply visit Talgov.com and complete the online application. Questions can be emailed to adoptatree@talgov.com or answered by calling 850-891-5450.