THE Vancouver Park Board launched its ever-popular annual fall tree sale today with 1,500 trees in total. These include 25 fruit, flowering and evergreen varieties available online at just $10 per tree. More edible varieties are on offer than ever before with 13 species that include hazelnuts, berries, plums, figs and apples.
The Sentinel Apples and Little Miss Figgy Figs will do well in pots, bearing plenty of fruit, making them perfect for patios and balconies. More than 400 trees, including the Flowering Korean Lilacs, Yellow Bird Magnolia and Romeo Cherry are also well-suited for pots.
“Planting on private property remains the biggest area of opportunity to reverse tree loss and to replenish Vancouver’s vital tree canopy,” said Park Board Chair Stuart Mackinnon.
“Since our first tree sale in 2015, we’ve helped plant more than 11,000 new trees. We expect these 1,500 trees to sell out, bringing us that much closer to our goal of 150,000 new trees planted by 2020.”
Vancouver residents can pre-purchase trees online at vancouver.ca/tree-sale and pick them up at Hillcrest Centre on September 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. One hundred trees will be available on site for cash sale to Vancouver residents who miss out on the online bookings.
By October, the Park Board will have planted more than 110,000 new trees since 2010, enough to cover Stanley Park more than four times. About 55 percent of the new trees were planted in streets and parks while 45 percent were planted on private lands including backyards and development sites.
Vancouver’s canopy cover was estimated at 18 percent in 2013 and 19 percent in 2015. Overall, Vancouver is seeing progress on reducing development-related tree loss and growing its urban forests in parks, streets, and backyards. It has collected new aerial data and plans to have a new canopy measurement available next year.
The Board received an updated Urban Forest Strategy in the spring and aims to restore forests across 25 hectares of natural areas and to double the number of street trees in priority neighbourhoods such as the Downtown Eastside, Marpole, and False Creek Flats.
Trees are vital to the environment and daily lives. They provide shade and relief from urban heat, clean the air, provide a home for birds and wildlife and are increasingly recognized for their health benefits, notes the Park Board.
The Park Board and City of Vancouver are hosting the International Urban Forest Congress starting September 30. The four-day event brings together leading experts, including Park Board staff, to explore diverse urban forestry management from around the world.
What you need to know before you purchase or pick up your tree
- Trees are only available to residents of the City of Vancouver, with a maximum of three trees per household.
- Please bring your receipt and photo ID with proof of Vancouver address when picking up your tree. Receipts can be presented via mobile phone or print out.
- Cash sales of unsold trees will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
- If you have pre-purchased a tree and it is not picked up by 2 p.m., you risk forfeiting it to cash sale with no refund.
- If you purchased a tree by mistake, email PBTree@vancouver.ca to get a refund.