If you are interested in planting native trees in your backyard, LEAF's Backyard Tree Planting (BYTP) program is the ideal choice. The program includes a personalized consultation with a LEAF arborist who will assess your space and recommend native species that suit your unique growing conditions and help achieve your planting goals. Matching trees to their preferred growing conditions, such assoil and sunlight, and ensuring they have enough space below and above ground to grow, gives trees the best shot at thriving and surviving long-term, allowing us to enjoy their benefits the most while reducing potential long-term issues and costs for both homeowners and the municipality.
How we assess spacing conditions
Our spacing requirements have been developed and refined over the years by professionals to ensure the trees we plant can safely grow to their maximum height and width. There are eight factors we consider when evaluating a yard for possible planting locations:
- Soft ground space: We ensure there is enough continuous soft ground space in your yard and neighbouring yards, free of hard surfaces like buildings and patios, to support healthy growth, as trees in natural spaces are surrounded by ample soil and grass for roots to grow and acquire nutrients.
- Fences and property lines: We ensure trees are planted away from fences and property lines to reduce conflicts with neighbouring properties and prevent unbalanced growth patterns or root damage during future fence repairs or replacements.
- Hard surfaces: We take care to avoid hard surfaces, such as decks or paved areas, when determining planting locations. Planting too close to hard surfaces can reduce the amount of soil space available for root growth and the infiltration of air and water through the ground to reach the roots.
- Foundations: We avoid future conflict between roots and foundations and between branches and taller buildings as trees grow by planting them away from buildings with foundations, in-ground pools and septic tanks.
- Existing stumps: We pay careful attention to stumps near planting locations. As stumps and roots decompose, they can change the soil pH, which can affect the establishment and growth of newly planted trees.
- Existing trees: We ensure adequate space between planting locations and existing trees within your yard or on surrounding properties to reduce competition for canopy and soil space, sunlight, water and nutrients, which can reduce the potential growth, health and resiliency of trees.
- Overhead wires: We avoid planting directly under overhead wires to reduce the need for topping (regularly cutting the top of a tree down to keep it small), which can create additional costs for homeowners and negatively impact the health of the tree by altering its structural integrity.
- Raised Planting Spaces: We do not plant trees in containers or raised garden beds because of their limited soil volume and restricted space, which cannot accommodate the large root systems of a tree long-term.
These spacing requirements are critical components of successful urban tree planting with LEAF. We carefully follow them at each yard we visit to ensure the trees we plant remain healthy both today and for the next 100 years. Follow the above link for exact measurements for each requirement and a breakdown of how they apply to all sizes of our trees and shrubs.
If you’re interested in planting a tree in your backyard, LEAF can help! Our subsidized program makes planting native species easy, fun and affordable. Apply to the Backyard Tree Planting Program or contact us today to get started!
Joel Sloggett is the Residential Planting Programs Field Assistant at LEAF
LEAF offers a subsidized Backyard Tree Planting Program for private property. The program is supported by the City of Toronto, the Regional Municipality of York, Durham Region, the City of Markham, the Town of Newmarket, the Regional Municipality of Durham, the Town of Ajax, the Township of Brock, the Municipality of Clarington, the City of Oshawa, the City of Pickering, the Township of Scugog, the Town of Whitby and Ontario Power Generation.