HoCo’s Annual Tree Giveaway Sign-up Opens on August 25!

“Due to popular demand, we are doubling our tree giveaway in 2026! 6,000 native trees will be available to Howard County residents, who can choose up to two trees per address.

Residents will also be able to choose between two pick-up locations that will be open on six dates during the last week of September. For safety reasons, we will only allow a certain number of pickups on each of those dates at each location. We will have several tree deliveries throughout the week, so you can be assured of a great selection.

On August 25, 2026, you will be able to sign up for your tree(s). We will release the trees in three batches with 1/3 of each species being released at each time. Times will be 10AM, 2PM, and 7PM. This will help to reduce traffic to the site and hopefully keep our website functioning as thousands of people try to place their order at the same time.

The link to reserve your tree will be located on our Forestry page at https://www.howardcountymd.gov/forestry under the Annual Tree Giveaway drop-down.

Here are a few helpful tips for successfully placing your order:

• If the link is not working for you, refresh your page and try again. The link will not be live until exactly 10AM on August 25, 2026. If you are on the page prior to that time, you must refresh your page for the link to appear.
• When selecting your tree, if your preference does not appear in the drop-down list, there is no longer any inventory for that species, so be ready with your second and third choices.
• When selecting your pick up date, if your choice does not appear on the drop-down list, that date is full and you must select a different pickup location and/or date.

Inventory moves quickly! We may run out of certain tree types or pickup availability on some dates in the time that you add your selection to your cart and then press order. In that case, you will receive an error message and can try again with a different selection. If your order goes through you will receive a confirmation email with all of your order information. Please keep this email handy when you go to pick up your tree.

Please keep in mind that Howard County Recreation and Parks offers additional programs that provide free trees to property owners and HOA’s. If you go to our Forestry page, please check out the Stream ReLeaf, Turf to Trees, Tree Canopy and Students Branching Out programs. We also host two volunteer tree planting events annually if you would like to help plant more trees in Howard County, but don’t necessarily have the room on your property.

If you have a question, please email Megan Mills at [email protected].”