Free Trees and Shrubs

Trees and Shrubs Planted for You for FREE!

Homeowners in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area are eligible to have a professional landscaper plant trees and shrubs on their property for FREE! Almost all homeowners in SCA are in the Critical Area.

Expected DEADLINE: MAY 1, 2024

There will be a new, all electronic application for 2024. 

Everyone who applied in 2023 should now have a letter from the county saying your request was granted, although most will not receive everything requested. 

Calvert County Free Tree and Shrub Program Resources

• Calvert County property information (Tax Map#, Parcel#, and Lot#) for page one of the application. Calvert County property information example.  (See attached.) 

• Calvert County Free Tree & Shrub list (attached below) DO NOT PLANT WOODY PLANTS ON OR NEAR SEPTIC FIELDS; herbaceous/forb/meadow species are fine.

• Calvert County topographic map for every address. Use this or Google Maps to draw your planting plan.  Choose "I want to use the Property Finder Wizard to locate a specific property." Then, choose "Find a property by entering an address." Then, enter your address and print a map of it.

• PowerPoint slides about the Calvert County Critical Area Free Tree & Shrub Program. (attached below). Now out of date because of the upcoming change to the application process

• U of DE, What is a Keystone Species?  (If you plant nothing else, plant one of these!) (attached below)

• U of DE, What is a Soft Landing? (attached below)

• Keystone Plants by Ecoregion (nwf.org) (Click on Eastern Temperate Forests)

• Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USFWS 

• Invasive species list. 
• Recommended book on invasives
• AMAZING resources on how to address invasives….Local Virginia not for profit.  Fab. Go to top left for web page site and hot invasive management.

• The Native Plant Center (You can search by region -- we are Coastal Plain, by soil moisture, by soil type -- clay and/or loam, by sunlight exposure, by two sizes of trees, and by three sizes of shrubs. Click on all of the features you want before clicking on Submit.) 

Feel free to reach out to these members of the Environmental Protection and Land Management Committee for assistance: 

• David Braun, dbraun7247@gmail.com
• Kathy Daniel, 301-906-3337
• Sylvia Batong, sbatong1@comcast.net
• Jody Longhill, jody.longhill@gmail.com
• Denise Breitburg, denise.breitburg@gmail.com
• BL Johnston, elizabethakabl@gmail.com
• Diana Dennett, ddennett@gmail.com
• Justin Rydstrom, Justin.rydstrom@gmail.com
• Margaret Shillingford, marg222u@aol.com
• Richard Aldrich, richard.w.aldrich@gmail.comth
• Mark Smith marcosmyth@gmail.com