30 Oak Trees in 30 Days: A Resident Planting Campaign

Discount trees available for purchase to beautify yards, enhance wildlife, store carbon and create shade

Are you interested in planting an oak tree in your yard? The Mount Rainier Tree Commission is organizing an oak tree purchase this fall to help residents plant trees and support a healthy environment. Mount Rainier residents can order trees directly from Chesapeake Natives, and the Tree Commission will pick up and deliver the tree to your home. The Tree Commission can also help you plant your tree. Residents will be responsible for ordering the tree online, planting the tree in a location that does not interfere with utilities or structures, and caring for the tree. 

The cost of each tree is $26.50 -- much less than the cost of the same tree at a commercial nursery. 

Tree Species Available: Each tree is approximately 4 feet tall and comes in a 7-gallon pot.

• White Oak/Quercus alba.  Maryland’s official state tree. Very tall and wide-spreading. For dry to average-moisture soils in full sun. 

• Swamp Chestnut Oak/Quercus michauxii.  Provides dense shade and red fall color. For average to moist soil (not wet, as the name implies); sun to partial shade. Upright, oval form. 

How to Order:

• Visit Chesapeake Natives website to order Sunday-Tuesday (online ordering not available other days): https://chesapeakenativesinc.square.site/

• Select “Shop All” and “Trees, Shrubs, and Vines”

• Search for Oak and select your desired tree(s).

• Add “Mount Rainier Tree Purchase” to the Comment Box.

Order dates: October 4 to November 3

Trees will be delivered to your home within two weeks after ordering.

Cost per Tree: $26.50

Why Oaks?

Planting an oak today is an investment in the future and generations to come. Oak trees are slow-growing trees that can live up to 200 years. Oaks are a keystone species, meaning they have outsize benefits for the environment. In our region, white oaks host more species of native insects than any other tree. Oaks also provide abundant shade, which will be increasingly important in a hotter future. Planting an oak tree might be the most forward-looking act any of us can take.

Unfortunately, many of our largest oaks -- trees that grew here before Mount Rainier was a city -- are coming down. In some cases, this is due to simple old age; some are more than 200 years old! In other cases, extreme weather over the past few years weakened trees’ root systems, stressing trees and allowing tree-killing fungi and insects to enter.

Future generations can only enjoy the benefits that we have gotten from our oaks if we plant trees today.

Please contact the Tree Commission with any questions or if you would like assistance planting your tree: trees@20712.org