Denver is home to a program that's helped people plant roots here for over 40 years. Lliteral roots, mind you.
It's called Denver Digs Trees, and it's run by The Park People, a nonprofit that raises money to improve the city's green spaces, both public and private. Each year, they dole out saplings for both yards and the public grassy areas between sidewalks and streets.
If you're thinking to yourself, "Why yes, I would like a free tree," then you're in luck. Applications for 2025 opened on Tuesday. You have until Feb. 15 to opt in.
The nonprofit has 11 varieties of all sizes this year to help you find the right fit for your yard. It's pitching this as a way to brighten up your outlook on the coming year.
"Are you tired of looking out your bedroom window and staring at the same patch of dead grass? Your neighbor’s trash bins? New year, same view," organizers said in a press release. "This spring, enhance your worldview by planting a tree, and not only shade and cool your community, but improve your mental health in 2025, starting right in your own yard or community space."
This is about your yard, but it's also bigger than that.
The Park People are excited to help people spruce up their yards. But Denver Digs Trees program manager Morgan Wolfe said this is also about collectively improving the city's tree canopy.
Denver's forestry department does a great job with public trees, she said, but they don't have much jurisdiction over private yards. The annual sapling giveaway, plus The Park People's year-long support programs, are meant to add to that work.
"The reason that our program is so valuable and so important is we offer both street trees and yard trees," she told us. "Private property sites are a huge part of the land available for planting in the city."
Tree canopies help fend off the "urban heat island effect," in which concrete-dense cities tend to be warmer than their surrounding regions. That phenomenon has disproportionately impacted residents along Denver's west and northern edges.
None of the species available for free are fruit-bearing, but The Park People do have something for people looking to grow food in their yards. They'll be selling cherry, apple, peach and plum trees on April 27 at "deep discounts," Wolfe said. Buying will be first come, first served.
