Received the 2026 New Jersey tree survey in the mail that with a minimum $20 donation, they will gift “10 free 6- to 12-inch trees, selected especially for thriving in [my town]”, in addition to “2 free Crapemyrtles”.
This is confusing…why is the Arbor Fay Foundation offering non-native invasives. I guess they’re not on the native bandwagon.
I left a message with their contact section of the website pointing this out and requesting they do better. I will not donate any money to them until they fix this.
Anyone else receive this?
P.S. – the native trees they’re offering are:
– 2 flowering crabapples
– 3 eastern redbuds
– 2 Washington hawthorns
– 3 white flowering dogwoods
by DiSpOTatoLaTEd
19 Comments
Got the same one. Had the exact same thought. What a damn shame smh
The irony begins with them being based in a prairie state where the prairies are being destroyed by spreading trees. No they aren’t on the native bandwagon. People send them money and they send low quality tree seedlings. That’s the extent of it.
They’re the worst. Stick with your state DNR for trees. 100 top notch saplings cost $40 here in Indiana.
“White flowering dogwood”?? Which one lol. I’m guessing Cornus florida?
Fuck Arbor Day foundation. Not only do they sell invasives, they use exotics and invasives in their “restoration” projects. They also deny that they sell invasives even when I gave them supporting links.
Tis the season.
Don’t give them anything, they’re not on our team. I wasted money on them once, all of the trees that I hoped were native died. They mostly sent me Norway Spruces, which I trashed
Good for you. They are totally out of this loop.
I filled out my survey yesterday, did the donation, and realized after the fact that the promised trees are non-native (Norway Spruce).
I’m pretty fucking pissed.
I called them out on FB and BOY did I get blowback.
This is why this foundation is BS.
Has been for forever. They aren’t centered around native trees at all, tho they are improving. They still push non natives and even invasives.
Also, these “free” trees are super mediocre in quality and don’t survive well without tons of care.
They have the weirdest mailers, too. There was a “survey” maybe a year ago that was so silly. It was like “Have you ever climbed a tree?” “Have you ever enjoyed the shade of a tree?”
Thanks guys, I’m familiar with trees and very fond of them. I’m also never giving you money.
I avoid donating to large organizations. Small and local is where most of my money goes with a few exceptions for well-vetted large organizations like Doctors Without Borders.
Always check Charity Navigator.
I did this before I knew what I was doing and I remember being shocked when I learned that crepemyrtles are not native.
All the non natives have been ripped out and replaced but I was disappointed to learn that the Arbor Day foundation is not very legit.
Rest assured that the invasive trees they mail out are unlikely to survive at least.
I did this survey and donated $10 in January 2020. Was looking forward to the redbuds; don’t recall what else was selected for my zone. I received a fetid plastic mailer in June! It was 90°F outside. The mailer was full of decaying little “trees” as thick around as a spaghetti noodle. Not a single one was still alive at delivery. I’m sure the delays caused by isolation precautions caused the death in transit, but these things were comically tiny and hardly had roots.
Friends and relatives who received trees not at the start of the pandemic have reported better luck, with 1 or 2 trees surviving beyond the first year.
They offered my daughter the same trees – in New Mexico! Sure, send 10 high water use non-native trees to the desert! Why not?
I just posted on an arborist sub about this. I also received this servey. We were offered very similar trees in Island County, WA state. I would have liked to donate, but was also very disappointed to see that they don’t promote native plants and trees..
I selected a camilia from them once and they sent me a Forsythia. Truely a horrible company. The dogwoods ALWAYS die.
Yes, I’m in the pnw-i’ve had two clients donate and get junk crape myrtle and florida dogwoods-I quietly threw them away. Then again, the city of Portland is replacing many canopy trees with non-native junk trees as well.
Yep, this is a long time known issue with them. For YEARS, they have been sent feedback about invasive species, but they don’t seem to care.