December 2025 — Royal Botanical Gardens
Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) is again inviting the public to register to donate their Christmas Trees from December 29, 2025, through January 11, 2026, to help with ecological restoration projects. This year, RBG is seeking 3,000 real trees for the restoration of the lower Grindstone Creek, shoreline stabilization and rebuilding in Cootes Paradise, and rebuilding the Spencer Creek channel.
Registration is required to donate, and a drop-off location is selected upon registration. Drop-off locations are on Spring Garden Road in Burlington and Old Guelph Road in Hamilton. Register at rbg.ca/donate-your-christmas-tree.
RBG has been using discarded Christmas Trees in ecological restoration projects for over 20 years. Discarded natural Christmas Trees make excellent physical barriers for wetland projects. Stakes are inserted into wetland sediments, and then trees are laid between the stakes and tied down to create berms or permeable barriers. These berms are helping RBG ecologists rebuild creek channels through a recovering marsh, which will help establish plant growth and protect areas from creek stormwater.
“For a quarter century, the Christmas Tree barrier program at RBG has been a leading example for other conservation organizations,” says Dr. David Galbraith, Director of Science at Royal Botanical Gardens. “Unlike earthen berms, they can be modified or removed relatively easily, and they become colonized over time with plants and other life, providing new habitat.”
To be usable in wetlands, donated trees must be free of all decorations (no tinsel, ornaments, etc.), lights (no electrical wires or bulbs of any kind), or sprayed-on materials (no artificial snow, please). No artificial trees of any kind can be accepted.
Register and learn more at rbg.ca/donate-your-christmas-tree.
