Tourism Yorkton encourages community to pick up free tree seedling

Free tree seedlings up for grabs in Yorkton as it makes the 20th year of the program.

Tourism Yorkton is encouraging the community to pick up their free tree seedling, as part of an annual initiative.

“People want trees. People want to plant. And I think that’s absolutely wonderful,” said Randy Goulden, executive director of Tourism Yorkton.

The program is offered by Tourism Yorkton for the 20th year and is in collaboration with SaskPower and Shand Greenhouse. The tree distribution is open to anyone, regardless of residence. Many came in from nearby towns, such as Canora and Saltcoats, to grab seedlings.

The plants themselves arrive from Shand Greenhouse in Estevan, Sask.

“They get them in about the last week in June, so we have them in time, and we start distributing them, and then we also have them at Canada Day,” Goulden said.

“The first time they came in, I’m going ‘Oh boy, these trees are pretty cold,’” Goulden recalled. “What they do is they cut them in the fall, and they freeze them, and they stay frozen until they bring them to us. So, when they come, they’re still pretty cold, but they’re really fresh.”

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This year, people have the choice between three species: blue spruce, green ash, and birch, which were decided by the greenhouse, not Tourism Yorkton.

“Many times, we’ll get a spruce, a birch, an ash, sometimes a maple. But that’s basically what we’ve been receiving. So, whatever we get, we distribute,” Goulden said.

Goulden admitted that she and her staff aren’t experts when it comes to gardening, but she thinks these are easy-to-care-for species.

“They’re fairly quickly growing, and they probably don’t need a whole lot of care, just planting them and then giving them some water,” she said.

Species descriptions and planting instructions come with the seedlings.

There are about 5,000 seedlings to give away in total. Though, according to Goulden, there was a line for the seedlings as early as 7 a.m. on Friday morning at the Tourism Yorkton office, located at the junction of Highways 9, 10 and 16 South in Yorkton.

“We will be holding about 200 of each species for Canada Day on July 1st. So, if you’re not able to get them today, if we run out, they’ll be at the Western Development Museum. So please come down between 12 and 4,” she said on Friday.

“Please come early, because we know they’re going to be very popular, and we want to find them all homes,” Goulden advised.

The program will take a break next year due to renovations at the greenhouse.