In addition to providing trees for individual residences throughout Edmond, the Foster-A-Tree program also offers trees to neighborhood groups for planting within the right-of-way along their community’s common areas. The Villages at Coffee Creek first received trees through this program in 2013 and has continued to embrace the opportunity to enhance their neighborhood with trees, each time they become eligible to receive more. Now on their third round of participation, the neighborhood has planted a total of 15 trees along its streets through the Foster-A-Tree program.

Debbi Watkins, a resident of Villages at Coffee Creek, has coordinated all of these plantings with the Urban Forestry Department. She says that the program has helped to get “more homeowners involved and invested in caring for our grounds, because neighbors agreed to water the new trees that are planted adjacent to their property.” In fact, when homeowners were notified about new phases of plantings, more neighbors volunteered to help care for them than were actually needed.