Candler Park's Street Trees Get Decided One Doorstep at a Time

Trees Atlanta wants to plant 190 street trees in Candler Park this season along McLendon Avenue, Candler Street, Euclid Avenue and the streets around Goldsboro Park. It expects to plant about 120 to 130. That gap of 60 to 70 trees reflects how many households the program expects to opt out. Each of those decisions starts with a flyer left at the door, and a flyer nobody answers counts as a yes.

Jacob McDonald, who manages Trees Atlanta's community forestry program, laid out the plan at the October 19 neighborhood meeting, according to the Candler Park Neighborhood Organization's posted minutes. The planting season runs October through March. That means the trees going into the right-of-way on your block are being settled now, one front porch at a time, over the next few months.

How the Flyer Works

Under the process McDonald described, nothing gets planted in front of a house without two warnings.

1. A flyer arrives about a month before planting if your home is slated for a right-of-way tree.
2. A second flyer arrives about two weeks before planting.
3. You can opt out in response.
4. If you don't respond, Trees Atlanta treats that as agreement and the tree goes in.
5. If a tree is planted in error, Trees Atlanta will remove it.

The fourth step shapes the canopy. The program's own estimate assumes roughly a third of the planned trees will be lost to opt-outs, so a block with several "no" answers could end up looking very different from the next block over. A household that wants a tree out front gets one by doing nothing. A household with concerns about a driveway sightline, a garden bed or a favorite parking spot needs to answer the flyer.

The flyer also tells you which side of the decision your neighbors are on. If you've been talking about shade on your stretch of McLendon or Euclid for years, now is the time to bring it up over the fence.

What a Yes Comes With

A street tree from this program comes with years of care already built in. McDonald told the meeting that each tree gets two years of mulching, pruning and watering from Trees Atlanta, plus ten years of structural pruning. On its NeighborWoods program page, Trees Atlanta says it supplies the trees, tools and planting expertise and handles the two years of upkeep. Its neighborhood planting page asks residents to help with watering during periods of high water stress.

Power lines are the other question most front yards raise. Trees planted under lines are limited to species that top out around 20 to 25 feet, according to the CPNO minutes. That keeps a tree on a wired street from growing into the lines a decade from now.

Trees Atlanta also prunes existing street trees, and McDonald mentioned that service alongside the new plantings. His slides are available from CPNO by request at [email protected].

Last Season Was About the Park. This One Moves to the Curb.

This season's plan builds on last year's. Trees Atlanta planted 114 trees in Candler Park last season, working with Mary Lin Elementary, the Candler Park Conservancy and the Freedom Park Conservancy. That season included a student education and planting day at Mary Lin. Only two of those trees were right-of-way plantings, both on Sterling Street.

So last season mostly planted parks and grounds, with two curbside trees. This season's 120 to 130 expected trees are mostly street trees going in along residential frontages. The planting is moving out of the park and onto the blocks where people live, which is exactly why the flyer matters more this year than it did last year.

The park work isn't finished, either. A Saturday, November 21 planting will complete last season's Candler Park Conservancy project. The Conservancy has a track record of drawing volunteers. Its February 2025 trail project during the city's Love Your Park Month remulched a quarter-mile trail in the park's southeast corner, cleared invasive plants and put in more than two dozen native trees and shrubs, with over 60 volunteers taking part, according to the Conservancy's project page. The group also refreshed the Amy Erwin Memorial Garden, a shade garden that opened in 2020, with native plants, drainage improvements, cleaned stones and fresh mulch.

Anyone who wants a heads-up for future workdays can fill out the Conservancy's volunteer form, which covers cleanup days, movie nights and plantings. Watch CPNO and Conservancy channels for the meeting spot and start time for November 21. Trees Atlanta's neighborhood plantings typically run Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon.

The Saturdays (and a Few Mondays) Between Now and Spring

The planting season shares the calendar with other neighborhood dates. Here's how the next few months line up for anyone following the tree work.

The Brew Crew dates follow Mulberry Fields' stated schedule. The first one was Saturday, September 12, and the garden said it would repeat on the second Saturday of every month, according to its October update on the CPNO site. The same update points out a change that bears on everything planted in the neighborhood. When the garden started in 1999, Atlanta was in growing zone 7B. Today it's in zone 8B, and the gardeners attribute the shift to a warming climate plus more buildings and concrete trapping heat. The garden is open to visitors every day from sunrise to sunset.

The March date is the season's biggest public planting. Growing with Pride is Trees Atlanta's annual planting with the Atlanta Pride Committee and the Mayor's Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs. Volunteers will meet at Space Queen, a queer-owned consignment shop, plant street trees along McLendon, and wrap up with a queer artist market, DJs and food. Seven other cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Austin, are planting the same day, and the Mayor's office will dedicate trees honoring figures from Atlanta's queer history. If you're on McLendon, some of the trees on your stretch may go in that morning. For more on the storefronts along that strip, see our earlier look at what's opening on McLendon Avenue.

If Your Block Isn't on the List

The street plan covers McLendon, Candler Street, Euclid, the surrounding streets and the area around Goldsboro Park. If no flyer reaches you, you have two other ways in.

The first is a tree in your own yard. Through Trees Atlanta's Front Yard Tree Program, property owners in participating municipalities can have trees planted at no cost. Trees Atlanta advises on species and placement, delivers the tree and plants it. In return, the homeowner helps water it through the first growing season. For Atlanta addresses, the program caps requests at three trees per address and requires planting in the front yard within 20 feet of the right-of-way. The current species chart covers October 2026 through March 2027, and available species and quantities can change with what nurseries have on hand. If you applied last season and never got a consultation or a tree, the program asks you to email [email protected] with your name, address and phone number.

The second way is a street project for a group of neighbors. Trees Atlanta's neighborhood planting page says a project needs room for at least 30 trees plus neighborhood participation. Neighbors start the process by submitting a request form for a consultation with a NeighborWoods coordinator. Thirty trees is roughly a quarter of what Candler Park expects this season, so the bar is a few organized blocks.

Either way, the planting window closes in March. A yard tree request sent this month has the whole season to work through, and a block that misses this round can line up its neighbors for next October. If you live on the Lake Claire side of the park, the same programs apply to your address.

Our agents live and work on these same tree-lined Candler Park streets. If you have questions about how a new street tree, the right-of-way out front or a free yard tree fits with plans for your own house, the team at Golley Realty Group is glad to walk the block with you. Talk to a Decatur Neighborhood Expert.