We paid for a tree and its planting service back in July. They took the money and initially they were saying they were backed up, and I would have to wait til Sept for the service to come. In Sept, they said it's going to be Nov. The reason we need to plant a tree is the city is requiring us to and "Our City Forest" is the city recommended organization. However, it does not seem that they are prioritizing those city mandated planting, we are likely to miss our second deadline. Communication with them is also painful, nobody will pick up the phone. Emails take days to be responded, that is if it's responded at all. Still waiting for the service to fulfill or anyone to get back to us with a planting date... read more

I just got my favorite Chinese fringe tree from here. I loved the experience from deciding on a tree they carry and eventually buying two of them. They even give you free stake and mulch and finish off with a nice tutorial of how to plant and grow a tree successfully! Best of all it's non-profit and all the volunteers were very friendly! Good job :) you will be my go to choice for all my tree needs and. California native plants! Very happy customer! read more

Yeah! We got our tree! It took a few months but looking forward to planting it! The nursery has a good selection of trees and plants.

Here is the 411 about OCF. Non-profit organization, started in 1994 by nature-community-tree-sanjose-southbay-siliconvalley-earth-families-children-loving group of San Jose natives with the goal and intentions of cultivating a greener and healthier Silicon Valley. There number one service = FREE TREES! ARBOLES GRATIS! CAY MIEN PHI! They provide free 15-gallon shade trees for neighborhoods, schools, parks, and even churches in San José. Those trees cost like 150 bucks each! The way it work is, if you are a homeowner and you're looking for a tree they will provide you with one for no costs! Just attend a demo and receive your tree and stake parts and you can go on your way and plant it. They even have a maintenance crew to take care of your tree for the first couple of years. Then its: SET IT! AND FORGET IT! But if you are more adventurous and proactive, Organize your own neighborhood tree planting! Just get at least 10 trees in your neighborhood and OCF will help you throw a tree bash, filled with volunteers that will hep you plant. Oh! And they got classroom presentations too! Green and Healthy courses? Check! Tree tours? Check. They have anything and everything under the sun that have to do with urban forestry! You might have your differences, but how could you hate what they are doing? read more

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Great program. Tree & Shrub planting services. Donation based, non profit program. People are very nice and very knowledgeable about various plants and tree species, planting , maintaining and taking care of trees. Got my Autumn blazed maple tree. Very satisfied with their public service and information. They are also looking for volunteers . Just wish the city put more funding to this program to eventually give the tree for free and encourage the neighborhood plant more trees :) By the way... if you want to get the tree you love..,... go to the CITY FOREST COMMUNITY NURSERY - 1000 Spring St. , San Jose. read more

THANK YOU TO OUR CITY FOREST. This is a non-profit organization with a mission to green the city. How that may be accomplished can lead to opinion differences...I have heard negative feedback from native horticulturists for example. But my past dealings this summer while trying to deal with a dying maple that had to removed/replaced have been on the whole very favorable. This is especially considering that most of the staff are volunteering their time for various reasons (school, community service, volunteerism, etc.) First, they proactively deal with the city to make any permit changes needed to extend the time needed, change the designated replacement tree, etc. This is amazing! Thank you so much for making life easier to deal with bureaucracy! While there, I got so much expert feedback given the tree inventory, using their personal devices to look up trees for any specific tree height, shape, water, growth details. They request a tree donation of $80-120. And because we are seniors we were offered free tree planting services! This is a great partnership between the city and a non-profit. So happy to support a worthy organization! read more

Our City Forest is a non profit that has a three fold mission. They sell trees at a very reasonable price. They maintain the city trees, they have an education and community outreach. All to reforest the San José area. The staff here are passionate about what they do and do a great job at it. This is more than a nursery, it is a growing reforestation and education program, very valuable for our city. read more

They came out to the school that I work for to teach my students about trees. The kids enjoyed the program that day. They were thrilled to be learning about things they could actually do for their community. They loved the tree that talked to them as well. All in all amazing! I would recommend them off you are having an environmental day at school. On top of that it's a free service they provide. read more

This is a really great organization that does a lot for the city of San Jose. I like how they have various programs to get the city involved in their cause. There is also a lot of Americorps opportunities here as well as internships. read more

This is actually not the address for the nursery they run. The actual nursery itself is at 1000 Spring Street, about 10 mins away. I wished Yelp could have tagged it correctly. read more

Non responsive, multiple upon multiple attempts to contact. Disappointing to say the least.

If you're enthusiastic about the beautification of our city, then you should definitely come down and help out at Our City Forest. I've been volunteering here for a few weeks now and learning about what they do, and I believe wholeheartedly in their work. To break it down, they help plant and cultivate trees so that they can be spread out and replanted all over San Jose, giving our city its clean, pro-environment, aesthetic. The people are friendly, and knowledgeable about what they do, and are welcoming to all that want to help. My first day there I just showed up out of nowhere at random and said I wanted to do community service, and no questions asked they got me set up and oriented and I even got to join in on a BBQ :) it was awesome. Definitely come down some time to their 1000 Spring St nursery and help out there on their Nursery Workdays, you might even catch me there sometimes. read more

I had these ugly, ratty looking trees removed and by city ordinances, I had to get the trees replaced. Luckily, I found Our City Forest. Did you know you could get a free tree for your house? All you have to do is take a short tree planting class. Anyway, Our City Forest is a non-profit that works with the City of SJ, they even take care of your planting permit. (Yes, you actually need a permit to plant a tree in the parking strip in front of your house.) Our City Forest is very easy to work with and they followed through on all the paperwork too. They even accommodated my alternate tree request because I didn't like the one the City picked out. Now I have these beautiful Pear trees and know how to properly take care of them. I highly recommend supporting this great organization. San Jose needs more trees! read more

While OCF provides many valuable services to our city, they are also costing us. I recently requested to have 2 trees removed from my property due to major damage to the sidewalk and an associate of OCF protested the removal. At the hearing, DORIS LIVEZEY lied to the arborist about the condition the sidewalk at my property and insinuated that I am a lazy homeowner that doesn't want to take care of the trees. I called the president/CEO of OCF, RHONDA BERRY, and she was not at all disturbed with this behavior. These actions just wasted HOURS of the arborists time. By the way, OCF receives grants from the city. This is a cluster. read more

I found out about Our City Forest's Lawn Buster program and signed my mom up for it as she qualified. I thought reducing the water use in her front yard would be a great idea. It was also a perk to minimize the upkeep with drought tolerant plants/ground cover. The initial meetings, design, and install were fabulous. The team did a great job as other reviewers have stated. Then we were left to maintain what was installed in July. They installed drip lines that emit water every so many inches throughout the yard. Although we treated the yard and killed everything before their installation, there are weeds all along the drip lines. In the area of the yard where I planted and ran drip lines to the actual plants, the weeds are minimal. I would recommend working with them on the Lawn Buster program but DO NOT go with their irrigation proposal. Do yourself a favor and run your own drip lines to the plants. read more

I took the free Our City Forest exotic tree tour at the Rosicrucian museum last Saturday. It was really fascinating. Nancy, Jeff & Samantha were our hosts and I was so impressed that they carried on with the tour even while it was raining. The trees are beautiful and I learned how to tell the difference between the two major types of palm trees in the area, which I had always wondered about. And they gave us a nice brochure to take home with all the info in it, which is good, because I want to look up a couple of the trees that I'd never even heard of before. I love ancient trees! This tour is really worth taking, and I hope they offer it again. Thanks for doing this! Mary U. read more

If you love nature or want to be more involved with San Jose's urban forest, OCF is a great way to become connected with your surrounding community. Among planting trees for schools, parks and neighborhoods. San Jose residents can receive free trees in their park strip or front yard, if room permits. They have informative "tree bank" work days where you can help repot trees and learn the process of young tree health. They also have volunteer opportunities in office or in the field which will usually involve tree plantings. If you want to become an integral part of OCF you can become a 'tree amigo' by taking an 18 hr/8wk course all about trees. After, you would be trained to teach others on tree planting procedures, during a planting. OCF also supports San Jose's Green Vision by holding Green and Healthy courses designed to teach residents on recycling, sustainable food options, energy saving tips by encouraging to monitor their utility bills, water conservation, composting, and overall reducing their carbon footprint! Visit them! They have great programs for all ages check them out! read more

Our City Forest is a non-profit tree advocacy group that also works with the City of San Jose. I took OCF's Willow Glen Tree Tour on Aug. 21 2010, and it was really fun and informative! And free! They have a tour bus, which holds about 15 passengers, and it was full of folks who wanted to learn about the trees in that area. The guide (I think his name was Chris) seemed passionate about trees and his enthusiasm really engaged the group. He pointed out things about the trees that I would never have noticed. He discussed the strategy of planting the right trees in the right places, which makes sense. He talked about a few trends in the City's tree-planting strategy, some good and some not-so-good. He pointed out a Heritage tree that I never knew existed. He showed us a house with a cork tree in the front yard. He pointed out a few trees that people had planted that were NOT the "right tree in the right place," and some other trees that worked well in their space. They also had a walking tour in August, which I hope they will repeat so I can attend that one as well. I had never heard of OCF until I read about their tree tour. I am amazed and impressed by all of the resources they offer, from help with trees in your own yard, to neighborhood plantings, to classroom education, even live Christmas tree donations to the homebound during the holidays. All San Jose residents should check out their website and see what they have to offer, and maybe even get involved to help improve our urban forest! read more

We visited Our City Forest in early October and paid for 4 trees for delivery. It has been more than a month. They have cashed our checks but no other contact. I don't know when I will get my trees delivered. They don't respond to emails. They don't respond to voice mails. If they were not a non-profit, I would be thinking that they are a scam. Be very careful when you deal with them read more

My daughter told us about Our City Forest and a program they have called Lawn Busters. We sent an email, answering a few questions regarding our lawn and ourselves. There wasn't anything invasive about the questions but we did learn that for seniors and the disabled there may be considerable discounts, which we qualified for. At our first meeting they explained the service and asked several questions about our preferences for our new front yard which is now drought tolerant and NOT water sucking lawn. We even had room for a tree. I got ahead of myself but we did have another meeting before work began to show us a 3D rendering of the planting in order for us to make any changes we might want. They did such a good job in the first meeting I don't think we requested any changes. The work was done over two days and the team was like a group of ants. Everyone knew exactly what they needed to do and wasted no time getting to it. I am recommending this to all my friends and family. They are WONDERFUL. read more

Our City Forest is exceptional! I had never heard of them until a friend told me about the Exotic Tree Tour they were doing at the Roscicrucian Museum this month. We went and wow! what an impressive tour - the guides and Americorps volunteers, Leslie and not sure, Jake? and Samantha, a City Forest employee, were knowledgeable, interesting and obviously love what they do. They gave us a beautiful pamphlet too. I still can't believe the tour was free... and from now on I will be checking out all their tours and events. They offer a variety of programs and are clearly a valuable resource in our community. I hope the word gets out about their mission. read more

Be careful with your tree planting. We received a cork oak. It is a beautiful tree and has grown mightily in the ten years or so. This past year, we paid about $400 to get the roots pruned and a sidewalk segment replaced. Last week I paid $9250 to have the front sewer pipe opened, tree roots cleaned out, and cleanout lines installed and the pipe relined. It is still a beautiful tree and will not meet city guidelines for removal unless we need another sewer repair or sidewalk repair (at our expense). It has been a really expensive free tree. read more