Adopt a FRUIT Tree

• Firstly, it's important to check that you are eligible to apply:
  
  

  Eligible:  Homeowners residing at their property, living in urban areas within the City of Onkaparinga and that do not have a formal footpath adjacent their verge are eligible to apply.

  Ineligible: Residents living in rural areas, retirement villages, renting their homes (and homeowners with a formal footpath adjacent the verge) are ineligible. 

• Next, its important to remember that we are trialing the inclusion of fruit trees and ask for your patience as we may need to tweak how this part of the program works and species on offer as we go.  

• Then, we ask that you really consider the commitment.  The Adopt a FRUIT Tree program requires you to take responsibility to water and prune as well as manage pests/disease on your fruit tree. You'll also need to be mindful that as your fruit tree is located on the verge it will be available for anyone to pick its treats, not just you.  If this isn't for you, consider applying for our Adopt a STREET Tree program instead, where you commit to water the street tree but we prune it.

• If you're clear on the above - click on this link to the customer request form.

• The request then goes for pre-assessment to ensure its eligible and if so is sent on to our Urban Forest team who will undertake a site assessment up until end June (if not eligible you will receive notification).   Apple trees - as apple trees require pollen from a different apple variety for the best chance of fruiting success, we'll only be planting apple trees on verges that allow room for two trees. 
• Once assessed, you'll receive a calling card letting you know if your verge is suitable for a fruit tree or not (and if not, why not)

• The calling card will include details of the fruit tree species that will be planted and the pit style we feel best suits your verge  (we have links to information about your fruit tree species on our website) - and the team will have marked the spot for planting on your verge. IMPORTANT: To explore alternative species, location or tree pit for your verge, please phone us within 14 days of the card date to discuss options.

• During the planting season, July-November, our team will plant your tree and leave you a care bundle with instructions
• You will then be responsible for watering and pruning and maintaining the fruit tree. 

• Over the following two years our team will check in with you to answer any questions you may have and ensure your tree is growing as it should.  
• It's also worth keeping an eye out on our website and socials for our annual fruit tree pruning sessions held annually across the region at low cost, to help you care for your fruit tree. 

Eligible: Homeowners residing at the property, living in urban areas within the City of Onkaparinga and that do not have a formal footpath adjacent their verge are eligible to apply.

Those ineligible to apply are:

• Residents living in rural areas.
• Residents living in retirement villages.
• Residents renting their homes. 
• Homeowners with a formal footpath adjacent their verge

No, as there are no access issues and the tree is being assessed and planted on the verge, there's no need for anyone to be home.   

APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BEFORE END MARCH 2026: Assessment of applications received from April 2025 to end March 2026 (or fully allocated) will occur up until around end of June 2026 - if assessed as suitable, planting will occur from July to November 2026.

FROM 1 APRIL 2026: Applications received from April 2026 to end March 2027 (or fully allocated) will be assessed up until end June 2027 - if assessed as suitable, planting of these trees will occur between July to November 2027.

The Urban Forest team will not be able to provide a specific date and time that they will be on site.      

As you can imagine, our busy team cover the entire council region and the nature of their work also requires them to fit around any urgent tree needs at any given time. With that in mind, they'll schedule the assessment and planting times for the Adopt a Tree program around their other commitments and nearby visits. 

You can request a specific species in your customer request but we can't guarantee that you'll receive your first choice.  Click the links below for tree specifications and images. Please note that we may need to tweak species dependent on learning outcomes from the trial.

 *'Golden Delicious' Apple - A beautiful, medium to large green-yellow skinned apple. Sweet flavour with a sprightly tang. Used for fresh fruit, cooking and drying. Keeps well. A very popular cultivar that matures mid-season.

'May Grand' Nectarine - Used for fresh fruit, drying and cooking. Well-known around the world as the yellow-fleshed nectarine with an excellent flavour.

Double Jewel® cv. 'Zaiwel' Peach - Used for fresh eating, drying, juice and stewing. The attractive bright pink double blossom and the pleasant tasting quality fruit make Double Jewel® an excellent choice for the home garden. Mid-season maturity.

* Apple trees - as apple trees require pollen from a different apple variety for the best chance of fruiting success, we'll need to  plant two apple trees together - this requires that your verge has room for two trees. 

When assessing the suitability of locations for planting verge trees, arborists take several factors into consideration to ensure that trees will thrive and grow.  

The rule of thumb is that they need to ensure that new trees are not planted any closer than 3m from a driveway, 6m from a corner plot or 1.5m from the kerb.

Other factors include existing underground services that will be compromised by digging or tree roots, planting on a corner or driveway that may block line of sight, a nearby home has solar panels that will be shaded, or existing vegetation is present.

For this trial Adopt a FRUIT Tree program, we will not accept requests to plant fruit trees in verges that have an adjacent formal footpath, but instead only those that are landscaped all the way to the kerb (this is still classed as the verge as it needs to be accessible to pedestrians). 

Trees can only be planted in the council owned verge and not in your privately owned garden. 

Trees have so many benefits.  If you are ineligible to Adopt a FRUIT Tree you may still be eligible to apply to Adopt a STREET Tree instead.  Alternatively, if you have the room for a tree in your garden we'd strongly suggest investigating planting one. Click here for some ideas on species to choose.  

During the trial Adopt a FRUIT Tree program we will only have a limited number of fruit trees available.  If the program is successful we may look to expand it with more fruit trees available in future years.

Nectarine and Peach tree varieties - one tree per household.

Apple tree varieties - two trees per household - this is because apple trees require pollen from a different apple variety for the best chance of fruiting success. We'll only be planting apple trees on verges that allow room for two trees.  

It's important that your fruit tree has the best chance to thrive after its been planted on your verge and is in your care.

You'll receive your care package from the team planting your tree.  Don't worry, they'll leave it in a safe place for you to find, it will include:

• a bucket for you to water your fruit tree
• gardening gloves 
• a pot of fertilizer to aide growth above and below ground (be sure to read the safety information/guidelines before use)
• a list of care instructions on how best to look after your fruit tree 

All new trees planted require water and a little extra care to help them establish and succeed.

Residents that have requested to be part of our Adopt a FRUIT Tree program, agree to be responsible for watering trees planted in their verge (and pruning and maintaining them) as part of the application process.  Adopters will receive a bucket when their tree is planted and care instructions.  New fruit trees generally require 2-3 buckets of water per week for the first three years, and will also benefit for a bucket or two during very hot periods after this time.

If you're not part of Adopt a Tree and have received a street trees as part of our large-scale Suburb Improvement Program of works it will be watered by Council as part of a scheduled maintenance program.  We're also making use of mother nature to water street trees. Treenet stormwater kerb inlets are being connected in areas where we're undertaking streetscape improvements or rebuilding the kerbing.

While we don't want to put you off, we really need you to be aware that fruit trees require much more care and maintenance than regular street trees.  So, unlike the Adopt a STREET Tree program , our busy Urban Forest team cannot commit to helping you prune your fruit tree.

This won't phase the more green thumbed among you, which is great!  For those of you that are beginners, rest assured, there are plenty of resources out there plus we'll be holding regular fruit tree pruning community workshops.

Here's some handy advice and a video with top tips to get you started on learning how to prune your fruit tree. 

It’s important to welcome wildlife into our gardens and we can play a key role in creating habitats for all sorts of animals in an urban environment - sharing some of your fruit encourages them into your garden for you to enjoy.

However,  if you find that your fruit tree starts to get decimated by birds or other hungry wildlife you may decide that it's time to use some scaring tactics.  There's a handy video below with some easy ideas to get you started (but also heaps more on the internet if these aren't for you). 

We ask that you do not net your verge tree.

If the tree that we've planted outside of your home is vandalised please submit a customer service request.  You can do this using the online customer request form, by calling our customer service team on 8384 0666 or popping into one of our offices in person.  Once the request is received, our Urban Forest team will be in touch. 

Yes. The verge is accessible to anyone and nothing can be enforced to stop the public helping themselves to what is grown there.

The verge might be thought of as an extension of the home garden in planting terms, however it is not an extension of the home garden in legal terms because it is on public land.

Most verge gardeners are happy to share what they grow and expect that people will take some. Perhaps a little sign suggesting people take edible fruit when ripe but not pick the entire tree bare would go some way to minimising damage.

We encourage residents to take ownership of their verge and add plants to support tree health. Benefits include:

• Providing a healthier environment for street trees
• Softening the effect of hard surfaces such as roads and footpaths
• Improving air quality
• Working at natural air conditioners through moisture in leaves
• Reducing stormwater run-off and
• Providing habitat for small creatures like bees and butterflies.

However, it's important to make sure that your project will not inadvertently harm street trees or other users of the area, so before you make a start be sure to visit our website to read the FAQ's and our Urban Verge Planting Guide.

If we've not been able to answer your questions about the Adopt a Tree program in our FAQ's above please contact our Urban Forest team for more assistance on 8384 0666.

Yes, as long as you are happy to water and prune and maintain it we are happy to plant the fruit tree on your side verge.