Money doesn’t grow on trees, unfortunately, but you can definitely save a lot of money on trees if you get them for free.

And while some might say that nothing is truly free, those people apparently never went shopping for the leftovers at the Rhode Island Tree Council following their annual tree giveaway.

Last week, DPW crews were busy planting five Trident maples and five red oak trees near Veterans Field, the same site where a large number of trees were recently chopped down upon failing a safety inspection. They were just 10 of the 34 total trees that DPW Director Brian Wheeler and Warren Tree Commission Chairman Chuck Staton acquired for no charge from the Rhode Island Tree Council.

“[Chuck] reached out to the Tree Council. They told us to come down, and we had free pickings. They ended up giving us 34 total trees of different varieties, so that’s a huge help,” said DPW Director Brian Wheeler. “They’re not very mature trees, they’re a little small, but at the end of the day they are free and come at no cost to the taxpayers.”

Wheeler said that originally, the Town had wanted to spring for more mature trees to replace those in areas (like Vets Field) that had lost due to storms, age, rot or decay, but that proved to be a little bit more expensive than they could muster at around an anticipated cost of $15,000 to $25,000.

“We don’t actually have that in the budget, we have like half of that,” he said. “It just made more sense to go with the free trees.”

Wheeler said that between five and ten more of the trees will go to the area around Vets Field, with the remainder being distributed to places like Burr’s Hill and the Kickemuit upper recreation area.