What This Site Is
SimpleGrove is a static reference resource covering three practical areas relevant to food-forest planning on publicly managed land in Canada: layered canopy design, perennial plant guilds, and the bylaw landscape that governs such projects. The content is written in an informational style and draws from publicly available sources in agroforestry, urban forestry, and municipal planning.
The site does not represent any organisation, programme, or commercial service. It does not offer professional planning, legal, or horticultural advice. Information is provided as a general orientation to the topic and should be verified against current local regulations before any planting decisions are made.
Why Municipal Lots
Interest in food-producing trees on city-owned land has grown steadily in several Canadian cities over the past decade. Vancouver's boulevard fruit tree programme, Toronto's community orchard projects, and similar efforts in Hamilton and Guelph have demonstrated that productive perennial plantings on municipal land are feasible when designed carefully and coordinated with parks departments.
At the same time, the information needed to plan such a project — what species fit boulevard bylaws, how to structure a stewardship agreement, which plant combinations work in compacted urban soils — tends to be scattered across municipal websites, academic reports, and gardening organisations. This site attempts to summarise that material in one place.
Sources and References
Content draws from publicly available documents including municipal bylaw databases, Natural Resources Canada publications on urban forestry, academic literature on agroforestry guild design, and records from established food-forest projects in North America. External links are provided where specific sources are referenced.
Scope
Coverage focuses on Canadian conditions: hardiness zones 3 through 7, provincial land law frameworks, and the types of municipal bylaws common across Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The principles described apply more broadly, but specific regulatory details vary significantly by province and municipality.
Contact
Questions or corrections regarding content can be submitted using the form below. Response is not guaranteed, and the form does not transmit data to any server — it serves as an acknowledgement mechanism only.
Last updated: May 2026