What decides whether a bur oak goes into your yard this fall? On the Lake Forest calendar, it isn't the Saturday morning with the folding tables and the staff handing out advice. It's a Wednesday night with a web form.
Lake Forest Open Lands holds its Fall Native Tree, Shrub & Plant Sale on Saturday, October 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nagel Campus for Open Lands, 13528 W. Boulton Boulevard. The trees and shrubs are sold by pre-order, though. The form opened Friday, September 18, and it closes Wednesday, October 21. Pre-ordered plants are picked up during sale hours. LFOLA also warns that stock is limited and some items may sell out before the pre-order period ends. So the Saturday sale is mostly a pickup. The real choices get made earlier in the week.
The rest of Lake Forest's late-season calendar fits around that cutoff more neatly than you'd expect.
The Order of Things
As of Monday, October 5, here is the sequence:
- Wednesday, October 14, 6 to 7 p.m. Robert Moor talks about his book In Trees: An Exploration at Lake Forest Book Store, 662 N. Western Avenue. The event is listed on the Open Lands calendar. It's free. Reserve a spot by calling the store at 847-234-4420.
- Wednesday, October 21. Tree and shrub pre-orders close.
- Friday, October 23, 5:30 to 7 p.m. The first of three family campfires at Mellody Farm Nature Preserve.
- Saturday, October 24, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sale day and pre-order pickup at the Nagel Campus. Some wildflower pints are sold only that day.
- Fridays, October 30 and November 6. The second and third campfires.
The book talk falls one week before the form closes. Moor's book came out from Simon & Schuster on April 7, 2026. The publisher describes it as an exploration of what trees can teach about wisdom, drawing on science, history, philosophy and the author's own travels and research. The store will have copies to buy and sign. That gives you an evening on Western Avenue to hear about trees with a week left to order one.
Why a Fall Deadline Comes Before the Sale
The timing has a horticultural logic. The Morton Arboretum recommends planting trees and shrubs in fall because trees lose less water then and their roots are primed to grow. Mild temperatures and fall rain help, and cool air over still-warm soil pushes the plant to put energy into roots instead of new top growth. That builds a stronger root system before spring. University of Illinois Extension gives the same reasons: less water loss, rainfall, and warm soil under cool air.
The arboretum's guidance gives a fall planting window of mid-August through mid-October. October 24 falls just after that. A 3-gallon tree picked up that Saturday arrives at the end of the season the arboretum describes, so it helps to have the planting spot chosen and the hole planned before pickup day.
The same guidance makes one exception that matters for this list. Morton Arboretum names larch as a tree better planted in spring. Tamarack, a native larch, is one of the trees Open Lands is offering. If it's on your pre-order, ask the staff on sale day about timing.
What the Form Actually Offers
The 2026 plant list is short enough to read over coffee:
| Category | Examples on the 2026 list | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Trees, 3-gallon | Bur oak, chinkapin oak, eastern redbud, swamp white oak, tamarack | $45 |
| Shrubs | Serviceberry, American hazelnut, chokeberry, buttonbush, elderberry, pagoda dogwood | $30 to $65 |
| Plant pints | Native perennials, with some wildflower pints sold only on sale day | $7 |
Two of the five trees are oaks with names a homeowner will recognize, and a third, chinkapin, is also an oak. The shrubs lean toward plants that fruit or flower. You can only pre-order trees and shrubs, so the $7 pints are the part of the sale that waits for Saturday. The current listing doesn't mention early access or other perks for members. If that matters to you, call Open Lands before you plan your morning around it.
The Building on Boulton Boulevard
The pickup address may be new to many people. The Nagel Campus is LFOLA's main office. Brothers Matt and Blair Nagel donated the 3.8-acre property so the trust's stewardship, engagement and administrative teams could work in one place. JWC Media told the story in July 2026. The Nagels built their family business headquarters in Middlefork nearly 20 years ago. Local architect Wells Wheeler designed it with large windows that keep the surrounding land in view.
"Our business was intense enough as it was. We wanted to put our office in an area of tranquility and peace, in a setting that was calming." Blair Nagel, speaking to JWC Media
According to the same article, Open Lands had long kept departments and equipment in several places around town. The campus now gives the trust offices, meeting rooms, warehouse storage and room to grow. "Now everybody is under one roof," Matt Nagel told the magazine. The trust itself dates to 1967 and manages more than 1,100 acres of restored prairie, wetland, woodland and ravine. The trust's own page lists plant and tree sales among the campus's uses, along with community gatherings. In practice, the October 24 pickup happens at the same address as the organization's headquarters.
Friday Nights at the Council Ring
The night before the sale, the calendar moves a few miles to Mellody Farm Nature Preserve, 350 N. Waukegan Road. On October 23, October 30 and November 6, guides from Lake Forest Open Lands and Trickster Cultural Center lead families on an evening prairie hike to the Jens Jensen council ring. The evening includes Native American stories, s'mores and hot apple cider by the fire. Each night is limited to five families. It costs $45 per member family and $55 per non-member family, and you register through LFOLA.
Trickster Cultural Center describes itself as Illinois's first Native American-owned and -operated arts institution. It offers Native American cultural programs, contemporary Indigenous art and educational activities.
The preserve has a story of its own that ties back to Saturday's sale. Mellody Farm covers 58 acres with 1.7 miles of trails. The estate there was finished in 1909. In 1994, LFOLA worked with a developer to save 50 acres of a 76-acre site that had been farmed and grazed. The trust then restored wetlands, prairie and oak savanna, and a riverbank restoration partnership followed in 1997. In 1999 the estate gatehouse was renovated as the Lockhart Family Nature Center. The Jensen pond and council ring are part of the grounds.
Oak savanna is what the trust spent decades rebuilding at Mellody Farm, and oaks lead the list it is selling on October 24. A family that walks to the council ring on Friday night can pick up a bur oak or swamp white oak at the Nagel Campus the next morning, if they ordered it by Wednesday.
Planning Around the Cutoff
To catch all of it, work backward from the deadlines. Reserve a seat for October 14 by phone. Have your tree and shrub choices settled and submitted before Wednesday, October 21 ends. Register early for a campfire, since each night takes only five families. Pick up your order on October 24 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. and look over the day-of wildflower pints while you're there. Morton Arboretum's season ends around mid-October and the Open Lands pickup comes after it, so the trees you order this month will spend their first winter putting energy into roots.
A well-placed oak or serviceberry is one of the slow improvements that makes a property feel settled, and Lake Forest buyers notice those details. If you're weighing what this season's planting or other projects could mean for your home's value, Nicole Fabiano is glad to walk the property with you. Request a complimentary home valuation.
