As the weather is starting to cool down a bit (hallelujah), gardeners are greeting this time of year with mixed emotions. Mixed because, yes, we welcome the cooler weather, but cooler weather also means it isn’t long before our annuals will be giving it up. But cooler weather also means it’s also time to start thinking about what we want to add to our landscape next year. If some of you plan adding trees or shrubs to your landscape, now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs.

This idea of planting in the fall might seem a bit counter-intuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Here’s why. When we plant trees and shrubs in the fall, those plants have all winter to work on developing a good root system to be ready for next summer’s heat. While it may look like they are just sitting there dormant, they are actually hard at work growing roots and getting established in their new home. So, let’s talk about how to properly plant a tree or shrub and the different ways you might be able to purchase these new additions to your yard.

First of all, trees can be purchased in three different ways - balled and burlaped, container grown, and bare root. You may have seen trees available from a variety of online sources. For the most part, these trees are shipped to you as bare-root trees and these are the exception to our fall planting rule. For best results, bare root trees need to be planted between mid-February and mid-April. In the spring at the Home and Garden Show we typically give away bare root trees right about them time they need to be planted. However, if you go out shopping for trees and shrubs at your favorite garden center, you are going to find balled and burlaped varieties, as well as those that are container grown.

Balled and burlaped trees are typically larger specimens. These plants have been grown in the ground. When they are prepared to ship to local outlets, they are dug out of the ground with special equipment that actually digs down and lifts out the entire tree.

As you might imagine, the roots on these trees are severed in the process, making regenerating a robust root system a top priority. They are called balled and burlaped because the root ball is wrapped with burlap to keep the roots covered in soil and as intact as possible. Fall planting is great for balled and burlaped trees so that they can work all winter long on restoring a functional root system.

Container grown trees and shrubs are what the name implies, they have been grown in a container. The upside to this growing method is that they already have a full root system inside of the container, making the plant better able to handle the shock of transplanting. One side note, just because a shrub or tree is in a container, doesn’t mean it is container grown. So, it’s a good idea to check. It might actually be a balled and burlaped plant placed inside a container. This happened to me once and I didn’t realize it until I got home. By then I already had the hole dug and prepped so I went ahead and planted it, but ultimately the tree did not survive. Bottom line, check to make sure you are purchasing what you think you are purchasing.

When planting a container grown or balled and burlaped plant, the techniques are the same. Once you have selected your plant and have brought it home, you are going to need to dig a hole. Now I am going to guess most of us do not have digging a hole at the top of our “fun things to do” list but when digging a hole for a new tree or shrub, we want to dig the hole about 3 times the diameter of the root ball. We do this because soil, over time gets compacted. If we dig the hole the size of the root ball, the plant is going to start putting out roots and the first thing these tiny roots are going to run into is hard, compacted soil. Digging this oversized hole will provide an optimal growing zone around your plant which will help those roots get established.

While you want the hole to be 3 times wider than the root ball, you want the depth of the hole to be just a little less deep that then height of the root ball. We do this because we want a nice, solid base to support the plant to minimize settling down into the hole. Obviously, you would want to take the plant out of the container before planting, but maybe not so obviously, you also want to remove the burlap from around the root ball when planting.

Now that you have your tree/shrub in the hole, back fill the hole with soil that came out of the hold. There’s no need to replace with amended soil, because you want the plant to get used to where it now lives and not some super-charged, nutrient rich soil.

Once you have filled the hole, cover mulch to help retain moisture and minimize weeds. Just be sure to keep the mulch away from the trunk as this will encourage disease and contribute to weak bark.

If it’s a larger tree and is planted in a place where it might get exposed to strong winds, it’s a good idea to stake the tree. Typically, we use 2 to 3 stakes driven into the ground a couple of feet away from the tree. Just be sure to loosely attach the guide lines around the tree so as not inhibit its growth.

Next, you will need to keep the plant hydrated with about an inch of water each week during the fall and winter. Just monitor the rain and supplement with water as needed.

As far as selecting a tree goes, we have a good guide to trees we recommend on our website. Just go to our website www.tulsamastergardeners.org, click on Lawn and Garden Help, and then click on Trees and Shrubs. You will find the guides there. See you in the garden.

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Graphic: OSU