Transforming your landscape starts with planting trees and shrubs. These versatile beauties can offer shade, privacy, wildlife habitat, and value to your property for decades to come. This guide provides the essential steps to ensure your new plants take root, grow strong, and flourish in their new home!

Prepare your Site

Plan to prepare the planting site a day in advance of planting. Make sure the tree or shrub is evenly moist in its nursery pot. Plan to plant in the morning, evening, or on a cloudy day.

Dig a hole as deep as the root ball, and twice as wide. Fill the hole with water and let drain completely before continuing on.

• If the hole does not drain within 24 hours, the soil is poorly drained and may warrant a shallow planting with up to 1/3 of the root ball positioned above ground level to prevent root rot. Amend your soil with compost. Read more about soil amending and restoration from the MPCA here.

Prepare your Plant

Press on the sides of the grower's pot to loosen the root ball and pull out the plant. The roots will likely be circling around eachother in the shape of the pot that the tree or shrub was grown in. This is referred to as girdling roots, and if left untouched can cause premature health decline in your plant.

Use a garden knife or root saw to shallowly slice around the root ball and its base - making slits to break up the bound roots. Afterwards, carefully tease the roots apart a bit further for additional encouragement to break up their circular growth pattern.

Put 'er in the Ground

Place the root ball in the hole, ensuring the roots are spread out and laid straight, not bent or circling. Backfill the hole with a mixture of one part compost or planting mix + two parts native soil (the soil you dug out to make the hole), and a starter fertilizer like Espoma Biotone to encourage healthy new root growth.

Make sure trees are planted with their root flare above the soil; when in doubt, plant shallower, not deeper. A slight flare of the trunk should be visible on the tree when planted.

Take Care!

Water, water, water! New trees and shrubs will need thorough, regular watering to establish strong, deep root systems. Keep your new planting moist, watering with a garden or soaker hose to penetrate deep into the soil. A sprinkler alone will not water deeply enough. Keep watering until the ground freezes in the Fall.

• Mulch with a high-quality shredded mulch using the 3:3:3 rule; mulch 3 feet in diameter, 3 inches deep, and at least 3 inches away from the trunk.
• Fertilize once or twice annually - in early Spring and early to mid-Summer.
• Protect trunks of tender trees and shrubs with hard plastic tubing or fencing to prevent winter feeding damage and sunscald.
• Consider wrapping new evergreen plantings in burlap for the Winter, especially young Boxwood and Arborvitae plants.

If you would like assistance planning a tree or shrub planting, feel free to stop in and ask! Otherwise, email us at hello@tonkadale.com - we're here to help!