Planting Large Trees Going into Late Fall
We’re still able to plant things, right?
Yes, 100 percent. We’ve got a lot of arborvitae, all different types of varieties. So when people come in, when you say the word arborvitae, they think of the real tall, skinny, narrow ones. There are so many different varieties of arborvitae. Some are deer resistant, some are not.
And that’s why coming to a place like Rohr’s Nursery is important. We can guide you to the size plant that’s going to fit your area. If you have a really small backyard and you want some privacy from a neighbor, that green giant arborvitae might not be the best choice. It’s going to get 35 feet tall, 10 to 12 feet wide. It just may be too big. But there are dwarf varieties like Northern Spire and Junior Giant and Steeplechase that are going to stay much smaller than the green giant variety, but they’re very quick growing. They create a privacy screen very quickly.
And because they grow fast, they generally cost less than like a spruce tree would. Spruce trees are a much slower growing evergreen, but we have a great selection of all the different types of evergreens at the nursery.
And if you can get a shovel in the ground, I mean, you can plant until the ground freezes. Our crews will go into December, January, sometime in that time frame before we call it quits for the season.
A lot of times, this is the better time to plant the larger trees and stuff because they’re going dormant. So as the foliage drops on all the deciduous stuff, even though the foliage has dropped and the top of the plant has gone dormant, the root system is still going to grow for four to six weeks. And so if we can get that in the ground right now, we’re developing root growth in our soil where that plant’s going to wake up in the spring and you’re going to get better top growth on the plant in the spring by planting it in the fall.
So like we just had our first light frost the other day, we’re going to get some more frost coming up here in the next week or two. The frost makes the top of the plant go dormant, but the root system is still going to grow for four to six weeks. And if you can get that plant in the ground now, you get that root system to establish in that soil, you’re going to get that much better growth in the spring.
Questions? Email us at [email protected] or call one of our two locations: Portage (330-499-0101) or Everhard (330-492-1243).
