Fall is the best time to plant a tree. My method is to dig a hole the size of the root, use a garden fork to punch some holes in the bottom, water, allow to drain, spread the root out carefully and feed the soil back in. If you’re planting a native tree, and those are the only kind I plant, there’s no need for special soil or amendments. As long as it’s in an appropriate environment – shade for Striped Maple, sun for Tulip Tree, moisture for Ohio Buckeye – the tree will settle in because it’s where it belongs.
However I do use a mulch. You can use wood chips but those look corporate to me. If I were to use them, I’d try to ensure they are aged and beginning to decompose. I prefer leaf mould, which is made from the leaves of the fall of last year gathered into a mesh bin and watered from time to time. They have mostly rotted down into a fresh-scented humus that is just a pleasure to spread around flower beds and newly planted trees. Even better next spring when I do more planting
I’m planting Pawpaws (Asimina triloba). The fruit is about the size of an avocado and the custardy flesh is reputed to have a flavour that’s a combination of banana, pineapple and mango. It was apparently much appreciated by the megafauna that preceded us on this land. It doesn’t travel well because it bruises easily, which is why it’s not a commercial proposition and no one I know has ever tasted it.
The Pawpaws are going into a field that’s mostly alien invasive grasses, although Indian Grass and Switchgrass have started to fight back and spread. So I have been happy to try a new product from Lee Valley Tools – the weed suppression square. It’s not cheap - $17.50 for 5 but I think, placed above a layer of leaf mould mulch, it will help the little seedlings along. I want my new Pawpaws to get the best possible start as they’re only a foot tall, and eliminating competition in the rooting area is a big help. I added a piece of spiral tree protector for good measure although these trees are apparently loaded with toxins that makes them unpalatable to rabbits and browsers.
My vision several decades ago for this space was for a mini-forest. I put in an Eastern White Cedar / Balsam Fir / White Spruce as a windbreak some 50 feet west of the house. One of the firs came down on the hydro line into the house during this year’s spring storm, not breaking it but just hanging there. Balsam Firs can grow to be top heavy and prone to this kind of collapse, I was told.
Many others were planted into the adjoining field – Red Oak, Bur Oak, Sugar Maple and Red Maple. I have a lone Honey Locust, a lone Cucumber Magnolia, a lone Serviceberry. Other species have arrived on the wind and self-seeded – White Pine, Tamarak (a group of three artfully arranged by Mother Nature) and White Birch. Trembling Aspen has recently appeared as an enthusiastic colonizer that I have controlled.
Also under stringent control is the invasive Glossy Buckthorn. The seeds are spread from elsewhere by birds and I keep an eagle eye out for the seedlings. Every now and then one will escape my notice and grow quietly unobserved until I spot it, six feet tall, and need to summon help to dig up a significant shrub.
Another way of planting trees is to get the squirrels and chipmunks to do it for you. This is a mast year for the Red Oak, at least in our neck of the woods which is the Simcoe County Forest. The acorns are spread so thickly on the path in some areas that it feels like walking on ball bearings. They looked so beguiling we couldn’t help but pick some up, bring them home and drop them into a pot by the front door. The chipmunks found them immediately. The pot is empty. We did the same on subsequent walks. There will be oak trees.
The squirrels have also been enthusiastic helpers in the spread of Black Walnut. I have several trees, purchased decades ago from Golden Bough Tree Farm in Marlbank, Ontario, whose catalogue billed them as their most valuable lumber. “Even when young, a walnut grove can double the real estate value of a farm,” the catalogue said. They haven’t prompted salespeople to beat a path to my door, and I have no plans to cut them down but they do produce a tasty nut that must be allowed to season for three months after harvest. The nuts are very hard-shelled, though. I purchased a special nutcracker that looks like an instrument of torture from Grimo Nut Nursery (sorry, it’s sold out).
However! These rodents can foil tree planting by stealing the nuts we have put in the ground. From Diana Berefsford-Kroeger's Our Green Heart, a useful tip: to "de-scent" a nut, add a pinch of baking soda.
If you have the space, don’t just plant one tree - - plant three. The first and main reason is pollination. I have a lovely Ohio Buckeye, grown from a nut harvested from the courtyard of the Simcoe County administration building. The buckeye is of the same genus as the Eurasian Horse Chestnut and it has the same glossy rich brown ‘conkers’ (named after the game in which contestants wield a string of nuts to smash an opponent’s string. The winner has ‘conkered’).
The buckeye I have is alone in its field and did produce nuts this year – that were harvested by squirrels (they are so busy!). I understand that pollen from a separate tree is needed for buckeye seed to be viable. I was confident I could source the seed for more trees from the administration centre. Alas, I found a couple of weeks ago that the half dozen buckeyes that grew there have gone, all but one which is looking quite parlous. Victims to the drought, perhaps. The survivor’s conkers rattled dry when I picked them up from the ground. But there were some still in the husk on the tree, so I took those (with permission) and hope that they are viable. I will protect the conkers on my tree next spring with netting and hope they too are viable.
Hope is the joy of trees – the hope propels you into the future and the joy is to think that they will live for decades after you are gone.
PS Thanks to the environmental charity Blooming Boulevards for the inspiration that has started me writing again!
Kate Harries owned the plant nursery Return of the Native north of Barrie. The nursery is now closed, although the website remains online as a gardening resource.
