Plant a Tree - Planning

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Mitch Baker
American Plant Food Co. Garden Center and Nursery
www.americanplantfood.com  
(301) 469-7690

Mitch Baker is the Horticultural Specialist at the American Plant Food Co. Garden Center and Nursery, in Bethesda, MD, focusing on natural gardening products and organic gardening. Mitch is a MD Certified Professional Horticulturist, with 31 years of experience in the garden center industry. He has studied at numerous horticultural institutions from New York to Oregon, and also serves on the board of the Rachel Carson Council.

Plant a Tree - Planning

What a perfect time to plant a tree! Let Mitch Baker help you plan how to plant your tree.

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Hi, I am Mitch Baker with American Plant Food Company, and today we are going to show you how to properly plant a tree. But before you ever stick a shovel in the ground, there are so many things to consider about choosing that tree or that shrub. Whats it going to do for you? What do you want it to do for you? Do you want this tree to provide shade? Do you want it to be large enough that it will shade your garden? Maybe you just want it to be a small ornamental flowering tree. Do you want it to fruit? How about the fall color? Ultimate size and shape, youve got to consider just how big this tree is going to get? What kind of impact its going to have on the rest of your garden? Is it going to interfere or grow into surrounding trees and shrubs in your garden? Is it going to create more shade and have an impact on those other plants in your garden? These are things you need to think about. So, you want to select a tree that's going to provide you with the things youre looking for, without interfering with other things that are growing in your garden. So, lots of things to consider. The choices today; there are many, many trees to look at, many nice flowering ornamental trees to plant in your garden. Today, weve selected a small ornamental grafted, cultivated form of Japanese maple to provide some color in the garden without getting so large. This tree will mature eight to ten feet tall. So, its a small ornamental tree that will add a nice accent to the garden, but also work well with those things in the rest of the garden. So, before you ever stick that shovel in the ground, ask yourself, what do I want this tree to do? Whats it going to provide for my garden? Properly done, that tree has the potential to provide you with years of pleasure, years of enjoyment, but you have to consider all those things first.

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