When to Plant Trees

By David Beaulieu, About.com Guide

When to Plant Trees: The Short Version

In general, the best time for planting trees is late winter or early spring. If that doesn't fit your schedule, then aim for autumn. Summer's a bad choice, because the weather's too hot and the actively growing plants too susceptible to damage. Weather also restricts your options in the winter (at least in the North), because the cold causes the ground to freeze. If you've had the foresight to do all your digging ahead of time (before the ground freezes), it's not impossible to plant trees in winter. But unless you can water them sufficiently, early-to-mid winter is not the best planting time, either.

When to Plant Trees: The Long Version

For the long answer to the question of when to plant trees, we'll remember what's been said above -- but then just expand on it a bit. To begin, I need to introduce some vocabulary items:

• dormancy
• deciduous
• evergreen