I have two small trees I bought about a month ago still in 5 gal pots waiting to plant in ground when it is cooler. Mainly because it is SOOO HOT and SOOO DRY right now. I have them in part sun/ part shade right now. They do not get the hot late afternoon and evening sun. Also they are where they can be watered easily. Where I plan to plant them will be in full sun, and less acessible to water. One is a Chaste Berry or Vitex and the other is Desert Orchid. Am I right to wait? I also know that planting should be done in time for plants to estblish before winter. So I am like "to plant or not to plant" LOL My understanding from plant files is thata they are winter hardy here. I have also seen a Vitex in town that has been there for years. I forgot to say I am in northeast Texas. Sort of between Dallas and Tyler and I am at the edge of 7b to 8a.
When should I ....
Yes, I would think to wait till fall. Most trees/shrubs will establish well over winter.
I agree with Podster in waiting. I would plant in late September and water in well with root stimulator. Both of these are very drought tolerant once established. They don't like wet feet, so plant in a well draining spot. If planted in September, they should be well enough established that you shouldn't have to water much, if any, in the coming year. I have both of these plants and love them. One of my vitex has been on the property for well over ten years and it's huge. Unless you plan to cut it back to the ground each year, make sure you leave plenty of room for it because my big one is over 15 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter. Texas A&M Superstars website suggests cutting back to ground, but I don't do that as I prefer small tree form over shrub. Good luck with them.
for what it's worth, ditto pod and crow.
Thanks ya'll. I will do that. I feel better now!!!
yardqueen, I am doing the same thing as you are doing. I bought a vitex on sale 50% off about a month ago and I am keeping it alive in its pot until the fall. I think I have heard as a rule of thumb that it is best to plant trees in the fall where they can get some roots laid down before winter, come out in spring to get stronger roots before the high heat and drought comes.....like now.
Yardqueen,
I'm just down the road form you. I can tell you the vitex will thrive here! I pretty much have neglected mine and they have grow to 12 feet in five years.
I bought a desert willow last month and placed the pot in the ground in full sun, the drought hasn't seemed to affect it all. Not sure if I'm supposed to protect it this winter. Will a heavy mulch be sufficient for the desert willow?
ms_merae
Where did you get yours? I got mine half off locally (in Emory!!!) mine is probably 3 ft I think.
cocoa_lulu
I pass through Grand Saline quite often when I go to Lindale or Tyler! Have you ever been to Miller Nursery on 19?
I don't know about the mulch question but i need to. I am going to look on plant files and see how hardy it is.
Well i just lookrd and it says hardy to 8a. i think we are 8a. so I guess a good mulch and probably water before a freeze. They are so pretty aren't they? I hope they make it.
Yardqueen,
I thought we're 7b, i think we are so close to the border it's hard to tell. I do hope the desert willows makes it, my hummers love it.
I go Bruce Miller's more than I should.lol I sometimes go to the Tue. night antique auction over in Sulpher Springs and always slow down at Bruce's to see what they have.
Have you ever been to Blue Moon Gardens in Edom? They're sooo pricey, but I can find just about any plant I'm looking for there. They also have stunning display gardens and free classes.
lulu,
I have been there once. My daughters took me for Mother's day once. It was very nice. They had a tea for mother's day and then we got to look around and pick a few flower from a designated area and then we got to make bouquets to take home. Yes they are high there, but id like to go back.
I was reading some other threads on this site and i just ran across this. You posted in in late July...I never saw it. I would have replied so I hope it is not too late! LOL
Hello Yardqueen, I new to Dg and see we’re neighbors. I’m glad to see someone from in my area. We moved here from Dallas 6 years ago. I’m finding a lot of differences in the way I have to garden out here in the Post Oak Belt. If you don’t mind me asking what grows well for you out here. Have you planted many trees? I’m not sure what does well here other than Water and Pin Oaks?
We moved here from Mesquite almost 27 years ago. WOW that's sounds like a long time!!! as far as what grows well for me, i would have to say that now just about everything does since I started feeding my plants! lol I used to just water them and a lot of things got ugly. I talked to a guy at a plant farm here in emory and i told him that when i buy plants (especially hanging baskets), they are pretty when I get them and then they get ugly and dont bloom. he asked me if i fed them and i said no. and he said that was my problem. lol ever since then all my plants do really well. but with our summer heat and no rain i have to water them just about every day. As far as planting trees these two that we talked about earlier are the only ones. We have a lot of trees already here. Oak and Cedar. and hackberry. When we built our house we had two huge oaks that we built our house so that our patio was under them and they hung over our roof in the back. but several years ago one of them died and we had to have it cut down. I hated that. there waas a skinny little hackberry that didn't grow much cause the oak shaded it and after the oak was gone it really took off. it is a pretty tree now. But we really havent planted any trees. i would like to have some fruit trees but like the vegetable garden that will wait till we retire. well i am rambling now. Do you have a lot of plants? Do you live in town or in the country? We live in the country and have a couple of acres. We used to have a lot more but thats a long sad story. i am rambling again. I wish i could tell you more about trees but i dont really know. but if you go on plant search and search for trees and put in our zone you should come up with a lot.
This message was edited Aug 17, 2006 10:35 PM
cocoa_lulu, I went ahead and put a heavy mulch around my desert willow...and it has taken this dreadful heat just fine...course, here in SA, they even plant them out on the highways around town...I do keep it well watered tho....to help keep those lovely blooms a bit longer....
Melanie
Thank you TXT, I'll take care to protect mine on really cold nights. I don't see them planted around here very much. I think it might be because of the kind of cold snaps we get once every five years or so.
Yardqueen, What a great Mother's Day present! I'll have to drop that hint to my kids next year. Blue Moon has a Fall Party planned for October 14th http://www.bluemoongardens.com/events.htm looks like a lot of fun!
We live on a hundred acres out in the country, our house is fenced in with 8 acres. No mater how much I plant it doesn't look like I'm ever going to fill the yard up. But I'm going to try!LOL We have huge oaks with deep dry shade or scorching bare lawn, not much in between. I'm trying to add lots of small open trees and shrubs to create some shade for perennials. It would take to long to list all I have growing out there, if you ever would ever like some cuttings let me know what you're looking for. As long as it's not bright yellow, orange or red I might have it. I usually stick to pastels.
Come by and say "hi" sometime I have the chocolate shop, Calico Chocolates, in Grand Saline (we are on HWY 80).The little shop that looks like a passion vine is about to eat the roof. It will be on your right after the first stop light. First piece of piece of chocolate is on me :)
cocoa,
WOW!!! That sounds too cool. I hope I find time to stop by your shop. I know what you mean about the burned up grass! Except for our small stand of st augustine that I try to keep alive our grass is green only by the flower beds. LOL
I mostly do pastels also. We are in the process of redoing all of our foundation plantings. We have done the back and have prepared one side, but it is only about 1/3 planted with new stuff. We are taking out most of what was there anad we are building up the beds with landscape brick. It is a terrible lot of hard work for my husband because he is doing all the digging and other hard work. I pick out plants, and tell him where to plant them and I also do the running to home depot for the bricks and sac-crete. All that is so heavy that you can't haul a lot at one time.
I may take you up on the offer of cuttings. I am not really sure what I will be planting in the remaining beds. I have some lists of thing I would like but I haven't made up my mind yet. I am planning to wait till cooler weather to plant those too.
Carol