Not sure what to do after feasting with family and friends? Burn off some calories and plant a tree!
The holidays are a special time of year to visit with family and friends. However, after lunch we often retreat to the living room to recover from our food comas on what is invariably a beautiful sunny afternoon (at least here in South Central Texas).
Planting wildflower seeds on Thanksgiving can be a carb-burning after-lunch tradition for those in the know — and Thanksgiving is still a perfect time to do it. But this year why not add to the tradition and plant a tree or two?
November and December holidays are ideal for planting trees and shrubs, since they’ll have a better chance of getting established over the winter, when conditions are mild, and be in good shape for their first summer.
For newer homes that lack shade — or for anyone who’s lost a beloved shade tree to the extreme weather the past few years — this can be an especially valuable investment that will pay off in shade and property value. Plus, it can be a special holiday activity for kids and adults!
Use our Find-a-Plant feature to explore large and small trees that may be suited to your landscape or visit your local nursery and talk to skilled staff (it helps to bring a photo of your site. (Hint: you can’t go wrong with oaks, cedar elm, anaqua, redbud, Texas mountain laurel and other well-adapted natives.)
You don’t always need to buy the biggest or most expensive tree. The smaller the potted specimen, the less it will cost, the less digging it will require in our unforgiving soils and the faster it will recover from the transplant. So, a 5-gallon tree you can buckle into a seatbelt and drive home yourself may establish faster and quickly catch up to an expensive 15- or 25-gallon specimen that has to be delivered and planted with a jackhammer by a crew from the nursery.
Even small 1-gallon “Charlie Brown Christmas Tree” specimens are great options since they’re much less likely to suffer from the circling, girdling roots that can build up from too many years in a pot.
Bring a few trees and a bag of mulch home and have everything ready to plant for your holiday group!
