5 Reasons Why Planting Saplings is the Smarter Way to Grow Trees and Shrubs
Saplings are inexpensive, easy to plant, and often grow faster than larger nursery trees.
Are you interested in planting more trees and shrubs in your yard? Maybe to create privacy, provide habitat for birds and pollinators, or simply bring life back to an empty space?
Traditional landscaping often suggests planting the largest tree or shrub you can afford. These plants look impressive at first, but they can be expensive, difficult to install, and slow to establish.
There is a simpler and more effective approach: start with saplings!
Saplings are young trees or shrubs, usually one or two years old, that have already developed strong root systems. Above ground they may look small and simple, but below the soil they are ready to grow quickly and establish themselves.
Here are five reasons planting saplings is the smartest way to plant trees and shrubs in your landscape.
1. No Breaking Your Back
Saplings are small and easy to handle. You can carry several at once and plant them quickly without hauling heavy containers or root balls.
No need to work up a sweat before you even start planting.
2. Hardly Any Digging
Planting a sapling requires almost no excavation, making the whole process quick and low-effort.
To plant a sapling, just push your shovel into the soil and wiggle it back and forth to open a wedge. Gently place your sapling into the opening, root side down, and then squish the soil back together around the roots.
And your tree is planted. It's that easy.
3. Cheap (In the Best Possible Way)
Saplings typically cost only a few dollars each. For the price of a single large nursery shrub, you can plant many saplings.
This means you can experiment and see what works in different parts of your yard. Plant things with fragrant flowers, make the birds and bees happy, provide tasty fruit, and maybe get that privacy screen started.
All in a few hours and for a small investment.
4. Saplings Grow Fast
Saplings begin adapting to your soil immediately. Because their root systems are still natural and flexible, they often establish more quickly than larger nursery plants that have experienced root disturbance.
Saplings start growing right away and are often more resilient during a bad growing season or periods of sporadic watering.
5. Very Little Maintenance
Saplings require very little care once in the ground.
A small protective cage helps prevent browsing by deer or rabbits, and a flag helps you remember where they are planted. With a little water during their first growing season, young trees and shrubs are usually well on their way.
Planting saplings is one of the easiest ways to grow a landscape filled with native trees, native shrubs, and wildlife habitat.
So the next time you are choosing plants for your yard, don't automatically reach for the biggest tree at the nursery. Try a sapling instead.
You may be surprised how quickly those little guys turn into mighty trees.
Ready to get started? Learn more about our planting services or reach out to our Treecologists to talk through the right native species for your site.
