Gardening 101: Planting spring trees in North Texas
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Perhaps you've noticed the early bloomers over the last few weeks. Red buds especially are putting on a great show, and this might have you thinking of trees you might want to plant.
Maybe ash bore or oak wilt has destroyed some of your red oaks or ashes and need replacing? Or maybe the big freeze of 2021 followed by the intense drought and heat wave that arrived in summer of '22 took out some of your shade trees?
Whatever the reason, North Texas' trees are being stressed. I paid a visit to Jennifer Hatalski at Calloway's for some tree suggestions.
To be completely transparent, the best time to plant a tree in North Texas is in the fall. It's not impossible to grow one in the spring, but it's harder and riskier. A tree needs to prepare for the Texas heat; if you plant one in the fall, it has all winter to grow since the freeze lines in North Texas are so shallow. It will be more established by the time it suffers its first summer.
So in short, if you want to plant a tree this spring, you'll need to be extra vigilant this summer in taking care of its watering needs.
Jennifer suggested three trees. The red maple called "Autumn Blaze" provides not only a dense, tall canopy (making it a great shade tree) but also puts on a hypnotizing fall color show. Make sure to keep your maple professionally trimmed as they can be prone to wind damage.
Chinese pistache is a Texas Superstar for a reason - it may not be native, but it is very Texas tough. Make sure to get a male since the females drop seeds. Once established, these trees can survive almost any North Texas summer.
The Rising Sun Redbud has such great heart-shaped leaf structure and beautiful unfolding leaf color that its great early-spring display of small pink flowers is merely a bonus.
If you decide to plant a tree this spring, please watch this video on how to do it properly. Then, make sure to keep track of the summer weather. Any dry spell lasting longer than a week with intense 100° heat requires some watering for your new tree.