# Planting trees: mistakes, timing and transplanting > Articles on planting trees: the ten mistakes that shorten a tree's life, when to plant, how to move a young tree without losing it, and how to cage it early. 22 of 67 articles tagged Planting. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting/. Each article links to its own Markdown page; each tag at the end has a page of its own. Everything we sell ships dormant, as a [seedling, sapling, acorn, nut or seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md). The [planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md) says whether a species will take the spot you have in mind, and the [watering calculator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/watering/index.html.md) sets the first summer's schedule. ## Articles tagged Planting - [Native trees for the Great Lakes and Midwest: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-the-great-lakes-and-midwest/index.html.md): Which native trees suit Great Lakes clay, dune sand, prairie and river bottoms, how the lakes shift the zones, when to plant, and which pests change the choice. Published 2026-10-08; tags: What to plant, Forests & habitat, Planting. - [Native street trees: which ones take pavement, salt and drought, and how to fit one to the strip and the wires](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-street-trees/index.html.md): Which native trees take road salt, drought and compacted soil, how wide a tree lawn must be, what can grow under power lines, and who must approve planting. Published 2026-10-05; tags: What to plant, Planting. - [Native hedges, screens and windbreaks: which trees to use and how far apart to set them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-hedges-screens-and-windbreaks/index.html.md): Natives for a clipped hedge, a year-round screen, a bird hedgerow or a windbreak: the spacing for each, how many rows a windbreak needs and which grow fastest. Published 2026-09-28; tags: What to plant, Planting. - [Native trees and shrubs for dry, sandy soil: the plants of barrens and dunes, and how to grow them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-dry-sandy-soil/index.html.md): Which native trees and shrubs thrive in dry, sandy soil and full sun, which take salt spray, and how to plant, mulch and water them through the first summer. Published 2026-09-28; tags: What to plant, Planting. - [Native trees and shrubs for heavy clay: which take it wet, which take it dry, and how to plant them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-heavy-clay/index.html.md): Which native trees and shrubs grow in heavy clay, why floodplain trees cope best, how to test your drainage with a bucket, and how to plant them in clay. Published 2026-09-28; tags: What to plant, Planting. - [Reading a nursery listing: seedling, sapling, caliper, bare-root and potted, and what a tree's age tells you](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md): What 2-0 and caliper mean on a tree listing, why age and height say less than stem and roots, and how bare-root, potted and burlapped trees differ when you buy. Published 2026-09-26; tags: Planting, Growth & age. - [Sun leaves and shade leaves: why one tree grows two kinds of leaf, and what it means for a seedling moved into shade](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/sun-leaves-and-shade-leaves/index.html.md): Why a tree grows sun leaves and shade leaves, why a young tree scorches after a move into sun or stalls in shade, and learning light tolerance before planting. Published 2026-09-26; tags: How trees work, Planting. - [A year-by-year care calendar for a newly planted tree, from the day it arrives to its fifth spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/care-calendar-for-a-new-tree/index.html.md): How much and how long to water a new tree, when guards and wraps go on and come off, when to make the first pruning cut, and how to tell it is growing. Published 2026-09-25; tags: Planting, Protection & care. - [Seed source and provenance: why where the parent tree grew decides how yours will do](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/seed-source-and-provenance/index.html.md): How far tree seed can move north or uphill, why seed source changes how a tree grows, what trials and seed zones show, and what to ask a nursery before buying. Published 2026-09-25; tags: Planting, How trees work. - [Tree roots run shallow and wide, not deep: what that means for watering, mulch and the house](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/tree-roots-run-shallow-and-wide/index.html.md): How deep and wide tree roots grow, why the taproot fades, where to water and mulch, what trenches and fill do, and how far from a house to plant a tree. Published 2026-09-25, updated 2026-10-08; tags: How trees work, Planting. - [Why a small sapling catches up with a big transplanted tree, and often passes it](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md): How long a transplanted tree takes to establish per inch of trunk, why a small sapling catches up with a big one, and when a bigger tree is worth the price. Published 2026-09-25; tags: Planting, Growth & age. - [What a hardiness zone tells you about a tree, and what it leaves out](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-hardiness-zone-tells-you/index.html.md): What a USDA hardiness zone measures, why a tree rated for yours can still fail in summer heat, wet ground or a late frost, and how to choose the spot and seed. Published 2026-09-24; tags: What to plant, Planting. - [Bare-root trees on arrival: the first hour, the first week and the first spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md): Bare-root trees on arrival: checking roots, soaking, heeling in, depth and backfill, cages, watering, and how late a first spring can run before a tree is dead. Published 2026-09-22, updated 2026-10-08; tags: Planting, Protection & care. - [Native trees for the Mid-Atlantic: what to plant on the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont and the mountains](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-the-mid-atlantic/index.html.md): A Mid-Atlantic guide to the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont and the mountains: which native trees suit wet ground, sand, clay and cold, and which pests to expect. Published 2026-09-22; tags: What to plant, Forests & habitat, Planting. - [Planting acorns, nuts and seed: collecting, storing and the first year](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-acorns-nuts-and-seed/index.html.md): How to collect sound acorns, nuts and native seed, which sprout at once and which need a cold winter first, where to store and sow them, and the first year. Published 2026-09-22; tags: Planting, Oaks. - [Small native trees and large shrubs for a small yard, and how to place them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-native-trees-for-small-yards/index.html.md): Which native trees fit a small yard, how far to set one from the house, the wires and the septic field, and three plants to put where one lawn tree stood. Published 2026-09-22, updated 2026-09-25; tags: What to plant, Planting. - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md): Voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels each leave a signature on a young tree. Each has a fix: hardware cloth, cages, pulled-back mulch and guards removed in time. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-09-25; tags: Protection & care, Planting. - [Red oaks and white oaks, and where each belongs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/red-oaks-and-white-oaks/index.html.md): How to tell red oaks from white oaks by the leaf, why the groups differ in acorns, oak wilt and lifespan, and which species fit wet flats, dry ridges or a lawn. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-10-06; tags: Oaks, What to plant, Planting. - [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md): White mulberry, lacebark elm, willow, silver maple, tuliptree and Callery pear each have a specific problem near a home. A native alternative for each one. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-09-20; tags: What to plant, Planting. - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md): Move a tree while it is dormant, set the flare high, water deeply for two summers and cage it from day one. Small transplants usually outgrow big ones. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-09-22; tags: Planting, Protection & care. - [Why the range maps are wrong](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/range-maps-are-wrong/index.html.md): Most native range maps are hand-drawn 1970s outlines, copied ever since. Why they are coarse, the kinds of errors they carry, and what to trust instead. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-09-20; tags: What to plant, Planting, Forests & habitat. - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md): Most trees that die in their first decade were doomed on planting day. Here are the ten mistakes we see most, starting with planting too deep, and the fixes. Published 2026-09-14, updated 2026-09-20; tags: Planting, Protection & care. ## Tags - [Growth & age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-and-age/index.html.md): 10 articles - [Measuring trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/measuring-trees/index.html.md): 3 articles - [Planting](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting/index.html.md): 22 articles - [Protection & care](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protection-and-care/index.html.md): 21 articles - [Decay & damage](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/decay-and-damage/index.html.md): 11 articles - [How trees work](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/how-trees-work/index.html.md): 25 articles - [Oaks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/oaks/index.html.md): 8 articles - [Forests & habitat](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/forests-and-habitat/index.html.md): 24 articles - [What to plant](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-to-plant/index.html.md): 30 articles