Topic
Articles on choosing what to plant: native trees for wet spots, bees, wildlife and yards, the trees to keep away from a house, and how range maps mislead.
The catalog behind these choices is everything we grow, all of it from seed. The tree finder narrows it by zone, size, sun, soil and purpose, and the planting-site check gives a verdict for one spot.
What the dark stripes on beech leaves mean, how far beech leaf disease has spread and what treatment can do for a yard tree, and whether to plant beech now.
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.
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.
How many feet a year native trees grow, how soil, sun, weeds and deer speed or slow them, why fast-growing trees die younger, and how to read growth off a twig.
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.
Which native to plant instead of burning bush, barberry, privet, Bradford pear or boxwood, why each is being replaced, and which states have banned the sale.
Which native shrubs and trees deer usually pass by, why deer-resistant lists contradict each other, and which natives need a cage because deer favor them.
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.
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.
Why little grows under maples and beech, how to plant beneath a tree without harming its roots, and which native shrubs still flower in dry or moist shade.
Why a holly has no berries or a persimmon bears nothing, how to tell male flowers from female, how many seedlings to plant, and when frost or shade is to blame.
Why a black walnut kills tomatoes and azaleas, how far and how long its juglone reaches, what to do with leaves and hulls, and which natives thrive under it.
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.
Why fall leaves turn yellow, orange or red, what the red protects, how frost, drought and a warm fall change the show, and which native trees give each color.
Why native trees become rare, from ice-age relicts and scarce soils to blight and lost fire, what G-ranks mean, and ten rare eastern trees and shrubs to grow.
What deer and wild turkeys eat, how many years each oak, hickory and fruit tree takes to bear, where cover and openings go, and what a food plot cannot do.
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.
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.
Why standing water kills roots, how bottomland trees get air to theirs, what cypress knees do, why fill kills an upland tree, and what to plant in a wet spot.
A bloom calendar of the native trees and shrubs that feed native bees and honey bees, month by month from willow to witch hazel, and the bees tied to one plant.
Which native trees and shrubs feed and shelter birds in every month, why native fruit and native insects beat ornamentals, and how to plant a yard for birds.
A caterpillar eats only the plants its species evolved with. Here are the native trees and shrubs of the East that feed the most butterflies and moths, ranked.
Which native trees and shrubs feed and shelter mammals, reptiles and amphibians, month by month, and how to plant a yard or woodlot so the animals show up.
Insects are the base of the food web. These are the native trees and shrubs that feed the most of them, and what dead wood, leaf litter and dark nights do.
How big a Chinese chestnut gets and how fast, what its bark, leaves and nuts look like, and the differences from the American chestnut it stands in for.
Vines and shrubs topple canopy trees and stop a forest from regenerating. Free the trees first, then the shrubs, then keep after the seedlings for years.
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.
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.
An abandoned field in the East goes from goldenrod to redcedar, sweetgum, tuliptree and black locust in a decade, and to oaks in a century. How to steer it.
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.