Tools
Free native tree tools: decide with numbers, not guesses
Eighteen planning tools answer the questions a tree buyer asks, from which species fits the yard to how much to water it. Each is built on the rules of thumb we use in the nursery and on what the plant's own page says. Every one shows its sources and its assumptions, so you can argue with them. Everything here is reviewed and fact-checked by the owner, a naturalist with over 20 years of experience.
Choose a tree
Tree finder
Which native tree fits your yard?
Filter every tree and shrub we grow by zone or ZIP code, size, height, sun, soil moisture and what you want it to do: flowers, fall color, honey, edible fruit, wildlife, evergreen. For a hedge or screen, it also counts the plants a row of a given length needs.
Find my tree →
Planting-site check
Will it thrive on your spot?
Enter a species and your site conditions and get a plain verdict on whether it will thrive, struggle or fail there, with what would fix it and which trees and shrubs would do better.
Check a site →
Native trees by state
Which grow wild in your state?
Pick a state and see which of our trees and shrubs the USDA records growing wild there, with the ones native only to part of the country listed apart. Each state has a page of its own.
See my state →
ZIP code to zone
What zone is your ZIP code in?
Type a US ZIP code and get its USDA hardiness zone from the 2023 map, with the winter low it stands for. Then open the finder, the shop or the site check set to it, and let this device remember it.
Find my zone →
Tree growth estimator
How tall will it get, and how soon?
How tall and how thick a tree or shrub will be in the years ahead, from a poor site to a good one, with every rule shown.
See how tall it grows →
Companion species
What grows well with it?
Pick one tree and see the natives that grow with it in the wild and in the yard: under its canopy, over it, or beside it.
Find companions →
Pollination planner
How many do you need for fruit or nuts?
Pick the fruit and nut trees you want and how many seedlings of each. The planner says whether that is enough for a crop, with the spacing and the years to the first crop from each tree's page.
Count the trees →
Bloom and fruit calendar
What flowers and fruits each month?
Month by month, when every tree and shrub we grow flowers and fruits, narrowed to a month or to your zone, sun and soil, with the gaps a planting leaves and the trees that fill them.
See what blooms when →
Plant it
Planting-window tool
When should you plant where you live?
Enter a ZIP code and how the tree comes, bare-root, potted or as seed, and get the fall and spring planting windows from your local frost dates, with the weeks left or until the next.
Find my window →
Planting-distance tool
How far from the house, wires or septic?
How far to plant a tree or shrub from a house, a septic field, a sidewalk or driveway, power lines, a property line and the next tree, with the rule behind each distance.
Check the distances →
Seed sowing planner
When and how do you sow acorns and seed?
Pick a species and when you will sow, and get the dates for your own frosts: when to chill acorns, nuts or seed, when to check them, when to plant them and when seedlings come up. The chart covers every tree and shrub we grow.
Plan a sowing →
Watering calculator
How much and how often to water?
Gallons at each watering and how often, for a new tree or shrub, from trunk caliper or pot size, weeks since planting, the soil and the rain, with the schedule for the establishment phase you are in.
Plan my watering →
A tree you already have
New-tree check
Is your new tree all right?
Pick the sign a tree planted in the last two years shows, then answer what the yard tells you: soil, root flare, mulch, weather and bark. Get the likeliest first-year causes, each with the one check that confirms it and the next step.
Check a new tree →
Tree identification
What tree or shrub is this?
Upload a photo of a leaf, bark, a twig, fruit or a flower. Get up to three names, how sure the model is, whether each is native, and natives to grow in place of an invasive.
Name my tree →
Tree age calculator
How old is your tree?
Enter a tree's species and its trunk's diameter or circumference at 4.5 feet, or a shrub's height, and the site. Get an age range from a good site to a poor one, by the growth estimator's own rules.
Estimate an age →
Transplant planner
Can it be moved, and what will it take?
Enter the species, trunk caliper or height, month and soil of a tree or shrub to move. Get the root ball the nursery standard asks for, its weight, who can move it and in which months, and the time to root in.
Plan a move →
Root-cut estimator
Will digging near it harm the roots?
Enter a tree's trunk diameter and how close a trench, fence or driveway will run. See its root zones, the share of the critical zone the cut takes and the closest distance within the limits.
Estimate a cut →
Big-tree measurer
How does your big tree score?
Enter a big tree's trunk girth or diameter, its height and two crown spreads. See its diameter at breast height, its points by the champion-tree formula, its share of the national champion's points and where to nominate it.
Score a tree →
In development
Tools we are building next
Planting count
How many trees and shrubs an acre, a row or a hedge takes at a chosen spacing, with a loss allowance, and a quote request for the total.