Planting-site check

Will this species thrive, struggle or fail in that spot? Describe the site and we compare it with what the plant is known to take. The link carries your answers, so you can send it to whoever is digging the hole.

Species Your USDA hardiness zone Look it up by ZIP code on the USDA map if you are unsure. Sun at the spot Soil moisture Clear height overhead (feet) Power lines, eaves or a canopy above the spot. Distance to the nearest wall (feet)

Start with a species

Pick one of the 66 plants we grow, then describe the spot. You can leave any question blank and the verdict will cover only what you told us.

How the verdict is made

Each answer is compared with the range the species is known to take in cultivation: its hardiness zones, the light it grows well in and the soil moisture it tolerates. A match is good. One step outside the range (one zone colder, part shade for a full-sun tree, average soil for a wetland shrub) is marginal: the plant will live but grow slowly or need help. Two steps outside is a fail. The overhead and wall measurements use mature height and a rough crown spread for the growth form, and they flag trees that would be topped or pruned into a bad shape rather than trees that would die.

What this cannot see: soil pH, salt, wind, compaction, drainage below the surface, and the difference between a healthy young tree and a stressed one. A wet answer for a spot that only puddles in spring is too harsh, and a full-sun answer for a spot shaded by a house after two in the afternoon is too generous. When in doubt, dig a hole a foot deep, fill it with water, and see whether it drains by the next morning.