Hey Sherry: I'm back. I took a break from the Internet to plant some of those seedlings. It's been cold but there are so many, I have to get it done ASAP. Your trees from Arbor Day look very healthy - I'm surprised by the size of the serviceberry and red maple. I'll rethink Arbor Day as a source. I sympathize with you about potting them up, then having to haul them out to plant when the pots are so heavy. Is there a way to keep the armadillos and other critters out? Wire tomato cages? I did a practice run planting seedlings on Saturday - it took 2 hours to plant 40 seedlings in one of the longer rows (and a neighbor stopped by to chat - you know how it goes). I had a shovel with a long narrow blade and a dibble bar - I've never used a dibble so needed to practice. I planted one seedling, then checked to see if it was planted correctly - not too deep or too high. It was slow going at first because I kept checking and fiddling, but things moved along faster in the last hour. My husband laughed and said, "You got off a good start - you planted nearly 5%." I do think I can speed things up now. I learned an important lesson - planting seedlings (regardless of the tool used) is hard on the back muscles. This is a job that needs to be done in chunks, with breaks in between, not full out. I'll plant for two or three hours with the goal of planting 75 or more, then go to work. In a few days, I'll have a better idea of progress and what I need to do differently. John from Missouri warned me about taking too much time and babying them. He said, if you do that, you'll never get done. He's right! Thanks for posting the photo! I knew I couldn't go online or I'd lose my motivation.

Well, if you have a way to keep them dormant and unfrozen over the winter, you might be able to plant them out come spring. Keeping them in pots in an unheated garage or outbuilding, using potting soil or mulch that you can keep barely moist, might keep them going to spring. Your other option would be to have your holes already dug, and put the trees in the holes at once, backfilling with the soil you dug - you might have to keep it in a bunch of 5-gal. buckets, in a garage or outbuilding, so it stays unfrozen. Water as often as the ground dried out until it froze for good, and then mulch. Either way, you MIGHT keep them alive. As far as the listing goes: Holly - evergreen, full sun - you need a male and a female to get berries. It can take some shade, but is slowish-growing. Mature height and width depends on the cultivar they are sending, but count on eventually getting at least 15x10', more probably 20x15'. Space at least 6', better 12' from another tree, unless you want to make a hedge with the arborvitae, when they can be 6-8' apart - further from the end arborvitae than the arborvitae from each other, as the holly will be slower growing. Blue Spruce, 2ea - full sun to part shade, mature height 40-60', width 15-30'. Moderate growth rate. Some selected cultivars can be shorter or wider, slower or faster growing, but I imagine you will get the straight species. You can plant these reasonably close together (6-10'), and have a "grove" of 2, or have 2 specimens, planted 15-20' apart. Lodi Apple - full sun. If there are no other apple trees in near proximity, fruit production may be low. I assume it's not grafted onto dwarfing rootstock, so assume 20-40' tall and the same wide. Plant accordingly. Aborvitae, 3ea - Sun to part shade. Height depends on the cultivar they are sending - the native species is open in growth, grows to 40' plus, but you might get one of the smaller, tighter-growing selections. It will bronze in the winter, returning to green with spring. If you plan on these as your major winter screening, then plant them as needed to give the most coverage, about 6-8' apart. Azalea - filtered, light shade. Height depends on the cultivar sent, as does the flower color, but assume 4-10'. You might get a deciduous one, in which case, assume it will be at the tall end of the range. Space about 6-8' from other plants, or at 4-6' if wanted as part of a tapestry hedge - not recommended unless all plants grow at about the same rate to similar heights. Black Walnut, 2ea - Sun. Little else will happliy grow under a black walnut, although the shade is good for sitting, as slightly dappled. Don't plant next to driveways, walkways or patios, as the falling nuts are heavy, and will stain the ground, cars or cement/brick with permanent black stains. Roots are obvious and may make problems for mowers. 75-100' tall, moderate growth. Space at 20' or more from other trees, and 12-20' from each other. Red Maple - Sun to part shade. Up to 60' x 40', depending on cultivar, fairly rapid growth. Can reseed. Good fall color. Space 12-20' apart from other plants, depending on whether wanted as a grove or a specimen. Forsythia, 2ea - full sun. Depending on the cultivar, 6-12' tall, and wider than tall as it makes a thicket of arching suckers. Can be pruned by taking out a third of the shoots every year, in the winter. Space 3-10' apart, as a hedge, or up to 15' if specimens. Sugar Maple - sun to part shade. Moderate growth, to 60' x 30-40'. Good fall color. It must be at least 4' in diameter before you can tap it for syrup, with only one bucket, and then only one more bucket per each extra 2 in., if I recall correctly from my VT girlhood - look it up to be sure, as too early tapping can be detrimental to the tree. Space at 20-40' from other trees, esp. if you want a specimen tree. White Pine - full sun. Fast growth to 100' x 30'. Pyramidal in its youth, as it grows, the lower branches will die back and need to be removed. Space 20-40'. River Birch - full sun, some afternoon shade. Fast growth to 40-60'. Branches droop, need to be limbed-up for easier passage of walking or mowers - best done in winer or summer - spring pruning can lead to dripping sap. Dappled shade. Roots can be a surface problem. Needs plenty of water, will drop leaves with drought stress. Space 12-20'. Silver Maple - sun. Fast growing, with concommitant weak branches, to 40-100'. Open habit, dappled shade. Roots can be a surface problem, as can growing grass under it. Reseeds. Space 15-25'. Red Oak - sun. Fast growth to 60-75', widely spreading. Open shade. Space 12-15'. Pin Oak - sun. Moderate to rapid growth to 50-65', round-headed when mature, slender when young. Lower branches droop to the ground, and higher up ones will do the same if the tree is limbed up for walking or mowers to pass under - best left to grow as it wants. Sapce 12-25'. White Flowering Dogwood - sun to light shade. moderate growth to 25-30' x same. Low branching. flat-topped with maturity. Space 12-20'. Redbud - sun to part shade. Moderately fast growth to 20-30' by same, broad-spreading branches. Space 12-20'.

" I got a Dawn Redwood from them in the Spring of '10. It was about a foot tall and the top half died. Nonetheless the tree survived and is approximately 19' tall and looks great. I'm not sure I'd go back and buy from them again though as I'd rather get a more advanced specimen than what they send." Aw man, no pictures?!?! Neat tree. What made you decide on it? My metasequoia came from them a decade ago. Best $10 I ever spent. Honestly for these fast growing trees I dunno if I would risk the transplant trouble and shock of buying a 20 gallon tree. Musser sold me 100 of them a few years back. All were just slightly larger than my Arbor Day single tree and every one of em leafed out. For fast growing easy transplant species with a good story Arbor Day is really ok. Dollar for dollar they MIGHT even compete with for profit nurseries. You just have to have realistic expectations what $10 is going to get you. And yes, be aware big government may help fund the department of conservation trees I have ordered by the bundle.

Put them in dappled shade or morning sun so that the pots won't dry out so quickly. I got some redbuds from the ADF two years ago that I babied in pots until fall. First they have to get some size until they were big enough to plant out and secondly you'll have to do a lot less watering planting out in the fall. I move things around at all times of the year, but woody plants are best moved in fall/winter.