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New England Gardening

Planting any shrubs or trees this fall?

18 years ago

I'm hoping to plant a Viburnum Plicatum Tomentosum Shasta or Mareisii before winter if I can find one at a local garden center in central MA. Weston Nurseries has them but they are kind of expensive, so if anyone has any suggestions for where to find one of these plants, would you please let me know?

Also, what do you consider the window of time for planting shrubs and trees in fall?

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Comments (5)

DorothyA
18 years ago
I have a Viburnum trilobum in a pot that has been sitting (happily it seems) since the 4th of July. I just need to figure out where to put it. Too close to the house and I can't see it out the windows, too close to the woods and the turkeys will get all the berries. There is a spot out near the end of the driveway where we took down a nasty wild pear.

My belief with respect to the best time to plant is when you HAVE time to plant. I think any time up until the ground is covered with snow, but a little sooner is probably better. The leaves are starting to turn red on it now, so it's going top dormant. Probably less stress to do it soon.
diggingthedirt
18 years ago
I'm planning to plant and transplant several shrubs this fall. I've got an overcrowded mixed border where I've already removed a winter honeysuckle and a crape myrtle - I did both too soon and they're really suffered in the heat. There are several more shrubs that need to move, including another lonicera fragrantissima and a sambucus. I'll also be planting after the October 1 SE-NE fall swap; either things I've dug that don't find new homes or (heaven help me) new plants I bring back from the swap.

Pot-grown shrubs can go in any time, preferably while there's still time for them to get some roots into the native soil to keep them from heaving out of the ground in winter and spring. Transplants are a little trickier, since they need time to recover from damage to roots from the digging process.

I don't fertilize at all at planting, and that's especially important with fall planting, I think. You don't want to encourage top growth when the plant should be getting ready for dormancy, hardening off its current season's growth.

It gets cold in central MA earlier than it does here, so you may not have as long a fall planting window as we do on the Cape. If you haven't found your viburnum yet, I'd spend a couple of hours on the phone to track one down soon.
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natureperson
Original Author
18 years ago
I called and found a place that has the Viburnum Shasta in a 3 gal. pot for $35, and the Mareisii in burlap that is about 3 and a half inches tall for $89. They are both 30 percent off that price. Now I have to decide which one I want to buy.

For any of you who have one or both of these plants, what do you think? They look very similar from what I've seen in pictures.
ego45
18 years ago
They are very similar, indeed, but Mariesii is a little bid shorter shrub and have more distinctly horizontally layering branches.
Give good 10' of space to either one of them.
terryboc
18 years ago
I just got through planting 4 viburnums, a crabapple, a fothergilla, and a few perennials. I finally found some time to plant today.

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