Woods don’t have to wait for fall to show off.
The flowers of a forest don’t grow in the canopy — they live in the understory, in the layer you walk through. This kit plants that layer: Cherokee Princess dogwood in pure white and Cherokee Brave in pink, serviceberry whose white clouds open before almost anything else wakes, redbud that turns whole branches lavender-pink, witch hazel that flowers in October, and spicebush lighting the bare woods pale yellow at winter’s end.
Planted together, they hand the colour off one to the next — a bloom calendar that starts before spring and ends after summer begins. And the birds will thank you: serviceberry and spicebush feed them all summer.
The point of the mix is sequence. No two of these peak at the same time, so something is always coming into flower.
Late winter — spicebush, pale yellow haze on bare branches before anything has leaves
Very early spring — serviceberry, white and cloudlike, often the first tree to flower
Early spring — redbud, lavender-pink straight out of the bark
Mid spring — dogwood, Cherokee Princess in white and Cherokee Brave in pink
Autumn — witch hazel, thin yellow ribbons flowering as everything else shuts down
Exact timing shifts by a couple of weeks with your zone and the season, and the mix varies with what the woods produced that year.
Plant this kit from the woods’ edge inward. The edge — along paths, at the tree line, in storm gaps — gets the most light. Farther inside, under the canopy, the light turns dappled, then shady. Each tree in the kit has a spot where it flowers best.
At the woods’ edge: redbud, serviceberry and witch hazel want part sun to part shade, so give them the brightest spots
Under the canopy, in dappled light: dogwood, which thrives in filtered light the way it grows in the wild
Deepest in the woods: spicebush, which tolerates full shade
Plant where you walk. This is the layer at eye level. A dogwood at the far fence line is a white speck; the same tree beside a path is the reason you take the path.
Everything in this kit drops its leaves and stands bare through winter. That’s normal, and on several of these the bare branches are exactly when the show happens.
They will look dead all winter. Scratch a twig gently with a thumbnail if you need reassurance — green underneath means alive.
Plant them dormant. Late autumn through early spring is the best window by a wide margin.
Don’t expect flowers the first spring. A young plant spends its first year or two putting roots down. Flowering builds from there.
Leaf-out can be late in year one. A newly planted seedling often waits weeks longer than established plants nearby.
Water: deeply through the first growing season, more in heat. Dogwood in particular resents drying out while it establishes.
Mulch: a few inches in a ring, pulled back from the stem.
Fertiliser: none. Roots first.
Deer: a serious problem for young understory trees, and redbud and dogwood are favourites. Protect them.
Don’t prune for the first couple of years beyond removing anything broken.
Add the Wildlife Protection Bundle — on understory seedlings with deer around, this is the difference between a tree and a nub.
The Fall Fire Kit — canopy trees for autumn. Together the two kits give you colour from February to November.
The Start-a-Woods Kit — canopy, mid-story and evergreen with a layout guide, if you’re starting from open ground.
Mycorrhizal Bio-Shield — helps young understory trees establish in the first season.
Go touch a tree.
Woods don’t have to wait for fall to show off.
The flowers of a forest don’t grow in the canopy — they live in the understory, in the layer you walk through. This kit plants that layer: Cherokee Princess dogwood in pure white and Cherokee Brave in pink, serviceberry whose white clouds open before almost anything else wakes, redbud that turns whole branches lavender-pink, witch hazel that flowers in October, and spicebush lighting the bare woods pale yellow at winter’s end.
Planted together, they hand the colour off one to the next — a bloom calendar that starts before spring and ends after summer begins. And the birds will thank you: serviceberry and spicebush feed them all summer.
The point of the mix is sequence. No two of these peak at the same time, so something is always coming into flower.
Late winter — spicebush, pale yellow haze on bare branches before anything has leaves
Very early spring — serviceberry, white and cloudlike, often the first tree to flower
Early spring — redbud, lavender-pink straight out of the bark
Mid spring — dogwood, Cherokee Princess in white and Cherokee Brave in pink
Autumn — witch hazel, thin yellow ribbons flowering as everything else shuts down
Exact timing shifts by a couple of weeks with your zone and the season, and the mix varies with what the woods produced that year.
Plant this kit from the woods’ edge inward. The edge — along paths, at the tree line, in storm gaps — gets the most light. Farther inside, under the canopy, the light turns dappled, then shady. Each tree in the kit has a spot where it flowers best.
At the woods’ edge: redbud, serviceberry and witch hazel want part sun to part shade, so give them the brightest spots
Under the canopy, in dappled light: dogwood, which thrives in filtered light the way it grows in the wild
Deepest in the woods: spicebush, which tolerates full shade
Plant where you walk. This is the layer at eye level. A dogwood at the far fence line is a white speck; the same tree beside a path is the reason you take the path.
Everything in this kit drops its leaves and stands bare through winter. That’s normal, and on several of these the bare branches are exactly when the show happens.
They will look dead all winter. Scratch a twig gently with a thumbnail if you need reassurance — green underneath means alive.
Plant them dormant. Late autumn through early spring is the best window by a wide margin.
Don’t expect flowers the first spring. A young plant spends its first year or two putting roots down. Flowering builds from there.
Leaf-out can be late in year one. A newly planted seedling often waits weeks longer than established plants nearby.
Water: deeply through the first growing season, more in heat. Dogwood in particular resents drying out while it establishes.
Mulch: a few inches in a ring, pulled back from the stem.
Fertiliser: none. Roots first.
Deer: a serious problem for young understory trees, and redbud and dogwood are favourites. Protect them.
Don’t prune for the first couple of years beyond removing anything broken.
Add the Wildlife Protection Bundle — on understory seedlings with deer around, this is the difference between a tree and a nub.
The Fall Fire Kit — canopy trees for autumn. Together the two kits give you colour from February to November.
The Start-a-Woods Kit — canopy, mid-story and evergreen with a layout guide, if you’re starting from open ground.
Mycorrhizal Bio-Shield — helps young understory trees establish in the first season.
Go touch a tree.
