Like an ancient coral reef, my approach to organic gardening matures, richens, and deepens every season.  I’m like a sponge in the reef, only with legs and eyes, always trying to get close to smart and thoughtful people who have a slightly different and always more experienced perspective than I, and try to absorb as much knowledge from them as I can.  Then reflect their expertise in my own work.  Or, as a sponge, eat it up and poop it out. 

Who cares, you ask?  I’d like to think that most of you pay me to be the best sponge I can be, so that I can use the best information from the best resources to make educated suggestions on the best way to sustainably manage your landscapes.  If you’re gonna pay someone to mow your lawn, you might as well make sure the mowing crew is doing the best they can to protect the ecological integrity of your soils.  You don’t want to pay someone to mindlessly pollute your community’s natural resources.  You want to pay a thoughtful sea creature, who respects the surrounding environment. 

It’s spring time.  Time to consider the structure, nutrients, and biology of the soils that support your plants and lawn.  As I learn more about the intricacies of soils, (see the latest issue of Edible Austin, page 50) I’m slowly changing our approach to fertilizing, focusing more on building soils and less on regular fertilizer applications.  Most new clients now receive a proposed maintenance schedule that includes compost topdressing, organic fertilizing, and compost tea at regular intervals throughout the year.  But most of you long-time BioGardener loyalists have not been exposed to those proposed schedules, which are shaped from the detritus of many conversations and readings of people who know alot about soil in Central Texas.  So here’s the gist:

Compost Topdressing – March/April and again in September/October  - Compost is the backbone of an organic program.  It addresses all the important components of healthy soils: structure (by breaking up clays and adding the proper kinds of nutrients); organic content (adding humus, which feeds microbes and plants); and good bugs (compost has lots of beneficial microbes, which drive the natural process and balances of healthy soils). 

Compost Tea – Monthly, March through November – A super concentrated dose of microbes and humus. 

Liquid Fertilizer – Monthly, March through November- A dose of fish emulsion, seaweed, and humic acid, which provide micro-nutrients and macro-nutrients for healthy soils and plants.

Granular Fertilizer – April- For those who just have to have something that resembles traditional fertilizer, we use an organic, slow-release product formulated for Austin soils to add macro- and micro-nutrients. 

Triple Shot – Monthly, March through November – Because they are applied using the same technique, we can combine Liquid Fertilizer and Compost Tea in a single application.  Throw in molasses as a quick sugar source for microbes, and call it Triple Shot.  It saves money.

Even more concisely, a handy graphic that sums up an organic feeding and soil building program for a typical Austin lawn.  Pricing makes some big assumptions, and varies from landscape to landscape.

This represents a comprehensive soil-building strategy for a typical Austin lawn, and assumes normal conditions.  Soil tests can provide specific information needed to customize a soil building and soil feeding plan for your landscape, which I highly recommend.  Tests are $15-35, or we can do it for you and help interpret results for about $65.

For those DIY-ers all of these materials are readily available, and application is a snap.  Please let me know if you need help finding the best quality composts, compost teas, and fertilizers, or need any tips on how to apply them.

The Missus and I are shivering towards progress, one morning at a time, in the Fonda San Miguel vegetable garden.  We’ve cleaned out 3 of the 14 beds, worked in a cubic yard of Turkey litter compost, and have planted 1,500 carrot seeds, 1,500 radish seeds, and 20 4″ broccoli plants.   We’ve made some minor repairs to the existing drip system, mulched the 3 beds with Alfalfa hay after planting, and have weeded and pruned the native perennial beds along the interior of the garden fence.

120 radish plants were harvested for the kitchen, and last fall’s broccoli plants are still sending out floretes, which are finally starting to turn bitter, signaling the end of the line for those plants.  Last year’s cilantro is taking over the world.  Last year’s leeks are ready to harvest this week.  We’ll be finishing the last round of cool-season planting in early March – swiss chard and spinach.  Gabriel Valley Farms is starting tomatoes, tomatillos, squash, cucumbers and epazote for us, to be ready to plant starting late March.  We’re also hoping to sneak in some other Mexican herbs this month.

We’ve been extra thankful for input from Farmer Jo at Angel Valley Farm in Jollyville, and Farmer “wish-I-was-a-real-Texan” Mike during our first month.  Looking forward to bugging them and others for the months to come.

Come by and check it out!  We had our first random visitor a couple weeks ago, an older gentleman from the neighborhood who just adopted his 3 grandchildren, and who wants to start gardening again for their sake.  I hope to have some starter plants for him next time he visits.

Ask any organic gardener, farmer, rancher, habitat restorationist, ecologist, agronomist, or organic landscaper – microbes are important.  (See Spring 2010 issue of EDIBLE AUSTIN for more.)  Microbes take a whole corner of the foundational soil triangle:  Microbes – Organic Content (Humus) – Soil Structure.  Beyond that, lack of research lends to a variety of opinions and approaches on the “right way” to support microbial communities in Central Texas soils.  So to take the least fanatical stance, I follow a simple path.

First, build organic matter in soil.   Most folks agree that soils need to have at least 3% organic content to sustain a balanced microbial population, but no higher than 10-15%.  Most disturbed soils in Austin have about 1% organic content.  We rely on soil tests to determine actual organic content for a specific landscape, and slowly apply compost (by topdressing) to get above 3%.  Not all composts are created equal, and different products present trade-offs among price, safety, microbial diversity and viability, and amount of humus, which is the end product of a completely finished product.  Everyone has their own opinion on the best compost, so I try to lay out the options, pros, and cons, and let the end user decide which is best for them.

Second, we consider the soil structure.  Ideal soil is porous, has a nice balance of drainage and water-holding capacity, and has a balanced set of nutrients in a form that makes it easy for plants to absorb them.  Most disturbed soils in Austin are compacted, have higher than ideal clay or rock content, and have nutrient imbalances.  Adding finished compost to soils introduces humus, which binds to clay particles to create crumbles and helps release nutrients that were otherwise tied up in the sticky clays.  In some cases, aeration combined with a compost application is a good first step in improving soil structure.  Proper mowing, irrigation, organic fertilizer application, and thoughtful use of the landscape all help avoid compaction and other soil structure issues.  A soil test can help create a customized soil amendment program, though topdressing with compost 1-2 times per year is usually not a bad general approach.

Then, once organic material is built up to at least 3%, and soil structure and nutrient balances are addressed, we can start building microbes.  The best way to do this is through compost teas.  Compost teas have exceptionally high concentrations of microbes, are relatively inexpensive, and easy to apply.  Most of our tea is purchased by an Austin-based company called Microbial Earth, though Natural Gardener and GeoGrowers also provide teas.

Because compost teas are basically little critter soups, timing is critical.  Although it doesn’t hurt to apply teas in winter and summer, the microbes will be mostly dormant during Austin weather extremes, so spring and fall are ideal application times.  Now is an ideal time to kick off a new season of compost tea applications.

Retail price for a gallon of tea is about $5-8, which can be applied using a simple 1- or 2-gallon pump sprayer.  1 gallon of tea covers about 5,000 square feet, slightly larger than the typical Austin yard.  You might consider a “drench” in early spring and again in late fall, which calls for 3-5 gallons of tea at a time, then follow up with a regular 1-gallon application every month through fall.  Our rates to apply the tea for you is about $35-40, in addition to the cost of the tea.

Austin’s Fonda San Miguel is considered one the finest interior Mexican restaurants in all the land.  In the Fall of 2008, the restaurant owners invested in converting an unused space at the end of the parking lot into a 100′ x 60′ organic vegetable garden, which caught the attention of Austin news media as one of the largest restaurant gardens in town.  Designed and constructed by Randy Jewart and Austin Green Art, the garden is a beautiful mix of function, art, and reclaimed item fun.

For the past year, the garden has been meticulously maintained by Scott Dubois, local educator, designer, and obviously, talented organic gardener.  Scott is now moving on to teach full time at a local Montessori school, and now we’re making an attempt to fill his big, muddy shoes.

The cobbler and the beautiful Missus, plus the occasional BioGardener crew member, are sprinkling sustainable love all over the Fonda garden starting the first of February, 2010.  We’re hoping to pick up where Scott left off, helping the restaurant grow its own organic produce and herbs year round.  We’ll also be building a compost system, enhancing the garden as a certified wildlife habitat, and experimenting with rare Mexican herbs, edible flowers, and other fun stuff.  The BioGardener blog has a new category devoted to tracking progress of the Fonda Garden, so hang around for weekly or monthly updates on our Fonda follies and Fonda friumps.  Or better yet, make a regular date night visit to the restaurant to enjoy their unique food and drink menu, and stroll through the garden to take notes and tell us how bad we’re doing.

Cuz we’ve gotta lotta work to do.

We don’t maintain any landscapes on Sunny Slope Drive, so it took a little sleuthing to figure out how Ollie’s collar found its way to a chicken coop 82 miles from its home.  But Ollie might like to know about the trip his collar took since it went missing, so I’ll do my best to piece it together for him.

The noble BioGardener crew recently visited a house on McCullough, owned by a family who mostly maintains the landscape themselves but who enjoys some seasonal help from their favorite landscaping company.  Ollie must have dropped his collar on McCullough during a walk, shortly before our visit.  Most likely, it was accidentally picked up by the BioGardener crew in a rake-full of leaves twigs and weeds, stuffed in a bag, and loaded into the truck.

The bag, with the collar in it, was dropped off at our storage lot in East Austin, where it waited a few days to be hauled to a local brush recycling facility.  Normally, the collar (inside the bag) would have been reloaded into a truck with 100 or so other bags, driven the short trip to the brush recycling facility, been dumped out (completely unnoticed) with the leaves and other organic material it was catching a ride with, and then would have been ground and shredded, piled, watered, and left to rot for 12 months, ground and shredded again, then finally bagged and sold as mulch.  A nice, dust-to-dust sort of life for a collar to live, but not very fun or interesting, and most certainly not the appropriate or deserved destiny for a collar like Ollie’s.

Every once in a while, I’ll randomly select the softest, most uniform bag of leaves and weeds from the heaping piles at our lot, and take it just down the street to my home. The contents of the selected bag are spared the fate of its fellow common brethren, and treated to a second life as scratch for a small flock of bored chickens that live in a humble coop between our house and the neighbor’s fence. Every once in a rarer while, the lottery bag travels all the way to a small cabin in the woods outside of Fredericksburg, where a small flock of country chickens gets to taste the sweet weeds and feel the crunchy leaves of the big city, which represents the only glimpse of urbanity that these chickens will ever experience.

What makes this relevant to Ollie, is that the bag his collar landed in just so happened to be one of the softest and most uniform bags of leaves and weeds that we collected from our landscapes last week. Even more remarkably, the collar landed in a bag that just so happened to be heading to the flock of country chickens that live in the woods just outside of Fredericksburg. So when I ripped open the bag this weekend and watched the eager country chickens gather as I dumped out its innards, I paid a little extra attention to ensure no trash or other potentially toxic objects were included. Country chickens don’t know how to properly deal with city trash, and could choke on it. Then I heard the tingle of a bell. And saw a flash of metallic blue and bright orange. And there, among the city weeds and leaves, was Ollie’s collar.

I hope the collar finds Ollie well and raises his standing among his family and his peers; a lost neck piece destined for complete disfigurement and destruction that is saved, then hauled 82 miles, then faced with an even more gruesome death by pecking, saved yet again, and finally returned to its rightful spot around Ollie’s neck should allow the little dog at least some entitlement. Please give him a treat for me.

Our favorite non-profit promoter of the Central Texas urban forest is having their annual fruit tree sale.

On Saturday morning, Feb. 6, BioGardener will be at the Austin Farmers Market Downtown from 9a to 1p to buy figs, pomegranates, peaches, plums, apples, pears, persimmon, and whatever else Tree Folks brings to sell during their annual fund raiser.

Just like last year, we can pick up trees for you, as long as you let me know by Friday, Feb. 5. Cost for bare root trees is about $10, 1-gallons start at $7, and 5-gallons are $26.  Tree Folks’ extremely useful “Fruit and Nut Tree Growing Guide” will also be available for $5.  There is no markup on trees to ensure that Tree Folks receives 100% of your tree purchase dollar.

Cost to deliver and install is $40/tree, or $40 flat rate delivery fee if you want to plant them yourself.  Installation cost includes the addition of 1-2″ of compost, an Actinovate treatment (an organic product that helps prevent and treat fungal diseases and other problems), a compost tea treatment, and mulch.   This will help get your tree off to a good start.  We’ll also include our helpful annual maintenance schedule, compiled from several different sources,  (though Tree Folks’ “Fruit and Nut Tree Growing Guide” is an excellent resource too).

Please let me know by Friday, Feb. 5 if you’d like help supporting Tree Folks, and we’ll deliver and/or install your fruit trees during the following week.

Consider it a big “Thanks” for sticking with us even when I forgot to email you back, or when we skipped your house to clean up the neighbor’s yard because we weren’t paying attention to street numbers, or for that one time I set up a truckload of mulch to be delivered on the wrong day, and you were delayed getting to work for 2 hours while we frantically shoveled a clear path for your trapped car.   Aww we’ve sure had some good times!

So to celebrate the mutual love (and to fill a tiny little hole in the winter work schedule) we’re having a big native tree sale!

Probably some time within the next 4-6 weeks, Tree Folks will have their annual fruit tree sale.  If they do, we’ll be there, so if you have a limited space and want fruit trees, you might want to hold out for that event instead.

Otherwise, costs for our winter native tree sale include purchase, delivery, and installation, per tree, plus tax.  Height and width measurements represent mature size of tree.  Offered pricing is at least 50% off normal pricing!  The fine print: minimum order is $60, please.

For our winter native tree sale, we have a nice selection of native trees from two local growers.  The first, from our good friend Mitch at Hill Country Natives nursery in Leander: 

3-gallon/7-gallon Possumhaw (15′ tall x 8′ wide; full sun or part-shade)  One of my favorite Central Texas native trees, the Ilex decidua is best known for it’s super bright red berries on bare white branches during the bleak months of winter.  The floral department at Whole Foods sells ribbon-tied cuttings of “Ilex” for like twenty bucks, as a really cool and overpriced seasonal floral arrangement.  One of these in your yard, and you’ll never get ripped off on a winter centerpiece again!   $30/$60

3-gallon Bur Oak (BIG; full sun) – Bur oaks look wise old men when they mature, with their huge sprawling branches and deeply textured bark.  Oak wilt resistant.  Quercus macrocarpa gets its name from its massive acorns, I have to stop writing now to avoid saying something really immature…but..phfff….it’s…hmmmfphh…areallygreattree.  $30

3-gallon Chinquapin Oak (60′; full sun) – Quercus muehlenbergiiare relatively pest and disease resistant, including to oak wilt.  Leaves turn colors in fall.  Does best in well-drained soil, but can tough out a variety of conditions.  $30

The second group is grown by the largest native plant nursery in Austin, who produces some of the best specimen plants around:

10-gallon/30-gallon Mexican Buckeye (20′ tall x 15′ wide; full sun, part-shade, shade) – Ungnadia speciosa is one of the first native Austin trees to bloom in the spring.  It’s an under-used shrubby tree that grows pretty much anywhere, but the more sun the better.  They usually hang on to seed pods during fall and winter, and leaves turn bright golden yellow in fall.  $100/$200

10-gallon Mexican Redbud (12′ x 12; full sun, part-shade) – Cercis canadensis var. mexicana is a small native deciduous trees have a little bit smaller leaves than the Texas variety, but still bloom in February to cheerfully announce the approach of spring in Austin.   $100

10-gallon Retama (15′ tall x 20′ wide; full sun) – Dad taught me to be a big fan of the underdog, so I gotta love Parkisonia aculeate.  They usually grow in the most disturbed, scarred, and totally destroyed patches of Austin, so you know they can handle your yard.  But without much love given, these guys love you back with bright green thorny branches and yellow fuzzy flowers in spring and summer.  $100

10-gallon Possumhaw – See description above.  $100

15-gallon Mexican White Oak (45′ x 45′; full sun) – My favorite shade tree, Quercus polymorpha are almost evergreen in mild winters, and new growth in spring is pinkish and looks like blooming flowers from a distance.  Mostly disease and pest resistant, and relatively fast growing.  $100

15-gallon Huisache(20′ tall x 15′ wide; full sun) – This south Texas native is about as tough as it gets.  Just like the Missus., thorny and mean and feisty, but uncommon and beautiful.  Acacia smallii has yellow, fuzzy-ball flowers in spring and summer.  Evergreen except in harsher winters.   $100

30-gallon Texas Mountain Laurel (15′ tall x 12′ wide; full sun, part-shade, or shade) – The George Straits of native plants, mountain laurels are hard not to like, even if you think modern country music sucks.  Small evergreen tree that grows native all over Austin.  Purple clusters of early spring blooms that smell like bubble gum, though denser shade gives fewer blooms.  $200

45-gallon/100-gallon Mexican White Oak – See description above.  $300/$600

We also have access to more native species with similar pricing, so let me know if you want something else and we’ll do our best to abide. 

 Also, the only way to take advantage of this deal is to leave a comment on this blog.  So leave a comment with what you want and I’ll get in touch with you via email.

10-gallon Possumhaw

10-gallon Texas Mountain Laurel

30-gallon Texas Mountain Laurel

15-gallon Mexican White Oak

30-gallon Mexican White Oak

100-gallon Mexican White Oak

On top of “Big Hill”, near Old Tunnel WMA in Kendall County:

Feeling guilt for under-spending during the first round of holiday consumption?  Don’t try to compensate by eating more cookies or adding another plastic snowman to the front lawn.  Take on a landscaping project!

Veggie Gardens

Now is an excellent time to start a new veggie garden to get ready for spring planting in February/March.  We’ve scaled back our original offerings for turnkey raised bed gardens, simplifying the design and dramatically reducing the overall cost.

We have installed several of these 4′x8′ boxes this year, with great success.  Made from 2″x12″ cedar, these should last at least 10 years, are much safer and cleaner than treated wood, look great, and require much less cost and labor than mortared stone.  Cost for a 4′x8′x1′ cedar box, filled with a high-quality veggie garden soil, placed on a fully prepped and leveled sunny spot, and set up with a bale of alfalfa hay to use as mulch once planting is complete, is $645 plus tax for most landscapes. 

Tree Gifting

Winter is the best time of the year for tree planting, and it’s a great time of year for giving the gift of a tree!  This season, we’re offering reduced pricing on tree planting, to help you avoid the desperate scramble to come up with a thoughtful gift for the hard-to-shop-for-friend or family member.  We can coordinate with the lucky gift recipient by presenting these customized, handmade cards announcing your gift, and planting their choice of native shade or ornamental trees wherever they choose. 

Reduced costs for the purchase, delivery, and installation of a selection of 9 different species of trees are:

5-gallon – $35/tree

10-gallon – $160/tree

30-gallon – $280/tree

45-gallon – $460/tree

Simply let us know how many trees and what size, give us contact information of the person you’d like to gift them to, and we’ll present a gift card to the recipient in your name, help them decide which trees and where if needed, and then quietly take care of the rest.  You’ll receive an invoice from us via email, along with a photo of the finished project.  Super easy!

Winter Maintenance

Winter is generally a good time for winter cleanup.   Once the trees have shed all their leaves and the perennials have gone dormant, it’s time to cut back and prune plants, gather, remove, and recycle excess leaves, remulch beds, and take on any other cleanup projects while most plants have gone to sleep for the season. 

Pruning – Be sure soil temps are low enough to induce hibernation, which usually happens in January/February, after we’ve had several nights of freezing weather.   Pretty much all native perennials can get chopped down to about 3-6″ once they’ve gone dormant, which will help encourage uninhibited spring growth. 

For woody shrubs and trees, keep it simple.  Focus on limbs and branches that are dead, crossing, sprouting from the base of a tree, or pointing in unfavorable directions (like down). 

Clumping grasses like muhlies can be sheared back into the little ‘fros, to help make the spring growth look a little cleaner. 

Lawns-  Resist the temptation to seed your lawn with winter rye, which requires more water and nutrients than anything natural and native should want this time of year.  It’s also a common practice to scalp your lawn before seeding, which does some big time damage to St. Augustine and Zoysia lawns; another reason to avoid it. 

Veggie Gardens –  Veggie gardens will benefit from a winter cover crop, or a heavy mulching of alfalfa, shredded hardwood, pine needles, or excess leaves you have laying around. 

Water – Don’t forget to change the timers on your irrigation system.  Or better yet, turn them off completely.  Once a month, turn on the system  manually, and give a long slow watering to the entire landscape, especially later in the winter and the day before a freeze (be careful with watering restrictions).  The monthly cycle will help keep valves from sticking, and will help prepare lawns, plants, and trees for the spring growth.

Mulch – We were reminded of the importance of mulch this summer, but it’s equally important in winter to protect plant roots and regulate soil temperatures.  Shoot for at least three inches, and try to use dropped leaves in beds as a free, sustainable source of mulch.

Spring Prep- It’s also a great time to start prepping for spring projects; grass removal and bed shaping; soil amending; hardscaping.  Anything to get a jump on the planting rush of March and April, to help make sure your new plants are established before the punishment of summer begins. 

Compost Pile – The combination of free brown material (falling leaves) combined with free green material (kitchen scraps from busy holiday kitchens) makes it a great time of year to start a compost pile.  The City of Austin has some great information on composting, and is offering a free class in January.  See their Solid Waste Services website for more information – http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/sws/

News

Other than building and maintaining landscapes, it’s been a pretty calm year.  No babies, no shiny new contracts, no glamorous awards, no new certifications…hmm, it’s almost like we’re finding our place in the world, sitting a little more comfortably in the saddle, discovering who we really are, digging deeper into the daily tasks and getting better at what we do best, finding comfort in discovering a few more gray hairs, feeling joy and peace in the familiarity of our routine, closing our eyes and breathing in the warmth of what are now long-term relationships with some of our very first clients.  Growing up aint so bad…

Numbers – From an accountant’s perspective, it’s been a good year.  We actually eat shredded 20s for breakfast for now.  6 record-breaking months.  The biggest February ever.  The biggest March ever.  The biggest April.  June.  August.  October.  And barring a big snow storm or hurricane or glitch in the Mayan Calendar, December will make it 7 for the year. 

Alternative Fuels – We burned about 20,000 miles on the veggie-powered truck this year, still without any major problems.   To date, we’ve averaged about 60-65 miles per gallon of diesel on this truck, relying mostly on local restaurant waste to get us from point A to B. 

It’s been such a good experience, we will be converting a second truck to veggie oil by the end of this year, with the help of the most honest, competent, experienced, skilled mechanic in town, our friend Rob.  If you need a reliable mechanic for your vehicle, let me know.  I got the serious hookup.

We used about 1,200 gallons of locally-produced and sourced biodiesel on our other two diesel trucks and two diesel mowers this year, reducing our dependence on foreign petroleum and keeping our money in the Austin community.

We used about 350 gallons of propane in our mowers, which most likely comes from Texas wells, and burns much cleaner than gasoline.   And it doesn’t stink so much.

Jose Buys Big New House – Maybe one of the most exciting highlights of the year:  Jose and his family became first-time homeowners this year.  They even got a dog for the kids.  Well, a toy poodle isn’t exactly a dog but it’s almost close.  Not really.  But anyway, congrats to Jose and his family!

Annual Notes and “Notes”  for the BioGardener Crew

Last year, the BioGardener crew and I were deeply moved by the dozens of notes and ”notes” they received with your November payments.  During one week in the summer, and one week during the winter holidays, the guys are given paid vacation to take a break from the demands of hard labor and to spend time with family.  If you feel inclined to show your appreciation for the work they do, please send a note and/or “note” with the November payment, and I’ll pass it on to the guys before their winter break at the end of December. 

Thank you thank you thank you, so much, for your support.  Please let me know if we can help with anything this season!

The nerve of some people.  It can really get a man down. 

Like, let’s say you want to shake somebody down for a little cash, and at the same time, want to dig some holes in their yard to bury some living things.  Some people have to take this beautiful concept and make it complicated and messy with petty concerns like figuring out the best value and appropriate sizing and stuff like that.

So here’s a little preventative measure to avoid some conflict and keep it simple.

The four yaupons in the photo represent the group of small shrubby trees that grow to about 12-20′, like  Texas mountain laurel, wax myrtle (but only in special soil), persimmon, possumhaw, Mexican buckeye, etc.  The 10-gallon yaupon in the photo is about 6′ tall in the pot, maybe 4′ when planted. 

Costs are super rough ballpark, are per tree, and can vary by species and source.  Please don’t get mad if I charged you more or less for your tree.  I can be a little moody and/or inebriated when working on estimates and invoices, so it’s really hard to be consistent.

Each bump up in size buys you about 1-2 years of growth.  This assumes ideal conditions.  So generally, a 10-gallon tree is about 1-2 years older than a 5-gallon tree.  A 45-gallon tree is about 3-5 years older than a 5-gallon tree.  But of course, the larger the tree, the higher the purchase and install costs.  So the trade-off, like with everything, is time vs. money.

Same trade-off rules and costs apply to larger shade trees, like the live oaks in this picture:

These four live oaks represent the shade trees we like to use, like Mexican white oak and bur oak.

Romero and that other guy are about eight foot six  in real life, but they’re sorta slouched in this photo.  So you get an idea of relative size for the different tree sizes.  These trees are not scared to be planted, it was just a windy day.

Usually, I recommend planting the smallest size you can stand, especially in rocky soils.  Smaller, younger trees have a better chance at surviving the shock of real-world soils and water delivery schedules than larger ones.

Remember, its very hard to standardize an answer for the size/cost question, because there are so many variables to consider.  So even when we roll our eyes, throw up our hands, and make you feel dumb as you try to figure out the best size tree for your situation, just ignore us.  It’s worth exploring.

Oh, by the way, we had an amazing response to our 30-gallon-mountain-laurel-installed-for-$200-deal earlier this week.  That kind of attention is really addictive for fragile egos, so look for some similar offerings coming up this December and maybe January.