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.