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Choose the Right Tree for Your Soil Type
April
2002 Volume 15, No. 1
At Horsford Gardens & Nursery we
grow trees. Beautiful trees. If you
were to look at a soils map for the area
you would notice that the soil here is a
beautiful sandy loam with a few pockets
of shale. Fredric Horsford chose this site
in 1893 for his nursery because the soils
were so good.
We recognize that there are not
many pockets of land as ideal as this.
Still, you can plant trees in your own
landscape that will thrive. We offer a
wide range of hardy trees that are tolerant
of many soil types. Doing some preliminary
work will make tree selection
easier once you arrive at the nursery.
The first thing to do after you have
decided to plant a tree is to analyze the
site — specifically the soil. You do not
need a fancy kit to do this, just a shovel.
Dig a hole about one foot by one foot.
Nurserymen tend to classify soil under
the following catagories: wet, heavy,
moist but well drained, sandy, and
loamy.
Wet: Except during a drought this is
a site with standing water. Whenever
you walk there your feet squish. The
hole you dig immediately fills with
water and when you check back in a few
hours the water is still there.
Heavy: This soil is difficult to dig,
particularly when it is dry. Using a jackhammer
is preferable to a shovel. When
the soil is dry it often cracks and when
it is wet it clumps together. Clay soil is
considered to be heavy soil.
Moist but well-drained: The soil is
probably rather good humus and loam.
During wet seasons, such as spring,
water may stand there but it drains
quickly. It is fairly easy to dig and the
hole may fill up with water but when
you check back it is empty.
Sandy: This soil is often light in
color. If you were to pour water into the
hole it would instantly disappear.
Digging is easy.
Loam: This is the soil you dream
about. It is easy to dig. It often looks
dark and rich. It breaks up easily. It
absorbs water at a steady even pace.
Below is a list of trees and the types
of soils they tolerate. Learn about them
by reading the Horsford’s catalogue,
which discusses their mature height, leaf
color, growth habit, and soil requirements. Remember that all trees, even
drought-tolerant ones, need to be watered regularly for the first year.
Also, “moist but well-drained” does
not mean a swamp! Some trees are tolerant
of a variety of soils.Trees can be salt and
pollutant-sensitive or tolerant.
Wet Soils
Red Maple
Swamp White Oak
Weeping Willow
Heavy or Clay Soil
Bergeson Green Ash
Burr Oak
Austrian Pine
Black Oak
Moist but Well-Drained Soils
Pin Oak
Spruce (most species)
Eastern White Pine
Hemlock
American Hornbeam
River Birch
Ironwood
Concolor Fir
Sandy Soil
Canadian
Hemlock
Loam
Maples
Honeylocust
Serviceberry
Birch varieties
White Fringe Tree
Redbud
Yellowood
Pagoda Dogwood
Tree Hydrangea
Crabapples
Japanese Tree Lilac
Linden
Colorado Blue Spruce
Drought-Tolerant
Cleveland Pear
White Oak
White Spruce
Colorado Blue Spruce
Autumn Blaze Red
Maple
Tree Hydrangea
Naturalizing
Hemlock
Pine
Serviceberry
Pagoda Dogwood
Birch
White Fringe Tree
Redbud |
