New trees

Earlier this summer, we received an advertisement from the Arbor Day Foundation. If we joined (for only $10), we would receive 10 free trees and 2 shrubs for planting (the trees you receive depend on your location in the country)! We don't have a ton of room in our small yard, but we have been looking for a tree for the front yard and we would love a nice shrub to cover up the concrete wall on the back of the garage....so we sent in the membership fee and promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward to Saturday. What looked like a newspaper bag arrived in the mail with 10 dormant trees and 2 dormant shrubs. The instructions suggested planting them in a raised bed or garden for a year so that the tree doesn't have to compete against weeds. Because of our winter garden we didn't have any room for the trees in our raised beds so I decided to plant them in pots. I planted all of them in case some don't make it (if all of them end up surviving I will have to find family, neighbors, or friends to plant the leftovers!).

The dormant sticks

I am hoping that the trees survive the winter. I can either leave them near the side of the house (where they are now) or bring them inside to our sunporch. They will get more sun outside, but will obviously be subjected to the cold. If I bring them inside they will still get some sun (but not full sun) and will stay at least above freezing. Any thoughts on what we should do?

Meanwhile, this is what the trees will look like YEARS down the road....

Crapemyrtle

Eastern Redbud

Sargent Crabapple

Washington Hawthorn

White Flowering Dogwood

*I was not asked to write about the Arbor Day Foundation- I just wanted to get the word out!