Here at Nature Hills, we get questions all the time wondering when the best time to plant during the year is. And the short answer is-- whenever the plant arrives on your doorstep!
We know you want the best for your plant by setting it up for optimal plant growth when placing it in the ground at the pinpointed “absolute best time of the year to plant.” But that stress of figuring that pinpointed time out is long gone.
You can sit back, relax and wait for the plant to come to you. Then, you know the conditions are permitting a prime planting time. Let’s break this logic down even further!
It’s Not Only During The Spring
As much as you want us to say ‘only ever plant during the Spring season’, it’s simply just not true. We’re here to break the stigma behind only planting during the spring as it doesn’t cover the whole plant growing season-- and here’s why.
Sure spring is a great time for planting-- you take advantage of the cooler weather, have a higher chance of more moisture and it opens up a longer growing season ahead of your new plant. But, we grow many plants, from deciduous trees to evergreen shrubs, in containers so that you can open the door to shipping and planting all throughout the growing season with complete success.
Plant shipping depends entirely on your specific growing zones as across the United States, different weather conditions are happening at different times. The map below uses colors to show the various zones and climates we have across the country.
Nature Hills uses our past experiences to be able to ship from our production areas to 48 states in all 4 seasons depending upon your temperatures. And that doesn’t just mean spring. In fact, you can plant almost anytime between the determined frost dates.
When you place an order with us during the year, we want to ensure that the following conditions are met:
- Our crop has finished at the nursery and the plants are finished for the size pot they are grown in.
- The temperatures are ok to ship from our production area to your part of the state without getting too cold or heating in shipment.
If each of those requirements are checked off with flying colors, that means your plant AND your growing area is ready to be planted safely. Therefore, when the doorbell rings with a plant shipment, even if it's summer, spring, fall or sometimes winter, you can start planting!
Check out our shipping schedules to visually see when we will more than likely be shipping various plants to your individual growing zone.
Is The Ground Frozen?
Basically, what we are saying is that you can plant at almost any time, as long as the ground isn’t frozen. And to make it easy on you, we won’t ship to your area if the weather isn’t permitting-- more specifically if the soil is too cold to host a live plant and its root systems.
If one early spring day, you walk outside and feel a gust of warm weather settling in, this doesn’t mean your plant will be shipping that very day because of the warmth.
Sure you can spend the day in an outdoor hammock, but Nature Hills’ experts wait to ship to ensure that the frost is fully melted both during transit AND in your growing zone.
Even if you are not going to be planting during the winter, it is still a good idea to place an order with us during it. This ensures that your picked out plant will be placed to the side with only your name on it and is patiently waiting to be shipped off at a good planting time.
We wouldn’t want your plant freezing its leaves off!
The same goes for days that the sun never seems to cool down. Extreme heats can also be a risk to your plant as sometimes it has to sit in the back of a truck for a few days at a time with no source of water.
We don’t want your plant drying out on its way to you. So, we’ll wait to ship your prized plant until it's fully safe to be transported and placed in the ground without heat exhaustion. Depending on your zone this can be anytime from later summer to early fall.
But My Plant Specifically Says When To Plant
Yes, we do sell seasonal plant specimens that politely ask to be planted during a certain time of the year.
For example, fall planted flowering bulbs specifically want to be planted during the fall season. However, this is more for the reason that they need the cold weather in order to ‘winter over’, which is an essential part of blooming in the spring.
Again, we wouldn’t ship your fall planting bulbs to you unless it was the proper time for planting in your growing area.
When ordering from us, be sure to read the plant descriptions and review the given plant highlights to double check if your plant prefers a certain planting season over others. More often than not, our plants won’t be picky!
So, the next time you go to look up when you should plant, remember that rule of thumb is if we shipped it to you during that time, then it's a good time to plant too.
Plant trees, shrubs, perennials, fruit and more when it arrives on your doorstep!
Happy gardening!
