Nineteenth Century Advice on Planting Evergreens

There is something special about evergreens in the landscape.

They add a bit of garden structure during the cold of winter.

When is the best time to plant evergreens?

I planted a white pine in early September once.

Not sure how well it did, but it was the right time according to nineteenth century Philadelphia horticulturalist Thomas Meehan.

He says now in late August is the best time.

He wrote about the topic in the August 1862 issue of his magazine called Gardener’s Monthly.

Meehan said, “The latter end of August is one of the best seasons of the year to transplant evergreens.

“The young growth of the past year has got pretty well hardened, so as to permit of but very little evaporation.

“And the earth being warm, new roots push with great rapidity,

“And the tree becomes established in the ground before cold autumn winds begin.”

Makes sense to me