There are many guides available online to support planting out new plants you haven’t worked with yet. We encourage you to search for your new plant along with ‘planting guide’ or ‘site conditions’ or ‘best practice’ to learn what they need for best success. There are also some important basic practices to consider:
1) When your package arrives, (fall and spring specifically) consider it a very high priority to unpack the box, open the wrapping around your new friends, and get their roots into cool, clean water to rest, rehydrate and to wash sawdust from the roots to see whats happening. You should do this within 24 hours of receipt of your package, otherwise the viability of these living beings can decline quickly. Follow to step 2

If you are getting bare root plants in very cold weather you can skip soaking the roots if they look decently hydrated and plan to either plant directly if ground is thawed (step 2 below) or heel the plant material into slightly moist soil in a container in an unheated but sheltered space until things thaw a bit. Lightly hydrated dormant bare root plants can sit still comfortably for weeks/months so long as they aren’t warmed or frozen and soil is checked for moisture periodically…
2) Decide where in the garden you wish to plant out your new friends and dig generously large holes and loosen the soil around. Your re-hydrated plants can now be settled into their new position ready to grow. Good firming of soil around them, a nice initial deep watering, and ideally a loose, generous mulch applied around them (woodchips are wonderful, shredded leaves, aged bedding, sawdust, etc can all work too), along with their identifying tag nearby and they should be ready to begin their life with you. If you want to amend the soil or add compost, great, but apply it as a mulch after planting, not directly in the hole you plant into.
3) Important Note: If you are in a cooler/colder climate, we still encourage you strongly to plant out your new bare root plants ASAP. A threat of frost, or freezing forecast weather should not hold you back from planting, so long as the ground isn’t frozen solid (we try to time our shipping so that shouldn’t happen). The plants would be much happier in the ground with some chilly/snowy evenings than sitting in the packaging waiting for spring!
- More cold climate tending details: If you are getting plant material and it is too cold to figure out specific/final planting details, you can ‘heel in’ trees and cuttings as a VERY fast way to address their needs until things warm in the spring. This Video has details on this simple process. DO NOT leave your plants wrapped in their shipping material until spring!!!
- If you want a great, permanent marking for your new tree, shrub or herbaceous plant, consider watching This Video
- If you are not in a position to plant out your new plants right away, it’s OK to pot them up in large pots with nice potting mix and have them grow for a bit (for spring bare roots). But know that the plants really are hoping to get into the soil as soon as you are ready to get them there. Few plants adore being in pots for extended periods, but it certainly is a reasonable stop gap. For fall shipped bare roots, we strongly recommend getting them planted in the earth where you want them to grow. Potted plants over wintering in cold climates can be tough on the plants and additionally stressful for the plant parent.

https://www.arborday.org/trees/planting/bare-root.cfm - Really nice guide for bare root tree planting

https://gardenerspath.com/how-to/hacks/hardiness-zone-changes/ - An up to date guide on hardiness zones

Here are some simple videos we’ve made that show how we plant out some of the plants we offer. They can give you a sense of the workflow we use and hopefully will show you that it isn’t something to feel a lot of stress or worry about. So long as you are learning a little about the specific site conditions your plants will hope for, tending to the plants needs as a priority when they arrive and being generous with water on the roots and protection with mulch after planting, your new plants will really just want to thrive on their own!

Basic intro to planting herbaceous perennials from a package of 'bare root' plants in the mail

Introduction to how we propagate some plants through dormant hardwood cuttings. Worth checking out if you are just getting started with Elderberry, Currants or Willow from cuttings…

‘Heeling In’ is a simple technique for fall and winter plant material that lets you settle large numbers of plants and cuttings in a safe and seasonally appropriate way until spring. VERY worthwhile first step for anyone feeling overwhelmed with planting.

Some very simple and approachable ideas for storing tree seeds for the winter in a colder climate. This would be appropriate for seeds like Chestnut, Persimmon and Paw Paw among others.

Showing how we plant root sections of ‘Fuki’, which can also be applied to other running, root suckering herbaceous plants. 

We show the basic planting techniques used for expanding our Myoga gingers in the garden. Skip to 6:20 in the video if you want specific notes on how to orient and plant the root.

Discussion on planting sprouted tree seeds in colder months. Appropriate ideas for regions with mellow winter climates and seeds that are ready to grow before spring comes.