If you visited our table at the Salem Arts Festival on Saturday, June 8th, 2019 and you were the lucky recipient of a tree seedling, then you’re in the right place.  This post contains important planting and care instructions for your baby Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) or Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea).

Shameless plug here for Greenlawn’s Tree Inventory Map but I promise it’s relevant – if you’d like to see what these seedlings have the potential to grow up to be, come by the cemetery to check out mature specimens of Tuliptree and Scarlet Oak.  Use the map to find each tree’s location within the cemetery.

Tree Planting & Care Guide

This information pertains to both species of trees given out at the festival.

The seedling you have received came from the Arbor Day Foundation and so their instructions for planting and care are what is recommended and linked to below.  Also, both tree species offered as seedlings are native to Massachusetts and other selected areas of New England and as such should fare well if planted locally.

Comprehensive Tree Planting & Care Guide – this link provides all the information you will need to know in order to plant your seedling and help it to grow strong and tall in the years to come; Arbor Day Foundation also provides video instruction on how to care for your seedling; feel free to click around and learn as there’s a ton of information here that will help you and your tree on your new journey together.

Bare root planting guide – the seedlings you received are what is known as “bare root trees” meaning that instead of being in soil with a root system balled up into a burlap sack or a container, the roots are free and simply dipped into a hydrating gel that keeps the roots moist until planting; the main planting & care guide provides all sorts of information for all three types of prepared seedlings/saplings but this link is specifically for the seedlings you received from us at the Salem Arts Festival.  If you are in need of an easily printable version of the planting guide for bare root trees, Arbor Day Foundation provides a downloadable PDF copy – they link to it at the top of their bare root planting guide page.

Tuliptree leaf in waning autumn colors with a bit of the parent tree’s bark in the right background; photo taken in late October 2013

Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Here’s some more information about Tuliptrees from the Arbor Day Foundation and a few other handy plant databases.

Arbor Day Foundation’s nursery listing for Tuliptree – this link provides some basic information about Tuliptrees.

Go Botany’s listing for Tuliptree – this website is actually a database project headed up by the Native Plant Trust (formerly known as the New England Wildflower Society) with support from the National Science Foundation; Go Botany’s main site is also an excellent resource for information on native and naturalized trees (and other plants) growing within the six New England states (MA, ME, NH, CT, RI, VT); plenty of photos with each species listing to oogle at and use to help identify unknown specimens.

Virginia Tech’s Dendrology Fact Sheet for Tuliptree – this is a direct link to the fact sheet for Tuliptree; the parent site offers a lot of useful information on trees with a fact sheet database for over 450 different tree species as well as a handy tree ID app for Android and iOS.

USDA’s PLANTS Database page on Tuliptree – this is the listing in the national database run by the US Dept. of Agriculture; each species listing page also provides downloadable fact sheets in PDF form for that species, as well as photos, conservation status, maps, and information on how it benefits local wildlife.

The rich autumnal coloring of the aptly named Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea); photo taken in late October 2013

Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea)

Here’s some more information about Scarlet Oaks from the Arbor Day Foundation and a few other handy plant databases.  Databases below are the same as ones mentioned above, only this time the links bring you directly to the Scarlet Oak listings (and not the listings for Tuliptrees).

Arbor Day Foundation’s nursery listing for Scarlet Oak – this link provides some basic information about Scarlet Oaks.

Go Botany’s listing for Scarlet Oak – here’s Go Botany’s database listing for Scarlet Oaks

Virginia Tech’s Dendrology Fact Sheet for Scarlet Oak – this is a direct link to VT’s fact sheet for Scarlet Oak.

USDA’s PLANTS Database page on Scarlet Oak – USDA’s database listing for Scarlet Oak.