I want to plant one or two trees in a small country cemetery located in Rice, Texas. Rice is about 50 miles south of Dallas off I-45. There is no perpetual care at this cemetery, just occasional mowing.

The conditions are pretty harsh with no available shade at this time. These trees would be subjected to whatever nature would provide (good or bad).

I would appreciate some recommendations on the proper tree selection, any suggestions you might offer on how to get these trees off to a good start and, given my limited availability to oversee their growth (2-3 times a year), anything I might be able to do to help them along.

Thanks and I appreciate your help.

I suggest you drive around the area and note the kinds of trees that are growing on their own along fence lines, etc. These are the trees that will make it with little help on your part. For example, in my area, north of Dallas, I might choose soapberry, eastern red cedar or mesquite. These may not be considered the most desirable trees, but they seem to be the ones that do okay without much intervention.

In any event, make sure you get a more drought tolerant type of tree, and plant it in the fall. The roots will have more time to get established before our hot & dry summers hit. It would help to have a thick mulch over the roots, rather than grass which will use up water & nutrients the tree needs.

Good luck

teamneu is especially correct in pointing out the Fall planting issue, also when you mulch, don't let the mulch actually pile up on the trunk.

Keep in mind that the first year you'd do well to give them some extra water when it's been dry. They all need a little TLC that first year in the ground (the year after the fall you planted it)

_________________
Shepherd of the Trees
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields we know so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.

My husband has done testing on Shantungs in "no care" situations, in the ground, with no water other than occasional rains and they lived and grown fine. Note that they don't grow as aggressively, without supplemental watering, as we've come to expect from a Shantung but he's finding that they are drought tolerent.

Jeri
(Mrs. Metro Maples)