There is a narrow window each year when planting an advanced tree gives you the best possible start, and in Adelaide that window is spring. Get a tree in the ground now and it has the whole of the mild weather to push roots out into the surrounding soil before the first serious heat arrives. Plant the same tree in January and it spends its first months simply trying to survive.
That difference compounds. A tree that roots in properly during its first season is a tree that needs less water every summer afterwards.
What “advanced” actually means
Advanced stock is simply a tree that has already been grown on for several years before it reaches you. Instead of buying a slender whip in a small pot and waiting a decade, you plant something that already has calliper in the trunk, a formed canopy and a developed root system.
At our nursery that usually means pot sizes from 100 litres up to 350 litres and beyond, with heights from around 2.5 metres to well over 4 metres depending on species. Our statement Liquid Amber Gumball specimens are over twenty years old.
Everything is grown onsite here in Adelaide. That matters more than it sounds. A tree raised locally has already been through our summers, our dry spells and our soil — it is hardened to the conditions it will live in, rather than arriving soft from a milder climate interstate.
Deciduous or evergreen?
This is the first real decision, and it is worth thinking about properly rather than choosing on looks alone.
Deciduous trees drop their leaves in autumn and leaf up again in spring. For a house that means summer shade exactly when you want it and winter sun exactly when you need it — passive climate control that costs nothing to run. Our maples, Claret Ash, Chinese Elm, Zelkova and Manchurian Pear all fall into this group, and most bring strong autumn colour with them.
Evergreen trees hold their foliage year round. They are the right answer when the job is screening, privacy or a permanent green backdrop rather than seasonal shade. Acmena Sublime Lilly Pilly and Magnolia Greenback are the ones we grow most of.
Plenty of gardens want both — deciduous over the living area and paving, evergreen along the boundary.
Choosing a size
Bigger is not automatically better. A very large specimen in a small courtyard will outgrow the space and need constant management, while an undersized tree in a wide open garden can look lost for years.
- 100–150 litre — good for suburban gardens and tighter spaces. Easier to handle, establishes quickly, still gives immediate presence.
- 240–250 litre — the workhorse size for most front gardens, driveways and streetscapes.
- 285–350 litre and above — for when you need instant impact, or for commercial and landscape projects where the planting has to read as finished on day one.
Access matters too. It is worth checking how the tree will physically reach its planting position before you settle on a size — a 350 litre pot needs room to be manoeuvred.
Getting the first summer right
Advanced trees are not difficult, but the first twelve months set up everything that follows.
- Dig wide, not deep. A hole two to three times the width of the pot lets roots move out into loosened soil. Planting too deep is one of the most common ways to kill a good tree.
- Water deeply and less often. A long soak that reaches the full root depth beats a daily sprinkle, which only ever wets the surface and encourages shallow rooting.
- Mulch, but keep it off the trunk. A generous ring of mulch holds moisture and keeps the soil cool. Piled against the bark it causes rot.
- Stake only if you need to. Some movement in the wind builds trunk strength. Stake against genuine risk of the rootball rocking, not as a default, and remove stakes once the tree is anchored.
Come and look first
Photographs only tell you so much. Every advanced tree has its own shape, and with a specimen that will stand in your garden for decades it is worth choosing the individual tree rather than the species in the abstract.
We are open Saturdays 9am to 12pm, and other days by arrangement — give us a ring if those hours do not suit.