Information is great, but you need to understand it first. We’ve created this guide to help you navigate our website. Happy planting!

Each product on our website (www.treetime.ca) has a Quick Facts guide on the right-hand side. These will inform you about the growing habits of the species, what environment they need to thrive in, and other interesting facts that are important about the plant.

For example, here are the Quick Facts for the Common Purple Lilac:

Zone

Depicts the minimum hardiness zone that the plant can thrive in. A hardiness zone is a number representing the general climate conditions of an area. The lower the zone, the longer or colder a winter is. Conversely the higher the zone the warmer or shorter the winter is. Your location would have a hardiness zone attributed to it, and plants are typically rated with the corresponding number.  

Click this link to find out what hardiness zone you live in: http://www.planthardiness.gc.ca/?m=22&lang=en

Plant Hardiness Zones Canada
Plant Hardiness Zones Canada. Source Natural Resources Canada

Height

Average mature height of the plant. Depending on the climate this plant is planted in, it might not reach the mature height listed. Measured from ground to top of the tree.

Spread

Average mature spread of the plant. Depending on the climate this plant is planted in it might not reach the mature height listed. Measured from branch tip to branch tip at maturity

Moisture

How flood or drought-tolerant a plant is.

  • Wet indicates that a plant can handle more wet conditions than the average plant can.
  • Dry indicates that the plant is drought tolerant.

This is to be used as a guideline for choosing a plant for a site. Almost every plant will suffer if a site is too wet or too dry. Some plants have evolved strategies to handle more or less water.

Light

The amount of light the plant needs in order to grow optimally.

  • Full Sun needs 6+ hours of sunlight a day.
  • Partial Shade needs an area that receives 2 hours of direct sunlight per day.
  • Full Shade needs only 1 hour of full sunlight per day or multiple hours of dappled sunlight per day.

Keep in mind that morning sun and afternoon sun are different, and if your plants require Partial or Full Shade, plant them in places where the sun they receive would be morning to mid-morning sun, as afternoon sun may cause scorching due to higher temperatures and intensity.

Growth Rate

These rates indicate the amount of growth you can expect your plant to put on per year.

  • Slow: less than 0.25 m per year.
  • Medium: 0.25m to 0.5m per year.
  • Fast: 0.5m to 1 m per year.
  • Very Fast: 1m+ per year.

These are just average guidelines, there are many factors that determine a plant’s growth rate.

Life Span

Indicates the length of time it takes for the plant to go from the beginning of the development to death.

  • Short lifespan is around 10-30 years.
  • Medium is usually 30-100 years.
  • Long is often categorized as 100+ years.

Maintenance

Does it need a lot of water? Does it need to be pruned a great deal? Is it self-cleaning, or is it susceptible to disease or insects and requires regular spraying? Is it likely to withstand a frost? Does it need special soil? Does it spread aggressively? All of these factors go into the overall maintenance of the plant.

  • Low: Little to no maintenance required.
  • Medium: Some maintenance required.
  • High: A lot of maintenance required.

Suckering

Suckering is when a plant forms new stems and root systems from an adventitious bud. This typically happens underground and results in clonal ‘shoots’ popping up around the plant. In some cases suckering may be desired, as it can help you have more plants, fuller plants, more raspberries, etc. In other cases, suckers can be invasive or unwanted.

  • None: Does not sucker at all.
  • Low: Suckers rarely, usually as a response to severe stress.
  • Medium: Suckers occasionally usually as a response to stress.
  • High: Suckers heavily.

Pollution Tolerance

APTI is the Air Pollution Tolerance Index. 

  • Low: 1-11 APTI – Susceptible to damage from air pollution.  
  • Medium: 12-16 APTI- Somewhat tolerant to air pollution.
  • High: 17+ APTI Highly tolerant to air pollution.

In-Row Spacing

Listed primarily for species that are typically used in shelterbelts, this is the recommended spacing between plants within the row.

Want more tips for row planting? Check out our Shelterbelt Planting Blog here.

Between Row Spacing

Listed primarily for species that are typically used in shelterbelts.

This is the recommended spacing between the separate rows:

shelterbelt planting row spacing

Ships to Canada

Whether or not we can ship the seedlings within Canada.

Ships to USA

Whether or not we can ship the seedlings to the USA.

If you are needing plants to be shipped to the United States please give us a call at 1 844 873 3700 and we can help you out.

The following entries will only show if they have significant relevance to the plant:

  • Flowers: Indicates what you can expect the flowers to look like, and at what point in the season you should expect them to bloom.
  • Fall Colour: Indicates the fall color of the foliage.
  • Toxicity: Indicates if any part of the plant is particularly toxic to humans or animals if eaten.
  • Fruit: Indicates the appearance of the fruit of the plant.
  • Berries: Indicates the appearance of the berries of the plant.
  • Fruit Size: Indicates the average size of the fruit in grams.
  • Firmness: Indicates the average firmness of the fruit at optimal ripeness.
  • Flavor: Indicates the general flavor of the fruit of the plants.
  • Harvest Time: Indicates when, on average, the optimal ripening of the fruit occurs. 
  • Bark: Indicates the color and texture of the woody part of the tree.
  • Cones: Indicates the color, type, etc of the cones of the plant.
  • Seeds: Indicates the color, type, etc of the seeds of the plant.
  • Nuts: Indicates the color, type, flavor, etc of the nuts of the plant.
  • example of flowers
  • example of fruit
  • example of bark
  • example of seed
  • example of berries
  • example of fall colour

If you still have questions give us a call at 1 844 873 3700!