Unpacking 2 New Trees

Nov 18, 2025

Received a shipment, yesterday, of what I hope will be 2 new members of our tree collection, or rather, 2 seedlings..a Pacific Crabapple & a Flowering Dogwood. Ordered via the Internet, direct from the breeder, shipped/delivered via USPS, these specimens arrived in a cardboard tube

First job is unpacking the trees from their shipping tube, carefully & extracting the packaged seedlings. 

This is the Pacific Crabapple(left) & has a plastic envelope protecting the juvenile roots & root "plug" which retains the shape of the propagation tray it came out of.

Next step is to give the seedlings a good drink of water..I let them soak overnight.

During the soak, some of the loose soil washed away & revealed that both of these seedlings had healthy, white roots..the Crabapple is the larger of the 2 & will fit into a standard training pot that I use for almost all of my trees when they first arrive.

The Dogwood is smaller & fit nicely into a previously used pot. Now I will "water them in" & keep a close eye on them for the next few days. This is the most critical stage of their lives when they are vulnerable & have not developed any defenses against disease or insects that prey on young plants.

If they live, I will start a dedicated History page for each & post it to the list, so that you will be able to see each plants progression as they grow into mature "little trees in little pots".