Breckenridge Real Estate Blog

Our Summit County real estate in Breckenridge and Frisco, Dillon, Silverthorne, and Keystone, Colorado can be a challenging place to grow healthy trees.  But if you stick with the tried and true varieties and plant in the spring, you’ll get the best results.  The warmer weather invites fulltime residents of Breckenridge CO homes as well as seasonal part-time owners to be in the yard nurturing the young saplings, getting them off to a good start.

So, visit the local nurseries and pick up a few of these varieties that seem to love the higher elevations as much as our finest skiers, riders, and hikers do.  Then, carefully follow the directions for planting and look forward to the sounds of the singing [birds] and rustling aspen leaves outside the windows of your Breckenridge real estate for years to come.

Trees do grow here in higher elevations if they are planted correctly.  Colorado Spruce (Picea pungens), Engelman Spruce (Picea engelmannii), Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata), Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides), and Narrowleaf Cottonwood (Populus angustifolia) are all comfortable at 10,000 feet.  The Bristlecone and Engelman will also do fine at 11,000 feet, and the Engelman Spruce will even take to the 11,500-foot reaches.  Although they can be planted anytime that the ground thaws out from May to October, they seem to like to do better when they get started in May.

Prep the ground by digging a wide hole, three times the diameter of the root ball.  Loosen the soil around the area so that the roots will more easily take hold.  If your home is newly built, the ground needs to be loosened in a wider area.  The soil becomes too compact from the weight of heavy trucks and equipment during construction.

Place the tree not too deep in the hole.  One or two inches of the root ball should be above the ground.  Before beginning to fill the hole with dirt, check the tree from several angles to be sure that it is straight.  You may think that staking the tree would be helpful but they grow stronger without stakes.  (If you must use stakes because of strong winds, place only two on opposing sides and remove them after one year.)  Then, fill the hole and gently but firmly pack the dirt around the tree.  Make sure that there are no air pockets to dry out the tree and do not pack the dirt down.

Now it is very important to blanket the base of the tree with mulch to hold moisture and to protect against harsh soil temperatures.  Put mulch right up to the trunk but not touching the bark. 

For a minimum of two years while the tree is stretching its roots deeper and deeper into the ground, plan to water at least once a week and more during the height of summer.

For information on real estate in the area, contact Rick Allemang at info@realestatecolorado.com or call (970) 547-1002 for immediate service.