Bare Roots General FAQ

What is Bare Roots and why should I volunteer for this?

• Our City Forest receives a large shipment of bare root trees around early February/ March each year. This amount can range anywhere from 1200-1800+ trees depending on the current inventory and future demand for trees.

• These trees are essential for our projects and residents who need a tree.

What happens before and during the event?

• "Treench" Preparation:

  • We create multiple long trenches of soil amendment to temporarily store the bare root trees a few weeks ahead of the delivery date.

• Tools and Materials Preparation:

  • Old pots are scrubbed and stakes are sanitized ahead of time.

  • We use soil that are either premixed by a vendor or hand-mixed on site.

• Tree Arrival & Processing:

  • Incoming trees are unloaded and inspected on arrival. They would arrive in bundles of 5-10 or in a VigorLiner®.

  • Trees are then sorted and tagged by their species.

  • Bundles of trees are immediately placed in the "treench" to protect their roots from drying out while VigorLiner® trees are placed on pallets to be grouped by species.

Trees arrived in a VigorLiner®

Trees arrived in bundles

Trees are root pruned to avoid root-girdling

• Tree Care:

  • Trees are pruned and checked for health and structure.

  • Regular watering of the treench during this process is a must.

• Transplanting

  • When ready, trees are removed from the "treench," to be once again inspected for quality and receive any necessary root pruning.

  • Trees is now ready to be transplanted into 15-gallons pots!

• Quality Control

  • Trees passing quality checks will be thoroughly watered and then moved into their designated rows.

• Quality Control

  • Trees passing quality checks will be staked, leader tied and thoroughly watered before they are moved into their designated rows.

Why is Bare Roots important?

• Provides a significant number of trees that Our City Forest uses for the following planting seasons.

• Offers valuable hands-on experience for volunteers and Sillicon Valley Climate Corps members.

How can I get involved?

• Volunteer: We welcome volunteers to assist with various tasks before, and during Bare Roots such as trench and materials preparation, tree transplants, and tree moves.

• Donations: Your financial support helps us continue doing our work. Thank you for your support!

• For more information or to volunteer, please visit ourcityforest.eventbrite.com or email Lowell@ourcityforest.org

Planting Natives: Mediterranean Style

Monterey coastline. Getty. (Source)

There is no place in the world like California. However, the Golden State, the Mediterranean Basin, Australia, Chile and South Africa have this one thing in common: the Mediterranean climate. Our latitude, combined with coastal mountains, valleys and a little body of water (the Pacific Ocean) give us a unique combination of hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. Only 3% of the world falls into this climate zone, which besides producing world-famous wine grapes, is also wonderful for low-maintenance native plants to thrive all year long. Fall’s firecracker-red California fuchsias are a fan favorite of our Anna’s hummingbird.

Image Credit: National Park Service

Do you carefully plan your garden? Throw mystery seeds in the air? The rainy season has begun, so get those seeds in the soil and germination is close behind. Find a local nursery that carries native seeds through Calscape’s search tool! Planting California natives in winter is ideal, especially in the Bay Area. Cool temperatures, rain and a watering regimen gives your plants a head start before summer’s heat arrives. Check out the Ultimate Tree Watering Guide at Our City Forest.

This is also a crucial time to see what grows well in your yard. Take a tour and review how the past year has been for your plants. Could they use more sun or more shade? Now is the best time to transplant native plants, maybe to a shadier spot or just to make room for new plants. Our City Forest in San Jose has a Community Nursery and Training Center with both trees and shrubs for sale.

Top 5 Favorite Native Trees to plant in winter:

California Buckeye. Image credit: Eric Hunt. (Source)

Make sure you have enough clearance before planting, these trees can get big!

1. Big Leaf Maple

2. California Buckeye

3. Coast Live Oak

4. Engelmann Oak

5. Western Redbud

Top 5 Favorite Shrubs to plant in winter:

Sticky Monkey Flower. Image Credit: Steven Thorsted (Source)

Bee’s Bliss Salvia 

1. Maritime Ceanothus

2. Sticky Monkey Flower

3. California Fuchsia

4. Howard McMinn Manzanita

Our Mediterranean climate is perfect for Napa Cabs, but summer’s birds and butterflies prefer the fast-growing vine, Vitis californica, the California Wild Grape. In December, Sydney is abloom with jacarandas and Provence is planting plum trees.

What are you planting this winter?