FAQ

Zone 3 - 4.

B&B refers to balled and burlapped with a root ball, and are field-grown and dug.

Yes, we install plants and trees for a fee per plant or tree. Please call us at 518-642-3676 or email hello@mandysspring.com for a custom installation quote. View a comprehensive overview of our landscape design/build services here.

For our spring pre-orders, we sell bare root products that are landscape-size plants. These are ready to bear fruit and perform the first year that you plant them. The bare root plants can also be purchased as older, mature plants in container or field-dug sizes. Our mature, field-dug plants will have their root ball balled & burlapped. We also do carry a variety of perennials, trees, shrubs, and annuals in containers for easy transport.

The bare root fruit trees are roughly 3 years old. They are roughly 5-6' tall and branched.

They will bear fruit on the first year, but it is best to pick off these fruits before they develop for the first 2 years or so. This focuses the tree's energy on strengthening its branches and root system so that it can bear fruit on healthy branches in the future. .

It is also critical to prune your fruit tree as it grows. A few strong branches are better than a lot of weak branches for fruit-bearing trees. Our pruning guide can be found here. In the first year, do not over-prune, as this will stress out the tree as it is getting established. Focus on simply removing the flowers during the first year in your garden. Never remove more than 1/3 of the tree or shrub when pruning.

In our zone, it is best to plant May through November.

If you have a good water source or moist soil to plant into, you can plant in the summer.

Yes, fall is a great time to plant because the roots continue to grow through the winter until the ground freezes.

They start going dormant after the first frost.

Normally, it's safe around Memorial Day (or when it's 50 degrees outside at night) it is generally safe to plant annuals outside.

Depending on your soil types, you should water every couple of days while your plants are getting established. The soil must remain moist. You should check your plants daily. Soaking the ground around the plant is best -- never apply water to the foliage.

Clean the old flowers off in the fall, and prune in the early spring while the plants are still dormant. Or, if it's a lilac, you can prune in the spring after they bloom.

Read our pruning guide here.

Download Cornell University Extension's Pruning Fact Sheet here.

The best time to fertilize is first thing in the spring, and six weeks later to continue the plant growth. 

Yes! We have a great selection of hardy fruit trees and fruit bushes. Also check out our annual Bare Root Spring Pre-Order sale to get the best deals of the year on fruiting plants. Join our email list to be the first to know about the sale.

Don't forget our feathered friends--we also carry a great selection of berries for the birds, including viburnums, winterberry, chokeberries, and crabapples.

Yes, we sell various evergreen screening trees including spruce, hemlock, cedar/ arborvitae, white pine. Clumping deciduous trees like river birch, or weeping trees like Ruby Tears Crabapple and Weeping Willows can be good screening options. Multi-branched shrubs like lilacs and viburnums can also make good screening hedges.

Yes! While there are no guarantees, you can find plants that are unpalatable to deer here:

Deer-resistant shrubs

Deer-resistant trees

Deer-resistant perennials

We also carry a number of organic and pet-safe deer repellents, view them here.

View our top picks for trees & shrubs that can tolerate wet locations here, and view our top picks for trees & shrubs that can tolerate clay soils here.

You can view a list of our top picks for shade and flowering trees here. Note that not all of these are available through the bare root pre-order sale.

There really aren't any fruit trees that are drought-tolerant. Of all fruiting trees and shrubs we carry, Serviceberry (Amelanchier) is most adaptable to dry conditions.

We recommend watering your fruit trees/shrubs at during the dry July/August months when they are growing fruit. A soaker hose is a great option for watering trees.

We do carry a handful of self-pollinating fruit trees, but any self-fertile plant will produce more fruit if it has the ability to cross-pollinate with another plant. The product descriptions online are detailed and will specify if a tree is self-pollinating or not.

Yes, we sell indoor plants as well as outdoor plants. We are open year-round, and the Florist at Mandy's Spring can also pot up houseplants or create a dish garden as a gift. 

You need to seek professional assistance -- it could be too much or too little water, a virus, inspect damage, or another cause.

Check out the University of Minnesota's What's Wrong With My Plant tool to get started.

Yellow leaves can be caused by root shock, too much water, or not enough nutrition.

Check out the University of Minnesota's What's Wrong With My Plant tool to get started.

We do offer a 1 year limited warranty on most of the plants we sell. Read the full plant guarantee policy here.