Creating a Soft Landing Under a Mature Tree
We've covered what soft landings are and how to create them around newly planted native trees to provide a landing zone for caterpillars and other insects to transform and overwinter.
Now let's look at the situation most of us already have: mature (hopefully native) trees surrounded by lawn.
If you have several trees that could benefit from a soft landing, start with your keystone species first. Oaks, cherries, plums, willows, maples, birches, and other keystone trees are already producing large numbers of caterpillars and other insects. Adding a soft landing beneath them gives them a place to complete their life cycle while creating habitat for countless other species.
Tips for planting beneath mature trees:
• Protect the root flare. Keep the base of the trunk exposed and free of mulch, soil, and plants.
• Install smaller plants when possible to minimize disturbance to the tree's root system. Here is a list of perennials we commonly stock in "plugs" (~2" x 2" pots):
Refine the search as needed for part shade, soil type, plant type, bloom color/time, in stock, etc.
• Let the roots guide your planting. If you hit a root, shift the plant rather than severing the tree's roots.
• Water during establishment. Mature trees are already using much of the available moisture, so water deeply at least twice a week (in the absence of rain) until new plants are established, usually 6–8 weeks.
• Reduce competition. Surround new plants with a layer of cardboard and mulch or wood chips to conserve moisture and create a weed-free zone while they establish.
• Plant in drifts. Grouping plants in clusters helps them fill in more quickly, suppresses weeds, and creates a more natural look.
• Skip the landscape fabric. It interferes with the natural nutrient recycling that enriches and builds healthy soil, AND, many of the insects we're trying to support need access to the soil beneath the leaf litter.
• Add spring ephemerals. Plants like Virginia bluebells, trilliums, Dutchman's breeches, and wild ginger take advantage of spring sunlight before the canopy leafs out, providing some of the earliest blooms of the season, critical for emerging pollinators.
• Include shrubs and understory trees. They add intermediate layers to your soft landings, increasung value for wildlife.
Here's a list of shrubs that can take full shade:
For understory trees, simply toggle to "trees" and select a height that works under your canopy.
As you layer in plants over time, what was once a mowed patch of lawn becomes living habitat layers. Leaves accumulate, moisture is retained, weeds are shaded out, pollinators find food, caterpillars find shelter, and birds discover an abundant buffet.
A mature native tree is already doing tremendous ecological work. A soft landing helps it reach its full potential.
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