Skip to Content

Commemorate the Anniversary of Hurricane Helene by Planting a Native Tree!

Posted on by Jesse Freeman (Upstate)

by Jo Ann McCracken-Redding

Last September when Hurricane Helene rearranged our landscape, we were devastated by our losses. A year later, we have a fresh opportunity to collaborate with nature and plant native trees that strengthen our ecosystem.

To help you answer the call to Grow Back Native, we’ve compiled some tried-and-true resources as answers to three key questions. Click a question below to find the answer:

  1. How do I decide which native trees to plant?

  2. Where in the Upstate can I find oaks and other native trees to plant?

  3. When and how should I plant my tree to make sure it thrives?

1. How do I decide which native trees or shrubs to plant?

Prioritize Keystone Native Plants — ones that butterflies, native bees, and birds need to survive!

Download this handy resource: National Wildlife Federation’s keystone plant list for our Ecoregion 8, Eastern Temperate Forests.

Browse the following links to descriptions and photos of a few of the keystone trees from the NWF list. The number beside each name is the quantity of caterpillar species (🐛) using this tree as a host plant. The higher the number, the more critical this tree is for sustaining our ecosystem.

These links are from the North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, a valuable gardener’s resource:

Download this key resource: SC Wildlife Federation’s “Native Plants Valuable to Wildlife”.

This resource lists native trees and shrubs by evergreen or deciduous and by size (50+ feet and 15–40 feet). Each entry includes how the tree or shrub is used by birds and other animals for food and shelter.

Browse native trees by genus to see the variety of species that thrive in the Upstate.

A great place to start is NameThatPlant.net. Be sure to bookmark this treasured resource! Created by SCNPS member Janie Marlow, it’s a storehouse of information about native and naturalized plants of the Carolinas and Georgia. She has continually expanded and refined it for nearly two decades!

Explore genus-level pages with maps and habitat information:
Acer (maple),
Amelanchier (serviceberry),
Carya (hickory),
Cercis (redbud),
Fagus (beech),
Ilex (holly),
Liquidambar (sweetgum),
Liriodendron (poplar),
Magnolia,
Myrica (wax-myrtle),
Pinus (pine),
Prunus (laurel, cherry, others),
Quercus (oak).

2. Where in the Upstate can I find oaks and other native trees to plant?

Shop the SCNPS Upstate Fall Online Native Plant Sale, October 9–11.
Choose from one of the largest selections of native plants in the region — nearly 200 species, 4,000+ plants. The sale includes seedlings of the trees listed in the chart below with links to more information.

SCNPS Upstate Fall 2025 Online Sale

Tree Seedlings Available

Planting these seedlings? See planting guidelines in Question 3 below →

Botanical Name & Link to Info Common Name
Acer leucoderme chalk maple
Asimina triloba pawpaw
Carya myristiciformis bitter hickory
Castanea × American chestnut*
Castanea pumila chinquapin
Celtis laevigata southern hackberry
Celtis occidentalis northern hackberry
Cercis canadensis eastern redbud
Diospyros virginiana American persimmon
Fagus grandifolia American beech
Juglans nigra black walnut
Juniperus virginiana eastern red cedar
Liriodendron tulipifera tulip-tree, yellow poplar
Magnolia macrophylla big-leaf magnolia
Magnolia tripetala umbrella magnolia
Nyssa sylvatica blackgum, black tupelo
Oxydendron arboreum sourwood
Prunus serotina black cherry
Quercus alba white oak
Quercus falcata southern red oak
Quercus nigra water oak
Quercus phellos willow oak
Quercus rubra northern red oak
Quercus virginiana live oak
Robinia pseudoacacia black locust

*Dunstan hybrid, not a native tree but the closest we can get due to Dutch elm disease.

 

Plan Your Fall Plant Shopping Spree

We are happy to introduce the following new, comprehensive Guide to Native Plant Shopping in the Upstate and Region! To ensure you’ll find what you’re looking for, we’ve compiled five lists with links: Polly’s Picks, Upstate Native Plant Sources, Nearby Native Plant Sources, Regional Native Plant Sources (Worth the Drive), and Seasonal Sales.

Here’s a sampling from Polly’s Picks — recommendations from Polly Moxley, a native plant super volunteer you will often find behind our booth at Upstate SCNPS outreach events.

View the full Guide to Native Plant Shopping in the Upstate and Region →

 

Use the interactive native plant nursery locator map on our website: Find SC Native Plant Nurseries →.

Find nurseries all across SC where some or all the inventory is made up of plants native to the region, including nurseries just over the NC and GA state borders.

Register for TreesUpstate’s FREE Tree Giveaway

In honor of Hurricane Helene’s anniversary, TreesUpstate is giving away 1,000 trees native to South Carolina.

Register for the giveaway→ 

Choose one of four locations on four dates: September 19, 20, 26, and 27. Species include: bald cypress, black tupelo, eastern redbud, crabapple, white oak, tulip poplar, and pawpaw. Trees are 3-gallon size, 3–5 feet tall, and about 5 pounds. First come, first served while supplies last!

3. When and how should I plant my tree to make sure it thrives?

Basic Planting Guidelines
These steps were provided by Upstate Native Nursery manager Chuck Hubbuch for seedlings sold through our plant sale, but they also serve as good guidelines for planting most container-grown trees and shrubs.

  • Keep the soil line of the tree seedling even with the ground around it. Don’t set it deeper or higher than it was growing in the pot.
  • Do not backfill with purchased soil.
  • Fall is a great time to plant. Water regularly until winter, and during dry spells next year.

Explore Your Choices About the Plant Material You Start With
The tree-planting information in this newsletter is meant to support the needs of most gardeners, who will source their tree from a nursery. For now, we’re not covering the broad and intricate subject of tree propagation — methods such as cutting, layering, division, budding, grafting, or planting seeds.

However, since oaks are regarded as North America’s most eco-supportive plant (consider the oak as the key in our keystone plant foundation), we’re including resources that explain how to plant an oak from an acorn or a very young tree. And even though oaks are emphasized this season, remember that diversity is essential — plant them alongside other native species so they can work interdependently, where natives are strongest.

Helpful Resources:

  1. Grow Your Own Oak Tree: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planting Acorns —
    Gardenia.net
    Covers everything from choosing the right acorns to caring for your saplings and transplanting them.
  2. How to Plant an Oak (and Why You Should) —
    Conserving Carolina
    Builds on Doug Tallamy’s encouragement to plant an oak from an acorn or a bare-root whip (a dormant, unbranched seedling just a few feet tall with soil removed from roots).In How Can I Help: Saving Nature with Your Yard, Tallamy writes:

    “I know the arguments for planting large trees: instant gratification, mower damage, and so on, but smaller trees are less expensive, and when they have a chance to lay down a normal root system, they grow quickly and are far healthier adult trees than large balled and burlapped trees or those grown in air pots.”

    This article also includes a list of native oaks in North Carolina — very similar to what’s found in the Upstate. It’s a helpful reminder to consider size when choosing an oak: small, intermediate, or large, depending on nursery availability or which acorns you can collect.

  3. TreesUpstate Resources —
    TreesUpstate.org
    Includes guidance on:

    • avoiding utility lines
    • following guidelines from the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), the City of Greenville, and the SC Forestry Commission
    • planting 3-gallon and 15-gallon container trees
    • tree care, mulching, watering, and pruning

Expert tip: After-storm planting & care (from arborist Scott Carlson)

  • Plant at the same soil line as in the pot — don’t bury the trunk flare.
  • Add 2–3″ mulch, not touching the trunk (no volcano mulching).
  • For established trees, light structural pruning every 3–5 years helps wind move through the canopy.

Happy tree planting — and thank you for advancing the Grow Back Native movement!

 

Plant ID/Photo credit: American beech (Fagus grandifolia), Katja Schulz; Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), JK Marlow; sugar maple (Acer saccharum), Superior National Forest; Southern crabapple (Malus angustifolia), Sam Pratt; white oak (Quercus alba), J McCracken-Redding; black cherry (Prunus serotina var. serotina), Keith Bradley.