Planting Fruit Trees in The Fall?

Q: I want to plant lilacs and also some fruit trees. Do you do that in the fall?

Hardiness zone: 6b

Linka from Garrett Indiana

A: Linka,

Fall is the best time to plant lilacs. They have a better chance to establish roots before leafing out in the spring. Do it after the leaves have dropped, but before the ground freezes. You can also plant them in the spring, if you do it before new buds start to open.

In your zone, fruit trees can be planted in early spring or fall, although planting in early spring is better. As the trees emerge from their dormancy period, new growth will be equally vigorous above and below ground. If you wait until later in the spring, make sure you look for trees to transplant from containers (like those found at local nurseries) rather than planting the bare-root trees you get via mail order. Bare-root trees will still just be coming out of dormancy and will have less time to "wake-up" and adjust before getting hit with the stresses of summer growth.