Tallahassee Elite Sod & Turf provides professional tree & shrub planting in Tallahassee, FL for residential and commercial properties across the Florida Big Bend. Tree and shrub planting in Tallahassee is a slightly different conversation than in most of Florida, because this city already has the canopy other places are trying to buy. The job here is usually filling gaps a storm opened, replacing the wrong tree in the wrong place, and building understory beds that work in the shade rather than fighting it — and getting the planting depth right in clay, which is where most trees are quietly killed. We plant southern live oak, southern magnolia, Shumard and swamp chestnut oak, bald cypress, American holly, crape myrtle, redbud, dogwood, camellia, azalea, loropetalum, yaupon and native muhly grass alongside sod work so the whole yard grows in together instead of being dug up again in two years. Species choice should lean native and regionally proven, because zone 9a here is not zone 9a in Fort Myers. A hard freeze arrives most winters, the all-time low is 2 below zero, and the palms and tropicals that look fine on a garden centre pallet in April are a coin flip by February. The Red Hills list above has been growing here since long before anyone was selling landscape design, and it handles both the cold and the clay. Storm work is a real part of this. Hurricane Hermine came through Tallahassee directly in 2016 and took down enough trees to leave about 80 percent of the city without power, and Hurricane Michael in 2018 passed close enough west to knock out power across most of Leon County. Beyond the immediate cleanup, every lost oak turns a shaded yard into a sunny one, which changes what will grow there, and every lifted root plate leaves a grade problem nobody can see under the mulch. We replant with species and spacing chosen for what the site is now rather than what it was, and we fix the grade before anything goes in the ground. Installation technique matters as much as species, and on clay it matters more. We dig the hole two to three times the width of the root ball and no deeper than the ball itself, because a hole dug deep and backfilled loose lets the tree settle and buries the root flare. Planting too deep is the leading cause of slow tree death and it happens constantly, including on professionally installed jobs. We set the root flare at or slightly above finished grade — on heavy clay, deliberately proud, because a clay planting pit is a bucket and a tree sitting in the bottom of it drowns. We score circling roots on container stock so they do not girdle the trunk in five years, and we backfill with the native soil that came out rather than a pit of imported compost, which in clay creates a nice soft container the roots never leave. Then three inches of mulch in a wide ring, pulled back off the trunk, because a mulch volcano piled against bark is a fungal problem waiting to happen. We stake only when the site or the tree genuinely requires it, and we come back to remove the straps, which is the step everybody forgets until the wire is growing into the trunk. Watering instructions come written down, because a new tree wants deep infrequent soaking on a completely different schedule from new sod, and running both off the same zone is how one of them ends up unhappy.
With 15+ years of experience, our licensed and insured team brings the right materials and equipment to every job — Floratam St. Augustine sod, Palmetto St. Augustine, CitraBlue St. Augustine, Bitterblue St. Augustine, TifBlair centipedegrass, Empire Zoysia — and backs the work with a written workmanship warranty. We serve Tallahassee and nearby communities including Bradfordville, Quincy, Perry, Crawfordville.
What We Handle
Everything our tree & shrub planting in Tallahassee covers
One crew, one point of contact, and the full range of tree & shrub planting work in Tallahassee, FL. If it is on this list we do it in house rather than handing it to a subcontractor:
- tree planting service Tallahassee
- shrub installation
- live oak planting
- southern magnolia planting
- native plant landscaping North Florida
- crape myrtle installation
- camellia and azalea planting
- shade tree installation
- tree staking and mulching
- planting bed preparation
- drought tolerant shrubs
- landscape planting
- root flare planting depth
- clay soil tree planting
Not sure which one describes your situation? Describe it in plain words and we will sort it out — or browse the rest of our Tallahassee services.
Materials, equipment and how we do tree & shrub planting
The difference between tree & shrub planting that lasts and tree & shrub planting that gets redone in three years is almost always preparation and materials, not the finish you see on day one. We work with Floratam St. Augustine sod, Palmetto St. Augustine, CitraBlue St. Augustine, Bitterblue St. Augustine, spec them to the job instead of to the invoice, and write the material grades into the free estimate so you know exactly what you are buying.
Every Tallahassee job runs the same way: site walk and measurements, written scope and fixed price, protection of the surrounding area, then the work itself with a daily clean-up. 15+ years of sod installation work in the Florida Big Bend means we have already met whatever your property is going to throw at us — awkward access, older construction, an HOA with opinions.
Where we do tree & shrub planting outside Tallahassee
Tallahassee Elite Sod & Turf covers Tallahassee and the surrounding communities of the Florida Big Bend. Crews run out to the same nearby cities every week, so an out-of-town job does not mean an out-of-town price.
- Tree & Shrub Planting in Bradfordville, FL — unincorporated Leon County, population 19,183 at the 2020 census
- Tree & Shrub Planting in Quincy, FL — Gadsden County, incorporated in 1828, population 7,970 at the 2020 census
- Tree & Shrub Planting in Perry, FL — Taylor County, incorporated in 1903, population 6,898 at the 2020 census
- Tree & Shrub Planting in Crawfordville, FL — unincorporated Wakulla County, population 4,853 at the 2020 census
- Tree & Shrub Planting in Woodville, FL — unincorporated Leon County, population 4,097 at the 2020 census
- Tree & Shrub Planting in Midway, FL — Gadsden County, incorporated in 1986, population 3,537 at the 2020 census
Start on the Tallahassee Elite Sod & Turf homepage for a free estimate, or call (844) 511-2320 and describe the job.
Why Tallahassee Chooses Tallahassee Elite Sod & Turf
- ✓Over 15 years installing lawns across Leon, Gadsden, Wakulla and Jefferson counties
- ✓Soil test before the quote — we lime acidic Red Hills clay instead of ignoring it
- ✓Floratam, Palmetto, CitraBlue, Bitterblue, TifBlair centipede, Empire and Zeon Zoysia
- ✓Shade audit before grass selection, because the oak canopy decides most of it
Every tree & shrub planting project in Tallahassee gets the same attention, whether it is a single room or a full commercial job. We show up on schedule, keep the site clean, and stand behind the work — the estimate is free and there is no pressure.
Ready to get started? Call (844) 511-2320 for a free tree & shrub planting free estimate in Tallahassee, or request a quote and we'll get right back to you.