Planting a tree is a timestamp and a responsibility – it’s going to be there for a long time. Here’s what to think about before you pick and plant one

Part of gardening’s beauty is the ephemerality of it: taking care of a plot can encourage a rich ecosystem, but a garden only ever exists in the moment you’re bearing witness to it.

No wonder that planting trees can be alluring and terrifying in equal measure. Such permanence! Such impossibility! A good tree, planted well, will long outlast us – or at least the time we spend in the garden. It’s a timestamp and a responsibility. And now is a good time to do it: the soil is damp and accommodating, and while the tree is nudging towards dormancy its roots are still growing. The leaves will drop soon, so a new tree will put energy into bedding in, before returning to vibrancy in the spring.