-
Willow Oak Tree -
Black Locust Tree -
American Elm Tree -
Overcup Oak -
Honey Locust Tree -
Box Elder Tree -
Lombardy Poplar Seedlings -
Fragrant Sumac Seedlings -
Forest Pansy Redbud -
Cottonwood Trees -
Mimosa Tree -
Staghorn Sumac Seedlings -
Lacebark Elm Tree -
Cedar Elm Tree Seedlings -
Slippery Elm Tree -
Hazel Alder (Smooth Alder)
Bulk Bare Root Shade, Flowering and Wetland Trees for the Trade
Tennessee Wholesale Nursery supplies wholesale bare root trees in bulk for landscapers, contractors, garden centers, restoration firms, municipalities and DOT projects. The collection covers native shade trees, flowering understory trees, wetland species and nut trees, all dug fresh during dormancy and shipped grower-direct from our farms in Altamont, Tennessee.
Use this free calculator to work out how many trees or shrubs you need for a hedge, privacy screen, windbreak, orchard or reforestation site. Pick how you're planting, enter your measurements and spacing, and it gives you the number of plants and the bulk packs to order.
0 trees or shrubs
| Bulk pack | Quantity |
|---|
Most trees and shrubs come in packs of 25, 50 and 100, and many seedlings also come in packs of 500 and 1,000. Pack sizes vary by plant.
How the tree and shrub calculator works
- Hedges, screens and windbreaks: the calculator divides the row length by your spacing and adds one plant for the end of the row, then multiplies by the number of rows. In staggered rows, each row is offset by half a space so the screen fills in without gaps.
- Area plantings: the calculator divides the total area by the space each plant takes up (spacing within rows × spacing between rows).
The result is rounded up to whole plants and split into bulk packs.
Quick reference: plants per 100 feet of hedge
| Spacing | 1 row | 2 rows |
|---|---|---|
| 1 foot | 101 | 201 |
| 2 feet | 51 | 101 |
| 3 feet | 34 | 67 |
| 4 feet | 26 | 51 |
| 5 feet | 21 | 41 |
| 6 feet | 17 | 34 |
| 8 feet | 13 | 26 |
| 10 feet | 11 | 21 |
Quick reference: trees per acre
| Spacing | Trees per acre |
|---|---|
| 6 × 6 feet | 1,210 |
| 8 × 8 feet | 681 |
| 10 × 10 feet | 436 |
| 12 × 12 feet | 303 |
| 15 × 15 feet | 194 |
| 20 × 20 feet | 109 |
One acre is 43,560 sq ft. Divide that by your spacing within rows × spacing between rows to get trees per acre at any spacing.
Choosing the right spacing
- Formal, clipped hedges: plant close, about 1 to 2 feet apart, so plants knit together quickly.
- Informal and flowering shrub hedges: about 3 to 5 feet apart, depending on how wide the shrub grows.
- Evergreen privacy screens: fast-growing evergreens like arborvitae are often planted about 5 to 6 feet apart in a single row, or farther apart in two staggered rows.
- Windbreaks and wildlife plantings: two or three staggered rows give the most protection and cover.
- Reforestation and seedlings: closer spacing closes the canopy sooner and shades out competition. Wider spacing costs less per acre.
As a rule, the closer you plant, the faster the hedge or stand fills in, and the more plants you need. When in doubt, base spacing on the plant's mature width.
Link to this calculator
Landscape designers, foresters, conservation districts and extension offices are welcome to link to this calculator from planting guides and resource pages. Copy this link:
<a href="https://tennesseewholesalenursery.com/pages/tree-shrub-calculator">Tree & Shrub Calculator – Tennessee Wholesale Nursery</a>
Who Buys Wholesale Trees
- Landscape contractors filling street tree, parking lot and subdivision plans.
- Garden centers and re-wholesalers lining out liners to pot up for retail.
- Restoration and wetland contractors planting riparian buffers and mitigation sites.
- DOT and municipal buyers stocking right-of-way, park and school plantings.
- Reclamation programs, developers and farms establishing windbreaks, woodlots and mined-land cover.
Wholesale Tree Species and Trade Uses
| Plant | Botanical name | Typical trade uses |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar Maple | Acer saccharum | Upland canopy, maple syrup operations, mixed hardwood reforestation |
| Red Maple | Acer rubrum | Adaptable street tree for moist to average soils, red fall display |
| White Oak | Quercus alba | Generational canopy trees, hardwood stand establishment, acorn mast for wildlife |
| Red Oak | Quercus rubra | Boulevard and campus plantings, fast-growing hardwood canopy |
| Pin Oak | Quercus palustris | Poorly drained park ground, detention basin margins |
| Willow Oak | Quercus phellos | City street tree programs, filtered shade over turf |
| Tulip Poplar | Liriodendron tulipifera | Quick canopy cover, upland reforestation, pollinator value |
| Bald Cypress | Taxodium distichum | Swamp and shoreline restoration, stormwater ponds |
| River Birch | Betula nigra | Bioswales, creek corridors, multi-season bark interest |
| Black Gum | Nyssa sylvatica | Bottomland and upland mixes, early red autumn foliage, songbird fruit |
| American Sycamore | Platanus occidentalis | Floodplain reforestation, stream buffer canopy |
| Black Locust | Robinia pseudoacacia | Mined-land reclamation, shelterbelts, rot-resistant post timber |
| American Elm | Ulmus americana | Vase-form street canopy, floodplain plantings |
| White Dogwood | Cornus florida | Spring-flowering understory layer, forest edge transitions |
| Sourwood | Oxydendrum arboreum | Summer bloom for bee forage, crimson fall accent |
Nut and fruit trees such as pecan and pawpaw are grouped in our Fruit Trees collection, and screening evergreens are in Evergreen Conifers.
Choosing Tree Species for the Planting Plan
Ground that floods or stays saturated suits bald cypress, river birch, sycamore, pin oak and black willow. Well-drained uplands favor white oak, sugar maple and tulip poplar for a durable overstory, while dogwood, redbud and sourwood carry the midstory in mixed native schemes. Check hardiness with our USDA zone finder, and compare look-alike species with the white vs red oak guide or the maple identification article.
Mitigation and reforestation specs usually call for a stems-per-acre density on a gridded layout, with a minimum count of species to satisfy diversity requirements. Bare root hardwoods establish best when set out between leaf drop and bud break, so the root system can knit into native soil ahead of the first flush of growth. Slope and buffer crews can review our erosion control tree picks and the restoration and mitigation collection, plus project planning resources.
How We Grow, Dig and Ship Trees
We raise many of these hardwoods in our own Tennessee fields, with established area growers helping fill large counts. Once the leaves have fallen, crews lift each tree with its root system intact and send it out bare root with bare branches. Before packing, the roots of every bundle get a coating of Terra-Sorb, a hydrogel that holds moisture, and are sealed in plastic giving up to 12 days of transit protection. Read the details on our packaging page. Truckload tree orders travel by common-carrier semi, and modest orders go USPS Priority Mail with a tracking number.
Ordering Trees in Volume
When you need 500 or more trees of one species, email the species list, a delivery address and your preferred delivery week. Within a day you will have a complete quote covering freight, how the trees will be packed, and whether to ship or pick up. Start on the wholesale pricing request page, or see how wholesale sales work. Tree counts of 100 or under per species are billed at the regular site price. A prepaid trade account gets you a heads-up when a species on your list is running low, and licensed buyers receive our Arrive Alive guarantee on every shipment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size are your wholesale bare root trees?
Most hardwoods come in three grades, 1-2 ft, 2-3 ft and 3-4 ft, sold in counts from 25 up to 500, and a handful of species are offered in bigger lots.
Which trees work best for wet or riparian sites?
Bald cypress, river birch, American sycamore, pin oak and black willow handle streambanks, floodplains and soggy lots well. Combine them with live stakes where the bank itself needs stabilizing.
Can one quote cover several tree species?
Absolutely. A mixed hardwood list is priced line by line on a single quote, with freight included.
Three and four generations of one family have grown trees in Altamont, Tennessee, since 1959. Mule-drawn plows on a few acres have given way to tree spades and mechanized transplanters. CEO Tammy Sons leads the company, and tree buyers ordering 500 or more plants deal with the owners themselves. Our plants have gone into the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery and the Washington Monument. Have a tree list ready? Call 931-692-7325 or write sales@tennesseewholesalenursery.com.