Certainly it can be done - many people grow trees in containers permanently! But if longer than a single growing season, you will need to find some way of storing or protecting them over winter. In your climate the pots are very likley to freeze solid and that would kill the tree roots.

Growing in containers does involve more attention and maintenance than growing in the ground. This very informative thread may help - Trees in Containers.

They give those away here once a year at the Arbor Day celebrations. They just look like a twig with a couple of very fine roots. :) I got burr oaks and desert willows in the past, and both were in pots for two years. I will say that when they got transplanted into the ground, they shot up.

gardengal - great to hear! I do have a large unheated basement that I could store them in, or even the unheated garage. When they arrive in spring I can just get some big plastic pots from Walmart and plop then right in and line then up the driveway if they'll be that small :)

cooper - glad to hear someone else has gotten things from them. I was a little nervous that it was a scam or something haha. They also recently sent their catalog and I am trying to restrain myself from buying everything! Have you bought shrubs and trees from them? If so are they decently sized because the prices seem too good to be true.

They are just small bare root whips. It would never be my first choice for mail order trees but if you need tree seedlings in bulk, it's not an awful source.

I have a lot of trees in pots because I am rehabbing a small poplar plantation. I often keep my seedlings for a couple of years in their pots...and I also have a handful of small, permanent acerr and conifers but that is not particularly relevant to your plans. However, there is one pertinent issue to consider. Compared to buying bare-root maidens which have been field-grown in a nursery, once trees have been allowed to grow in a more open and expansive way other than tightly planted whips, they lose that tall, slender trunk, behaving more like bonsai trees with lateral growth from an early stage...which, I found, had implications for deer protection. Getting a tube over a small, well branched hornbeam was just not possible so I had to either limb up the tiny sapling...or come up with different protection.

kali_deere,

I have not bought anything from them, just got the free ones at Arbor Day. They are tiny, like maybe a foot tall, roots and all. I will say the ones I got thrived. I usually start a conversation with other people in line, and they return year after year. It seems they all have had pretty good success. Because those roots are so small, I go straight home and pot them up to keep them from drying out.

arbor day is a great place to make a donation ... but they are not well known for great stock ...

the plants should be sent dormant .... ask them to send them at the appropriate planting time ... and just plant them out doors .... and if they fail .. or they send them at the wrong time.. inform them.. and they usually will send replacements ...

they are not houseplants.. and not basement plants ... just plant them outdoors ...

even if you insist on pots.. and all the power to you ... the pots go outside ...

if properly dormant.. they should come out of dormancy as the weather warms ...

the neighbor once got a gift like this.. and gave me the plants.. they were the 6 to 12 inchers noted above.. i put all of them in ONE POT .. a one gallon .... in full bright shade ... and ignored them until fall planting time ... since they were sent in mid summer ...

as to pots ... understand.. that they are trees and shrubs.. after planting with damp media.. and watering them in.. do not water them again until near dry .... do not water them like you might water annuals or perennials .... these types of plants like a sip of water and full drainage.. and then near drying ... like they might get in the forest ... they will not like constant heavy water ...

good luck

ken

I got five free chestnut oaks from arbor day last year, as well as 3 beach plums and 3 flowering dogwoods. They were all little more than sticks, but all of them were growing well going into winter.

You mentioned saving up to have the land cleared, which i can relate to with my own weed tree and thorn riddled property line. To get a tree service to come out would no doubt cost thousands, but if your area is far enough away from other structures and hazards, look into hiring out someone with a forestry mulcher. Its a skidsteer mounted machine and should be less than a crew with chain saws, climbers, bucket trucks and chippers.

all - Thanks for the advice on the trees, good to know they're cheap but generally survive and are ok for non-special "filler" trees. I'll be excited to get them and be sure to overwinter outside and out the pots in the ground. So glad they'll be able to be in pots a good while. Also yes the clearing would cost a ton, we had a couple people come out for estimates and about $6000 which is insane. We live on a hill and have poor access to the backyard (fence needs to be lifted).

skip- One of those mulchers would be AMAZING. Only thing is since we live on a hill and some of the trees are on a steep part I don't know if that's be a problem. Also some of the trees are near the house so idk how that would play out (maybe 30 feet away - but the trees are approx 100 ft tall). I didn't realize you could actually hire someone to use one on a residential lot! this is going to be a big option to look into. Maybe this can clear 90% of the junk and I can hire someone to remove the pines on the steep slope that overlook the house.