A Plan-T planting day: the plot staked out and the tools laid ready

This is how a tiny forest grows.

A Miyawaki forest is planted in four layers at once, and stands on its own in three years.

Grow With Us

A complete forest, from day one.

Instead of planting isolated trees, the Miyawaki method starts with a complete native forest community: dense, diverse and layered from the moment it goes into the ground.

3–5 saplings per m²

Ten times the density of a normal planting.

4 forest layers

Ground cover, shrubs, medium trees and canopy.

100% native species

Drawn from the forest this land once carried.

3+ years and it stands alone

No irrigation. No maintenance. No us.

Four layers, planted at once.

A Miyawaki forest is not planted in rows. Every layer of a mature wood goes into the ground on the same day, roots side by side, so the plot behaves like a forest from its first season.

A Miyawaki planting in four layers: ground cover, shrubs, medium trees and canopy
Day 10–5 yr Year 110–40 yr Year 320–100 yr Year 10100–200 yr MiyawakiNatural succession

Six steps. One forest.

From reading the ground to walking away from it. The whole method, in the order it happens.

The same ground, three times.

One plot, one camera position, three visits. It is the only honest way to show what the method does, and it takes years to make.

A newly planted tiny forest: mulched ground, stakes and saplings across the whole plot
Planting dayMulched ground, staked out, with every layer going in at once.
The same plot eighteen months on, the shrub layer closed over and shoulder high
Eighteen monthsShoulder high and closed over. Nothing is being watered by hand any more.
The same plot at three years, a closed canopy standing well above head height
Three yearsA canopy, its own shade, and nobody tending it.

Forests already in the ground.

Every photograph here is a Plan-T planting.

A newly planted Plan-T tiny forest, saplings staked across open soil Newly plantedEvery layer in on the same day
A volunteer setting a sapling into prepared ground Hands in soil
Native wildflowers in bloom at a Plan-T planting Natives in bloom
The volunteer group at a Plan-T planting day The whole crew
A volunteer planting a sapling at a Plan-T site One sapling at a time
Hands and trowels watering a newly set sapling at Temple Shalom, Dallas Temple ShalomApril 12, 2026
Volunteers planting rows of saplings across an open plot Planting day
Partners standing together at a Plan-T planting On site

Bring a tiny forest to your community.

Schools, companies and neighborhoods can all make room for native woodland.

Start a forestSupport Plan-T