Apparatus for a planter, and particularly one suitable for use in planting trees, shrubs or other woody perennials, is described. Specifically, this apparatus comprises a supporting member, having two ends and being longer than a maximum distance across the top of the planting hole, which lies on the ground and straddles the top of the planting hole; a holding device for securing the plant to the supporting member at a position intermediate these two ends, and earth anchors for securing the supporting member to the ground on at least one side of the planting hole to prevent the planter from rotating over the hole. Furthermore, the supporting member may comprise a center section and a number of coaxially aligned telescoping sections, each of which can be placed in one of a number of different positions in order to easily increase or decrease the length of the planter. This allows the planter to be used with a wide variety of differently sized planting holes.