Thank you for the interpretative question on Genesis 1:11–13, “In Genesis 1:11–13, were there trees by the end of day 3?”
The creation account of Genesis 1–2 are complementary as Genesis 1 gives an overarching view while Genesis 2 focuses on man in creation.
As one may already know there is a slight difference between Genesis 1:11–13 and Genesis 2:4–19. As I observe the two text, Genesis 1:11–13 is God’s declaration of vegetation to appear on the earth. I may be wrong, but it appears that the vegetation and trees were specified to one location in the Garden of Eden. Depending on how one translates Genesis 2:4–19, there are two primary views.
The first view is that Genesis 2:4–19 contradicts Genesis 1:11–13 when Genesis 2 says that no vegetation or tree appear since there was no rain and no humans.
The second view is that Genesis 24–19 confirms that at the rising of the earth from below the waters, there was no vegetation or trees. (vs. 9–10). The land was barren. God commanded that vegetation and trees to populate the earth. The writer records that vegetation and trees appeared without specifying when it appear. It is my conjecture that at this declaration that God created the Garden of Eden in preparation for the animals and man to inhabit it. It would seem more reasonable that vegetation appear so that animals and man can have a source of food. Verses 5–7 is a parenthetical as a broad summary before humans came into existence. The emphasis is that there was no man to work the ground until Day 6. At the beginning of Day 3, there was no vegetation and no man. As there were streams flowing throughout the land, this became a source to water the vegetations and for animals to drink water.
As one reads Genesis 2:8, one can read it that God already planted the Garden of Eden BEFORE Adam was created or that God planted the Garden of Eden AFTER he created Adam. That is an interpretative question even with the animals. Did God create the animals before Adam or did God created the animals prior to Adam’s creation and just brought them to Adam so that he could name them? The phrase, he BROUGHT them to the man to see what he would name them, would imply that they already existed. One brings an animal that is already in existence for if God created the animals in the presence of Adam, he would be bringing them. In other words, God called the animals to come to him so that Adam could name them. Getting back to the main question, the rivers became a source whereby vegetation can grow along the river banks and where the streams flow, there would be some vegetation. The animals that flew in the sky, depending on the range of flight would have to find some source of food to eat. It is likely that they stay near the Garden of Eden.
It appears that in Genesis 1:11–13 that God created the Garden of Eden toward the end of the third day. This was in preparation for the animals and humans to inhabit the earth in the coming days. Did God create all the trees all over the earth on the third day? My present understanding of the text is that God didn’t create all the trees and vegetation over the whole earth on the third day but allowed the seeds to be spread through the earth through birds, animals, and man from the Garden of Eden.
SUMMARY: There were trees and vegetations on the third day with the creation of the Garden of Eden.
For more perspectives:
https://www.quora.com/In-Genesis-1-11-13-were-there-trees-by-the-end-of-day-3