By Nancy Penrose
Evergreen trees provide beauty to your landscape all year round. Here are nine great evergreen trees that will add to your property. Now is an ideal time to plant a new tree in your landscape.
Emerald Green Arborvitae
The Emerald Green Arborvitae is one of the most popular and dependable screening trees for our area. They are often planted in rows to create a ‘Natural’ barrier. The Emerald Green is a dense evergreen that maintains its deep green color all year. Because of its columnar growth habit, and limited spread, the Emerald Green is an appropriate selection for small planting spaces.
Giant Sequoia
Giant Sequoia’s are some of natures largest trees. These trees are medium to fast growing and do best in sunny protected areas with well-draining soil. The benefits of these trees are numerous, but to name a few: they provide shade in urban landscapes, they can create a windbreak for wide open spaces, and house many varieties of birds.
Excelsa Cedar
Excelsa cedars offer a combination of beauty, durability, stability, and sustainability. Excelsa’s have an aesthetic that fits most gardens and landscapes here in the Northwest, making them a good choice for either a stand-alone tree or planted closer to provide some privacy. They are known for their natural resistance to disease, rot, and insect damage. The Excelsa Cedar is a renewable resource, since they are primarily grown in managed forests, and they are a fast-growing tree. Excelsa’s are widely used and a popular choice for good reason.
Alpine Fir
The foliage of Subalpine Fir turns up along its branches, similar to Noble Fir, but the needles are shorter and tend to be bluish green. The form of the tree is “spire-like,” very pointy and narrow, an adaptation that reduces the amount of snow that can build up on its branches. This is a great accent tree for smaller planting areas and surrounding ponds and rockeries.
Green Giant
Green Giant is a vigorously growing, pyramidal evergreen with rich green color that remains outstanding throughout the year. It has no serious pest or disease problems and has been widely grown and tested in commercial nursery production. The “Green Giant” is an excellent substitute for Leyland cypress.
Vanderwolf Pine
The Vanderwolf Pine is a large evergreen tree with a pyramidal shape. It has long blue/green needles that give it a unique appearance. They are drought tolerant trees making them a good choice for landscapes that have limited watering options. They are low maintenance, require minimal pruning once established, and are generally resistant to pests. They are valued for their drought tolerance, cold hardiness, low maintenance, and their ornamental qualities.
Schipka Laurel
Schipka laurels, often called Skip laurel, offer several benefits. They are densely leafed compact shrubs that work well for privacy screens, wind barriers, and hedges. Their thick foliage is lush and green year-round, which makes them a popular choice for privacy, or anyone looking for some added color in the winder months. In short, the Schipka laurels provide year round foliage, are fast growing, low maintenance, and work well in full sun or part shade.
Oregon Green Pine
The Oregon Green Pine is an attractive medium size evergreen with a pyramidal shape. They have a dark green needles that are dense and give them a vibrant appearance. They have silver/white candles in the spring that have a nice high contrast to the dark green needles. The Oregon Green is a great tree for a full sun area that needs a little sound dampening, visual barrier, or for an ornamental addition to the landscape.
Leyland Cypress
The Leyland Cypress is an excellent choice for a fast-growing large screening tree. Its growth rate and mature size are often underestimated when it is young, as it can be thin in its early stages. Growing up to three to four feet each year the Leyland Cypress fills in quickly. The Leyland requires little maintenance as long as you have adequate space for the tree at maturity. Leyland Cypress can also be used as a hedge as they do tolerate shearing to control growth and overall size. Shearing to control growth will require long term and regular maintenance.
Nancy Penrose is the owner of Big Trees Inc., located in Snohomish, WA in the Seattle area. The company is one of the largest tree nurseries in the Seattle area with over 120,000 trees available in over 300 varieties. They not only deliver young trees, but also mature trees in a wide range of sizes. Some types of trees available include spring flowering, deciduous, evergreen, and privacy trees. The company also does tree transplanting including large trees. Their blog can be seen at https://bigtreesupply.com/blog/ or http://arboristblog.com/. They can be reached at 360-563-2700.
Big Trees Inc.
10928 Springhetti Rd
Snohomish, WA 98296
360-563-2700
https://bigtreesupply.com/blog/
https://arboristblog.com
https://bigtreesupply.com