Evergreen Trees

Canadian Hemlock

“Tsuga Canadensis”
The Canadian Hemlock Tree is slow to grow but lives a long time. These trees have a pyramid or conical shape with small needles that have a fine texture in appearance. They appear very delicate compared with other evergreens. Color of the needles is dark green on top and light green underneath. Best grown in zones 3 – 7. Indigenous to North America, the Canadian Hemlock has a very fragrant pine scent. Requires a soil that is moist but offers a fair amount of drainage. With shallow roots they need some protection from the wind. Very shade tolerant.

Additional Attributes

Can easily serve as specimen plants or function as a living privacy screen. They are compact cultivars and are commonly used as hedge plants or around foundations. Begin pruning when young for best results in developing a nice shape. Relatively little mess around the yard, but can be enticing food for deer. Compact cultivar developed for landscaping is the dwarf, “Gentsch White”. This rounded, compact, shrub-like plant attains only 4 feet in height (and about the same width).

Additional Attributes

This is an exceptional landscape tree for use as a screen, hedge, or single specimen. It is also resistant to the wind once established and can withstand heavy ice or snow, making it a good choice for a natural windbreak. 

Douglas-Fir

“Pseudotsuga Menziesii”
The Douglas Fir tree is an evergreen tree and a member of the pine family. It has enjoyed popularity over the years as a favorite Christmas tree. Medium in size this tree often grows to heights of 70-390 feet tall (although only the coastal trees of the Pacific Northwest grow to such large heights). They have flat, soft needles and produce cones with persistent scales. The 2 cm needles are blue-green in color and some can also be dark green in color. The Douglas Fir tree is somewhat broader than the Spruce tree with their branches spreading from 10 to 25 feet. One of the fastest growing evergreen trees, the Douglas Fir has been known to live for hundreds of years!

Additional Attributes

One major fact to keep in mind with these trees is that although they are called fir trees, they are not actually fir trees as they are not members of the genus Abies. The Douglas Fir is typically found in the Rocky Mountains but is grown throughout the United States as both a landscaping tree and a Christmas tree. As with many pine trees, the Douglas Fir should be carefully maintained so as to avoid pests and disease. To keep pests and insects away from the tree, natural or chemical pesticides can be used. The seeds of these trees are food for chipmunks, squirrels, deer and other birds and mammals.

Additional Attributes

This tree features scale-like, aromatic, yellow-green to green foliage that appears in flattened sprays. Red-brown bark will exfoliate on mature branches and trunks.

‘Techny’ is a compact, broad-based, upright, conical-pyramidal, dwarf cultivar that typically matures to 10-15’ tall. It is noted for its rich dark green foliage that does not yellow in winter. Foliage is scale-like and appears in flat, fan-shaped clusters. This cultivar is synonymous with ‘Mission’.

Spruce – Colorado Blue & Green

“Picea Pungens”
The Colorado Blue Spruce is a popular evergreen with its attractive blue accents to the tips of its branches. These silvery-blue needles add an interesting contrast to the garden and landscape all year round. Spruces are an extremely tough and hardy tree for cold climates making them a preferred choice for wind screens. Provides both privacy as well as an accent with its pyramidal shape and color.

Additional Attributes

One of the most popular ornamental conifers, this tree can be used along property lines as well as around the house or in open areas of the lawn. Should be kept 15 feet away from buildings. Best to avoid wet soils or heavy clay areas. Reaches a mature height of 50′ with slow to moderate growth and has a mature spread of 20′. Its root system makes it more wind firm than any other western Spruce. Provides year-round screening as well as a protective summertime nesting opportunity for many songbirds.

Additional Attributes

This tree:

• Features tiny, scale-like leaves that are packed closely together in overlapping rows on branchlets, displaying in a flattened, fan-like spray.
• Maintains its dark green throughout the winter.
• Adapts well to pruning.
• Yields seed cones that are not particularly showy.
• Can be planted 3′ apart for a low-maintenance hedge.
• Tolerates air pollution.
• Should be protected from drying winds and dry soil.
• Grows in a pyramidal shape.

Spruce – Norway

“Picea Abies”
This large evergreen coniferous tree can grow to heights exceeding 115′ and up to 180′ tall. It serves as an ornamental tree in urban landscapes and is often used as a windbreak in both urban and rural areas. Prefers moist, cool climates and grows at a medium to rapid rate adapting to a variety of harsh soil and moisture conditions. This tree is not native to North America, having originated in central Europe.

Additional Attributes

Prefers moist but well-drained, acidic soil that may be organic, sandy, or loamy. One of the most adaptable evergreens to harsh conditions including poor, clay, rocky, dry soils of all types of Ph. Thrives under seasonal drought once established and can take to urban conditions. Grows well in full sun to part-shade in zones 3 – 7.

Additional Attributes

This tree:

• Grows in a pyramidal shape.
• Does not discolor in winter like other arborvitaes.
• Features tiny, scale-like, lustrous foliage that displays as a flattened, fan-like, vertical spray.
• Releases a pleasing aroma when leaves are squeezed.
• Can be pruned.
• Should be planted 2–3′ apart for a screen.
• Tolerates heat and drought once established and is cold-hardy to -40°F.
• Works well as a specimen or accent, for hedges and privacy screens, for shelterbelts and as a foundation plant.

Pine – White

“Pinus Strobus”
The White Pine Tree is one of the tallest growing trees in North America. Its flexible, bluish-green needles appear in bundles of 5 and its cones are long and slender. Mature trees can easily reach heights of over 100′, with the tallest reported White Pine measuring over 200′. Premium sheared White Pine trees are trimmed to have closer layers making a solid privacy boundary. Trees can be kept full by trimming them once annually. Most people do not trim their White Pines and let them grow into their naturally gorgeous shape with more open branching.

Additional Attributes

Additional Attributes
Does best in moist soil conditions but can tolerate dry, rocky ridges to bogs. A hearty tree providing an ideal screen or windbreak. Throughout Illinois, the White Pine can easily grow to over 50′ in height with a spread of 20′ – 40′. They are hearty in zones 3 – 8 and have a fast growth rate. Plant White Pines in full sun.

Additional Attributes

This tree:

• Features flat, pointy, dark green needles that are up to 1″ in length.
• Yields oblong or egg-shaped cones that are 1¼–1¾” long, have finely toothed scales, and hang downward. They are purple when young but mature to a reddish-brown.
• Grows in a pyramidal shape.
• Tolerates most urban conditions but cannot tolerate salt.

‘Fat Albert’ Colorado Blue Spruce

Picea Pungens ‘Fat Albert’
Picea pungens ‘Fat Albert’ is quite common and very popular in the nursery trade. It is a vigorous, densely compact, broadly pyramidal selection of Colorado spruce with nice, bright-blue needles. A mature specimen will measure 10 to 15 feet (3 – 5m) tall and two-thirds as wide after 10 years in the landscape, an annual growth rate of about 1 foot (30 cm). It naturally forms a leader; no staking is required for young plants.