Category Archives: Large Trees

Giant Sequoia

Giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are the world’s largest trees by volume. In the wild, mature trees can reach up to 350 feet tall with trunks 20′-40′ in diameter, supported by broad, shallow roots spreading out 150′ in all directions. These trees are medium to fast growers, reaching heights of 30 feet at 10 years old, and 100-150 feet in 50 years. Trunks can be 1.5′ wide after 10 years and 8′ in diameter after 50 years–and given that these trees can live up to 3,000 years old, they’re just getting started!

Giant sequoias do best in sunny, protected areas with moist, fertile, well-drained sandy loam soils. Though older trees have some drought resilience, young trees need moist roots all year. They will sometimes discolor temporarily in the winter after a hard cold snap, but will return to green with warmth and sufficient water.

These impressive trees provide many benefits. They shade urban landscapes, create windbreaks in open areas, and provide shelter for many birds and small mammals.

Like their cousins the coastal redwoods, plant these enormous trees far away from paved areas, buildings, and power lines. With enough room to grow, giant sequoias are hardy, magnificent plants that bring grace and beauty to any large landscape.

Light Requirements: Full sun
Water Requirements: Moist
Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
Growth Rate: Fast
Spreads: No
Wildlife Support: Birds or Mammals
Mature Height: 200 feet (in urban areas)
Mature Width: 40-65 feet

Coastal Redwood

The coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is an iconic species of the Pacific coast. In the right conditions these are the world’s tallest trees, growing over 300 feet high and stabilized by wide-spreading roots. Though they do not tend to get as big in urban areas, young trees still grow 3-5 feet per year and need plenty of room to grow upwards.

Young trees have dense branches and a graceful pyramid shape. Leaves are needle-like and spread out flat on either side of branched, drooping limbs. The beautiful red bark is fibrous and shreddy, providing interesting visual texture and soft nesting material for birds and small mammals. Birds find refuge in the dense foliage, squirrels nest in cavities, and insects and amphibians make their homes in the moss-covered branches.

These large trees require a lot of water to stay healthy. They do best (and grow the biggest) in humid areas protected from the wind, and prefer deep, moist, acidic, well-drained soil. Plant these magnificent trees well away from structures and power lines where they have room to safely attain their glorious size.

Light Requirements: Full sun to partial shade
Water Requirements: Moist
Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
Growth Rate: Fast
Spreads: No
Wildlife Support: Birds or Mammals
Mature Height: 150 feet (in urban/inland areas)
Mature Width: 50-100 feet

Red Alder

Red alder (Alnus rubra)
Alnus rubra

Red alder (Alnus rubra) is a fast-growing deciduous tree that does well in open areas and along streams. This slender, medium-sized tree can grow 5′ or more a year for the first few years, and generally grows to 40-50 feet tall, sometimes reaching as high as 80 feet.

Red alder blooms in March, putting out long, rounded, dangling clusters of reddish-orange flowers called catkins. Leaves turn a slight golden color in the autumn. In the open, alder crowns form a lovely rounded shape with spreading branches.

This tree plays many roles in forested landscapes. Deer and elk browse on the leaves, buds, and twigs. The seeds are important winter food for birds such as redpoll, siskins, goldfinches, and others. Red alder provides food for the young of swallowtail and mourning cloak butterflies, and stands of this tree provide shade for a variety of forest understory plants such as osoberry, vine maple, and sword ferns.

This tree does best in sun to part shade with moist soils. Plant it for fast-growing shade and screening.


  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Moderate
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: Yes
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 40-50ft
  • Mature Width:40-50ft

Madrone

Madrone (Arbutus menziesi)
Arbutus menziesii

Madrone is an attractive, broad-leaved evergreen tree with a twisting trunk that develops beautiful reddish-brown exfoliating bark with age. Mature size ranges from 20 to 65 feet tall and wide. Madrone does best in full sun and grows well on hillsides with dry, well-drained or rocky soils. Leaves are dark, shiny green and shed irregularly throughout the year.

Flowers are small, pinkish, and bell-shaped, arranged in drooping clusters. Flowers appear in April, followed by small round orange-red berries. Madrone’s fruit is eaten by a wide range of birds and its flowers attract numerous pollinators. They reach their full aesthetic potential when planted in a grove. Madrones can be difficult to establish, so plant small seedlings and be patient.


  • Light Requirements: Full Sun
  • Water Requirements: Dry
  • Ease of Growing: Hard to grow
  • Growth Rate: Slow
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Pollinators, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 20-65ft
  • Mature Width:20-65ft

Paper Birch

Betula papyrifera

Paper birch (Betula papyrifera) is a medium to fast growing deciduous tree, reaching a mature height of 50-70 feet. The leaves are simple, alternate, to 4 inches long, toothed and roughly egg-shaped, coming to a pointed tip. The leaves turn bright yellow in the autumn. Flowers are male and female catkins to 1½ inches, blooming in the spring.

Paper birch is a widespread North American species; on the West Coast, the birch is considered native from eastern Oregon to Alaska. Paper birch is known for its distinctive bark, which is whiter than many birches and peels in papery strips. The bark of the birch was used for canoe-making across the United States outside of the Pacific Northwest (in the Pacific Northwest, Western redcedar is more commonly used). Traditional uses for birch resin include medicine, adhesive, and chewing gum. Today birch is a commonly used for pulp wood and as an ornamental tree.

Because all birches attract aphids and their “honeydew,” the tree is not recommended for patios or parking areas.


  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Moderate, Fast
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Birds or Mammals, Pollinators
  • Fire-resistant: Yes
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 50-70ft
  • Mature Width:15-25ft

Western Hemlock

Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
Tsuga heterophylla

Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) is the state tree of Washington, and the largest species of hemlock, growing up to 200′ tall with a trunk diameter of up to 4′. It makes a beautiful addition to any property where it has room to grow.

Western hemlocks grow into a narrow, upright, somewhat ragged cone as they grow, with very top of the tree typically drooping over just a little bit. The needles are short and flat, averaging less than 1″ long. The small round cones dangle from the branches and have long, thin, flexible scales. The bark is thin, brown, and furrowed in texture.

This tree is an important source of food for many birds and mammals. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers nest in the tree’s cavities, and barred owls prefer dense stands of Western hemlock. Flying squirrels and other small mammals nest in hemlocks, and many animals browse the inner bark and young needles and take shelter in the dense foliage.

Western hemlock is a very shade-tolerant tree, with young plants able to grow under a closed canopy of fast-growing, shade-intolerant conifers such as Douglas-fir. Disturbances like fire or logging open up sunny areas where new generations of Douglas-fir and other sun-loving seedlings can survive, but without that disturbance, hemlocks end up dominating the canopy…and Western hemlocks can live up to 1200 years old! If you are in a forest made up of mostly large hemlocks, you know that forest has been undisturbed for a very long time.

  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade, Full Shade
  • Water Requirements: Dry, Moist
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Fast
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 120-200
  • Mature Width:30-40ft

Grand Fir

Grand fir (Abies grandis)
Abies grandis

Grand fir (Abies grandis) is a shade tolerant, slow-growing evergreen tree with short, dense branches. It can get quite tall in the wild, reaching 250 feet in height and with a trunk diameter of up to 6 feet.

The glossy dark green leaves are needle-like, 3-6 cm long, and extend flat out from the branch on either side. The 6-12 cm cones do not fall to the ground whole, but disintegrate on the tree and release their seeds about 6 months after pollination.

Grand fir is an important wildlife tree. The California tortoiseshell butterfly feeds on the sap and secretions from cones and needles. Grouse eat the needles, and nuthatches, chickadees, and squirrels eat the seeds. Grand firs also provide excellent cover and nesting habitat for birds and small mammals.

The foliage has an attractive tangerine-like scent, and Grand Firs are sometimes used for Christmas decoration, including as Christmas trees. It is also planted as an ornamental tree in large parks.

Grand fir needs well-drained soils and plenty of room to grow, and is an elegant addition to any landscape.

  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade, Full Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist, Seasonally Wet
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Moderate
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Hummingbirds, Pest-eating Insects, Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 200ft
  • Mature Width:40ft

Noble Fir

Noble fir (Abies procera)
Abies procera

Noble fir (Abies procera) is native to the Cascade Range and Coast Range mountains of northwest California, western Oregon and western Washington.

It is a large evergreen tree typically up to 40-70 m tall and 2 m trunk diameter (rarely to 89 m tall and 2.7 m diameter), with a narrow conic crown. The bark on young trees is smooth, grey, and with resin blisters, becoming red-brown, rough and fissured on old trees. The glaucous blue-green needle-like leaves are 1-3.5 cm long. They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but twisted slightly to curve up above the shoot. The cones are erect, 11-22 cm long; they do not fall to the ground intact, but instead ripen and disintegrate to release winged seeds in fall.

It is a high altitude tree, typically occurring at 300-1,500 m altitude, only rarely reaching tree line.

Uses

Noble Fir is a popular Christmas tree. The wood is used for general structural purposes and paper manufacture.

  • Light Requirements: Full Sun, Part Shade
  • Water Requirements: Moist
  • Ease of Growing: Easy to grow
  • Growth Rate: Moderate
  • Spreads: No
  • Wildlife Support: Birds or Mammals
  • Fire-resistant: No
  • Edible: No
  • Mature Height: 250ft
  • Mature Width:30ft
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