Amur maple
Acer ginnala · Sapindaceae
A small, often multi-stemmed maple (now treated botanically as Acer tataricum subsp.
Where each tree is native, where it's merely happy, where it's a problem, and how to keep one alive. Start with where you live and the directory sorts itself.
61 species
Acer ginnala · Sapindaceae
A small, often multi-stemmed maple (now treated botanically as Acer tataricum subsp.
Acer negundo · Sapindaceae
A fast, irregular, round-crowned tree and the only native maple with compound leaves, with green young twigs and little fall color.
Acer rubrum · Sapindaceae
One of the most widely planted shade trees in the eastern US, fast-growing to 40-70 feet with red flowers in late winter, red seeds in spring and reliable red or yellow fall color.
Acer saccharum · Sapindaceae
A large, dense, oval shade tree with gray-brown bark that furrows into plates and five-lobed leaves that turn brilliant yellow, orange and red in fall, often all on one tree.
Ailanthus altissima · Simaroubaceae
A fast, weedy tree (40-60 feet) with long compound leaves that smell like burnt peanut butter when crushed, smooth gray bark and clusters of papery winged seeds.
Albizia julibrissin · Fabaceae
A flat-topped, umbrella-shaped small tree (20-40 feet) with ferny leaves and fluffy pink powder-puff flowers in early summer that hummingbirds visit.
Amelanchier arborea · Rosaceae
A small, often multi-stemmed tree with smooth silvery-gray bark and a four-season show: clouds of white flowers in early spring, sweet blueberry-like fruit in June that birds strip within days, and orange-red fall color.
Betula nigra · Betulaceae
A fast-growing, usually multi-trunked tree (30-70 feet) with cinnamon-colored bark that peels in papery curls, the only birch that thrives in the hot, humid South.
Betula papyrifera · Betulaceae
A northern tree famous for chalk-white bark that peels in papery strips to show orange-pink beneath, with dark green leaves that turn bright yellow.
Carya illinoinensis · Juglandaceae
The Texas state tree: a huge, long-lived shade and nut tree that can pass 100 feet on good river-bottom soil.
Celtis occidentalis · Cannabaceae
An elm-like tree with a broad arching crown and gray bark covered in distinctive corky warts and ridges.
Cercis canadensis · Fabaceae
A beloved small flowering tree (20-30 feet) with rose-pink flowers crowding bare branches in early spring and big heart-shaped leaves.
Chilopsis linearis · Bignoniaceae
Not a true willow but a relative of trumpet vine, with long narrow leaves and fragrant pink-to-white orchid-like flowers from late spring through fall that hummingbirds love.
Cornus florida · Cornaceae
The understory tree of eastern woods, 15-25 feet with layered branches, big white (or pink) bracts in spring, scarlet fall color and red berries birds strip in autumn.
Elaeagnus angustifolia · Elaeagnaceae
A thorny small tree or large shrub with silvery, willow-like leaves, fragrant yellow flowers in late spring and mealy silver-to-red fruits that birds spread.
Fraxinus velutina · Oleaceae
A fast-growing round-headed shade tree (30-50 feet) with compound leaves that turn yellow in fall, native to far West Texas streambanks and planted by the thousands in Austin and San Antonio subdivisions in the 1970s-1990s for quick shade.
Ginkgo biloba · Ginkgoaceae
A living fossil with unmistakable fan-shaped leaves that turn clear golden yellow and drop almost all at once in autumn.
Gleditsia triacanthos · Fabaceae
A medium-large tree with a broad, flat-topped crown of fine, fern-like leaves that cast light, filtered shade and turn yellow in fall.
Gymnocladus dioicus · Fabaceae
A large, open tree with a coarse, picturesque winter silhouette, deeply fissured scaly bark and huge doubly compound leaves up to 3 ft long that emerge pink-bronze and turn yellow in fall.
Ilex decidua · Aquifoliaceae
A deciduous holly, shrub or small tree (12-20 feet), that drops its leaves in fall to reveal gray twigs loaded with bright red-orange berries that last all winter until the cedar waxwings arrive.
Ilex vomitoria · Aquifoliaceae
A tough evergreen shrub or small tree (12-20 feet) with tiny glossy leaves, pale gray bark and, on female plants, translucent red berries that persist through winter.
Juglans nigra · Juglandaceae
A large, valuable timber and nut tree (50-75 feet) with long feathery leaves that turn clear yellow and hard-shelled nuts in green husks that stain everything they touch.
Juniperus scopulorum · Cupressaceae
A narrow, pyramidal to rounded evergreen with scale-like blue-gray to green foliage, shredding reddish-brown bark and waxy blue berry-like cones that birds eat.
Larix laricina · Pinaceae
A deciduous conifer: an open, fine-textured pyramid of soft blue-green needles in tufts that turn brilliant yellow in autumn and drop, leaving a rugged bare silhouette with tiny upright cones.
Ligustrum japonicum · Oleaceae
The common waxleaf hedge shrub of Texas subdivisions, a dense evergreen 6-12 feet tall (to 20 as a small tree) with thick glossy leaves, cream flowers in late spring and blue-black berries.
Ligustrum lucidum · Oleaceae
A fast evergreen shrub or small tree (25-40 feet) with glossy dark leaves, panicles of heavy-scented cream flowers in late spring and masses of blue-black berries that birds carry into every greenbelt and creek bottom in Austin, where it forms dense evergreen thickets that shade out everything beneath.
Liriodendron tulipifera · Magnoliaceae
The tallest eastern hardwood: a fast, straight-trunked tree with an oval crown, square-tipped four-lobed leaves that turn clear gold in fall, and tulip-shaped green-and-orange flowers high in the canopy in late spring.
Magnolia grandiflora · Magnoliaceae
The South's signature evergreen: a dense pyramidal tree (50-80 feet) with huge glossy leaves, rusty brown underneath, and dinner-plate white flowers that perfume the yard in late spring and summer.
Melia azedarach · Meliaceae
A fast, short-lived tree (30-40 feet) with lacy dark leaves, fragrant lilac flowers in spring and clusters of yellow marble-sized berries that hang on all winter.
Morus alba · Moraceae
A fast, rounded, short-trunked tree with glossy, variably lobed leaves and sweet white-to-purple blackberry-like fruit in early summer on female trees.