Recommended Shade Tree Varieties

Residential and commercial properties can benefit from shade trees. Here is a list of trees to consider planting in the mid-Atlantic area. Placing a shade tree in the correct location can save on cooling bills, provides shade for outdoor activities, increase re-sale value, and block winds from affecting homes in addition to providing food and habitat for wildlife.

Large Shade Trees

Betula nigra – River Birch River Birch by a river with a birdhouse on it

Grows 40-70’ tall by 40-60’ wide
Medium to wet soils
Multi-stem and single stem
Bark exfoliates cream/salmon
Drought tolerant once established

Quercus phellos – Willow Oak

40-60’ tall by the same width
Good resistance to pests
Full sun to part shade and medium to wet soils
Relatively fast growing for an oak
Long-lived with a good tap root and smaller leaves having less impact on lawns

Taxodium distichum – Bald Cypress

50-70’ tall by 20-35’ wide
Pyramidal deciduous conifer
Small needles turn orange in autumn
Full sun and tolerates clay or medium to wet soils
Almost feathery appearance
Considered to be extremely resistant to wind damage

Metasequoia glyptostroboides – Dawn Redwood

70-100’ feet tall by 25-30’ wide
Pyramidal deciduous conifer and can be limbed
Small needles turn orange in fall
Fissured cinnamon-colored bark adds winter interest

Gleditsia triacanthos inermis – Thornless Honey Locust

40’ tall by 25-30’ wide
Airy shade tree with small, rounded leaves
Turns yellow in the fall
Prefers well-drained soils and full sun

Gingko biloba

50-80’ tall x 30-40’ wide
Can take moist to well-drained soils
Very long-lived and a slow-grower
Great fall color – vivid yellow
Leaves are scalloped small and leathery
MAKE SURE YOU GET MALE TREES!!! – Females produce very offensive-smelling fruits in fall.

Quercus bicolor – Swamp White Oak

50-70’ tall by 50’ wide
Prefers full sun and medium to wet soils
This tree would work for blocking the side road near a pond
Nice acorn producer for wood ducks

Quercus velutina – Black Oak

50-60’ tall by 50-60’ wide
A stately oak when mature with yellow fall color
Deep tap root
Prefers well-drained to moist soils and full sun

Quercus rubra – Northern Red Oak

50-70’ by the same width
Drought tolerant once established
Full sun and well-drained soils
Long-lived

Smaller Shade Trees

Nyssa sylvatica – Black Gum – Tupelo Tree Black Gum tree

This tree does not get gumballs!
30-40 by 20-30 wide - a nice smaller tree for the landscape
Full sun to part shade and can take clay soils
Small white to green flowers in spring attract and provide for bees
Tupelo Honey – Turns flame red to orange in the fall – best fall color of any tree if adequate moisture in summer and also produces very small berries which birds relish

Acer palmatum - Bloodgood , Japanese Maple

20-25’ tall by 18-20’ wide
Small, upright maroon-leaved maple for a specimen effect
Use against larger evergreens to give it a little shade and it will hold color better
Prefers full sun to part shade and medium to well-drained soils
Leaves have no real fall color

Acer griseum – Paperbark Maple

20-30’ x 15-20’ wide
A nice small specimen maple that offers great orange-red fall color
The cinnamon bark peels and is a standout in the winter landscape
Full to part sun and moist to well-drained soils
Small trifoliate leaf does not harm lawns

Evergreens

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’ – Weeping Alaskan Cedar

20-35’ tall by 12-18’ wide
Full sun to part shade and moist to well-drained
Thrives best if allowed to weep to the ground and easier to maintain in a bed area
Likes good air circulation and does not like high humidity
Grows in open garden beds best
A great specimen and snow will fall off of branches

Pinus strobus – White Pine

20-40’ tall and wide and fast-growing
Prefers well-drained soils and full sun
A nice evergreen with soft blue-green needles that shed in fall

Pinus thunbergia - Japanese Black Pine

Prefers well-drained soil and full sun
Can be long-lived but sometimes all of a sudden one will just die, but still used all the time and worth the effort. Just stagger when planting so the hole can fill in.
This irregular spreading pines gets white candles in the spring and summer which offer contrast

Cedrus deodara - Himalayan Cedar

40-50’ tall by 30-40’ wide and a fast-growing evergreen
Prefers moist to well-drained soil
pyramidal in shape making a nice specimen evergreen

Shady Yard

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