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Trees

Thinking about planting a tree? Are you envisioning planting a little sapling that will one day shade your home during hot summers to come or are you looking for a tree to add a specific ornamental flair to your yard or is your dream to plant a tree that provides delicious fruit throughout the summer. Many types of shade, ornamental and fruit trees can be grown in Colorado. Key factors to consider are tree hardiness, the length of time of cold dormancy, growing season length requirements, and disease susceptibility. Here are just a few examples of trees that the gardening experts at O'Toole's Garden Center know will thrive here in Colorado and recommend adding to your yard.

Shade Providing Trees

Linden

Lindens are stately trees with dense growth habits. They also bloom with little white flower clusters in the late spring. Some of our more popular varieties include: Little Leaf and American Linden

Catalpa

Catalpas are one of the few shade giving trees that also have significant flower power. They bloom with large clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers of white, ornamented with markings and stripes of yellow and brown. Catalpas are well-adapted to the heat and cold and can take less-than-ideal soil, too.

Cottonwood

Fast growing and tough, cottonwoods are especially well suited to areas like ours with hot summers and cold winters. Sometimes known as poplars, Cottonwoods are beautiful upright trees with distinctive triangular leaves and beautiful fall color. Male varieties don’t produce the prodigious cottony seeds that give the tree its name.

Birch

Birch trees provide garden interest all year long. They have a graceful growing habit, fine white bark and fine-toothed leaves that fade to a beautiful yellow color in the fall. After leaf fall they still boast a delicate limb structure and fine white bark. Some varieties grow in a beautiful weeping pattern.

Mountain Ash

Comparatively fast-growing, ash trees are often used as street, shade, lawn or patio shelter trees. Some of our more popular varieties include: Autumn Purple Ash and Patmore

Maple

Maples are extremely varied, but most have vibrant fall colors and the iconic maple leaf shape. Some of our more popular varieties include: Autumn Blaze, Crimson King, Red Sunset, Royal Red, Green Mountain, Shade King, Tartarian Hot Wings and Flame Amur.

Honey Locust

Locust’s branches are divided into tiny, oval shaped leaflets. Some of our more popular varieties include: Purple Robe Locust, Shademaster, Skyline and Sunburst

Oak

Oaks are classic shade-giving trees that thrive with little maintenance or care. Some of our more popular varieties include: Bur Oak, Swamp Oak and Northern Red Oak

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Ornamental Trees

Canadian Chokecherry

This North American native blooms with fragrant white flowers in the early spring. Chokecherries are very adaptable and can tolerate heat, drought and various soil conditions. Young leaves emerge green but mature to a deep maroon cover, creating a colorful contrast.

Newport Plum

Also called Purple Leaf Plum, this ornamental tree’s leaves start as a coopery red and mature to a deep purple, eventually turning bright red in the fall. It also blooms with pale pink flowers in the early spring. All this interest and a rounded growing habit makes Newport Plum an ideal street tree.

Aspen

This iconic Rocky Mountain native is beloved for its smooth, pale bark, dainty green leaves and of course its magnificent fall color. Aspens do best at higher elevations, but can be grown in the city with extra care and protection. They make a perfect background tree of native perennial gardens or wildflowers.

Japanese Maple

The natives of Japan and Korea are the most delicate and graceful of all maples. Japanese Maples have a variety of leaf shapes and colors, from soft green to deep purple. Their small size and growth rate make them popular container trees. In container or in the garden, Japanese Maples do best with some protection from the wind and a little extra care.

Redbud

Redbuds provide interest with their foliage, flowers and fruit. Their broad, heart-shaped leaves emerge first, followed in the spring by clusters of small rosy or purplish flowers. Finally, flat bean-like pods. Because of their smaller stature, Redbuds make great specimen or understory trees.

Chanticleer Pear

Ornamental Pears bloom in the early spring with cascades of small white or pink flowers. Most have a rounded shape and an upright growing habit that makes them useful as screens as well as specimen plants. Ornamental pears are very resilient, disease resistant and fairly easy to care for. Some of our more popular varieties are Chanticleer.

Weeping Peach

Weeping Peaches have a beautiful cascading growth habit that makes a curtain-like effect. They tend to stay small, making them perfect accent trees. They bloom in the spring with vibrant pink or white blossoms.

Crabapple

For early spring color, it’s hard to beat crabapples. After the cold winter, crabapples burst into bloom with cascades of white, pink or purplish flowers. Growth habits vary, but most have a relatively compact, rounded shape. Many ornamental crabapples do produce small fruit, but there are fruitless varieties available. Some of the most popular varieties include April Showers, Prairie Fire, Royalty, Profusion, Spring Snow and Thunderchild

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Fruit Trees

Golden Delicious Apple

Malus 'Golden Delicious'
A highly aromatic, crisp and juicy apple. The Golden Delicious is excellent for cooking or eating fresh. Its long bloom season and heavy pollen production make it a great pollinator for other apple trees. Grows about 8 to 10 feet tall and wide.

Montmorency Cherry

Prunus 'Montmorency'
Montmorency is a hardy, semi-dwarf, self-fertile cherry tree. It produces soft, juicy, bright-red fruit in late June to early August. It’s a little sweet and a little tart and perfect for pies or preserves.

Stanley Plum

Prunus 'Stanley'
Stanley plums ripen in late summer. They are medium to large, with deep purplish-blue skin. They’re great for dried prunes or for canning. A very hardy plum, perfect for this area.

Bing Cherry

Prunus 'Bing'
A large, dark red, meaty fruit of fine flavor. Bing cherries are top quality and great for cooking or eating fresh. Ripens in the midseason and needs a Van or Black Tartarian Cherry for pollination.

Elberta Peach

Prunus persica 'Elberta'
Elberta is one of the most popular peaches because of its large, sweet fruit. Elberta peaches are perfect for canning or eating fresh. It is a freestone peach, which means the stone is easily removed. It grows to a height of 15 to 25 feet with an equal or greater spread.

Honeycrisp Apple

Malus 'Honeycrisp'
Produces a medium size, red, firm, crisp fruit with excellent sweet-tart flavor. This apple tree is very hardy and ripens in the midseason. It does need another apple tree for pollination.

Reliance Peach

Reliance Peach
Prunus persica 'Reliance'
True to its name, reliance is a very hardy, self-fertilizing dwarf peach. Another freestone variety, reliance peaches are soft, sweet and juicy.

Toka Plum

Prunus 'Toka'
The Toka Plum tree produces medium-sized, spicy fruit with a deep apricot color in mid September. It’s a very hardy variety and is great to use as a pollinator for other fruit trees.

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