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Shade Trees & Medium Trees
A beautiful native with glossy, burgundy bark dotted with white lenticels! Found along the lower parts of mountain streams, this is one of the most gorgeous native trees in Wyoming! This Birch is the only one we recommend—it has built in insect resistance. Multi-stemmed and grown as an accent or under story tree along streams or near downspouts and watered lawns.
Racemes of deep rose-pink pea-like flowers in late spring are the first reason to choose this tree then add the overall tree shape with a wonderfully textured dark-barked trunk and the bluish-green open canopy of pinnate, fernlike foliage. Tolerance of dry alkaline soil is good.
This one is destined to become one of the great shade trees for Wyoming! This specimen tree does well in difficult soils, limited water and heavy wind. The growth rate is exceptional often putting on 3 feet of new growth/year. The Boxelder is a native to Wyoming, but this one is a seedless male clone, thus it will not attract the Boxelder bugs and has magnificent red-orange autumn color! Make no mistake, this is a go-to shade tree that few have planted.
Drinking and driving don’t mix and neither do the roots of trees and lawn grasses! Newly planted trees in a lawn area can actually be stunted for years because the roots of grasses out compete the roots of young trees even in well watered lawns. Give your trees a competitive advantage by removing all the lawn grass around the planting site. Give a tree a 5 foot wide grass-free zone and reap the benefits of better establishment, especially during the drought. Replace the sod with wood chips up to 4 inches thick. In high wind areas use a rock mulch up to 3 inches deep. Mulch insulates the soil and helps to conserve water plus there’s no grass roots to interfere with the trees performance!
This native of the Black Hills is right at home in the plains and basins of Wyoming! Describing this tree is like describing a warrior. Early in its life it will tend to be pyramidal and as it matures it will develop into a tall tree with a massive trunk and very stout branches. Bark is rough and deeply furrowed. The leaves are a dark green on top, gray-green beneath. Acorns up to 1 inch are enclosed by a heavily fringed cap and prized by wildlife. Withstands drought , wind, extreme cold and heavy soils. Let this warrior be a part of your landscape!
Highland Cottonwood (Populus acuminata x sargentii ‘Highland’) If there was ever one plant that caused us to pause in its introduction it would be the cottonwood, even though the Plains Cottonwood is our state tree! Over the years we’ve found numerous pest issues with cottonwoods and our philosophy has been the introduction of plants without such issues. So, not with trepidation, we offer this cottonwood from the Cheyenne Research Station! This is the only cottonwood we know of that has natural pest resistance! Since it is a hybrid cross, no cottonwood seed filling the air in summer! Expect the same virtues of fast growth associated with Populus genus but with minimal pest issues! This variety has a more upright and narrower canopy than our native Plains Cottonwood. Not picky about soil type – if anything, plant in heavier soils.
If trees and shrubs are in your future, consider dormant planting in March and April. There is less heat and water stress associated with planting then for you and your trees! When ever possible we will work with you to secure your woody’s for early spring delivery. When ordering please indicate on the order form you want to plant early.
Medium Sized Trees Accents in the lawn, a bit of patio shade, summer and autumnal foliage colors, for some flowers and berries, winter twig and bark pattern. Plant these just for enjoyment, seeing them and watching them grow! Where a yard is small or an overhead utility line comes into play there is still room for these. These can be added for a windbreak layer in larger suburban or rural settings.
An outstanding Wyoming native, considered a small tree or large shrub, with five-lobed dark green leaves turning shades of yellow, orange, or red in the fall. Our seed source for these trees come from the sunny dry slopes of the Hoback in Teton County! Ecologists believe that this maple and the Sugar Maple of the N.E. US are essentially the same tree but developed separately as the ice ages came and went. This maple has not been in the trade until recently, be the first to grow this specimen tree! Tolerates drought and poor soils.
Prairie Gold Aspen (Populus Tremuloides ‘Prairie Gold’)
New! This is a GreatPlants selection discovered near a stream in N. E. Nebraska and brought into the trade. Because of its low elevation heritage, this aspen can tolerate the heat of our lower elevation communities far better than its mountain cousins. All that said, what we really like about this aspen is its excellent resistance to diseases and insects that traditionally plague the species. If you’ve wanted an aspen, this is the one! As its Latin name suggests, the leaves tremble at the slightest breeze. Beautiful white bark really stands out in the winter landscape. Autumn color is a vivid yellow.
Winter King Hawthorn (Crataegus virdis ‘Winter King’)
New! This was introduced in 1955 but sadly is not a hawthorn that has been planted much in Wyoming. Yet this is one of the most elegant and largest hawthorns on the market! In May, expect a profusion of white flowers which are followed by small red fruit that persist through winter. Unlike the other hawthorns we offer, the Winter King has a wonderful vase shape branching. Another unique feature is the silvery-gray bark that exfoliates with age.
Oak Leaf Mountain Ash (Sorbus hybrida) This cross of European and Swedish Mountain Ash is longer lived than the native species and has been thriving on decades of inattention at the Cheyenne Experiment Station. Grey-green lobed oak-shaped leaves provide yellow fall color. Flat white flower clusters are showy in late spring and the resulting red berry clusters persist through winter unless waxwings or other birds come for a feast. Fireblight resistance is good. Plant in our typically alkaline soil but not in the most exposed site and never in a water-logged site.
Wavy Leaf Oak (Quercus undulata) A unique shrub/tree that is found in the plateau country of the southern Rocky Montains. A true xeric plant that has thick leathery, blue-green leaves that have wavy margins- a real conversation piece! Our oak friends tell us that there are seven ancestors in this natural hybrid. The Cheyenne Experiment Station has one that is doing very well after some 70 years. This one is a character of the windswept west—it decides which way it will grow, upright like a tree or outward like a shrub! These oaks have become such pets for their people that each gets named when planted!
Redmond American Linden (Tillia americana ‘Redmond’) This is a linden selection with large, dark green leaves that turn a brilliant yellow in autumn with attractive cherry brown bark that contrasts nicely in the winter landscape. Small yellow flower clusters appear in June, not really noticeable but their incredible sweet fragrance is! An ideal tree for a traditional landscape as its water needs are similar to a Kentucky Bluegrass lawn. Voted 2000 urban tree of the year by the society of municipal arborists.
Deer damage is ugly and may be deadly. When rut comes in fall and through the winter bucks rub on thin barked trees to show territorial claims. On multi-stemmed shrubs the result is usually only annoying but on a tree with one irreplaceable trunk damage is permanent and weakens or kills the tree. You may cage trees or put flexible translucent covers like drain pipe slit lengthwise over the trunk from the ground to the lower branches. Two important considerations are not to girdle the tree by caging tightly and to use translucent covers if you choose to protect only the trunk. Thin barked trees photosynthesize through the trunk whenever a warmer winter day comes along. Our efforts should not cancel this beneficial action. (Also avoid light-blocking tree wrap sold to prevent deer damage and frost cracks. “Frost cracks” are really the result of root damage .)
Establishment is the time frame during which a plant is spreading its root system and becoming ballanced in the ability of top and roots to support each other. A one gallon container-grown plant will take about a year to establish. Woody shrub plants in a 3 to 5-gallon container may need two years to become truly established. Container grown trees follow a rule-of-thumb of one year for transpanting and an additional year for each inch of trunk diameter. In five years time the container grown tree will look better and possibly be bigger than the balled-and-burlap that has struggled while trying to get established.
Rain Gauge Throughout this site, the following are used as guidelines for watering established plants:
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Purple Robe Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Purple Robe’)
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