Can’t decide between a deciduous tree and an evergreen for your yard? Here’s a little more information about both types to help you figure out what might work best for you and your landscape.
Part of the glory of deciduous plants is their everchanging appearance. In spring or summer, they flower to begin the cycle.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Many deciduous trees bear fruit or seedpods after flowering.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
In fall, many deciduous trees change color and give a fiery display before dropping their leaves.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/Donna Krischan
Bare branches in winter fill the yard with a sculptural quality of light and shadows.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/Donna Krischan
In winter, evergreens become featured plants because they retain their foliage after deciduous trees and shrubs drop their leaves.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
For the rest of the year, evergreens are a more subdued landscape element that mingles beautifully with their surroundings.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
You probably already know that deciduous trees and shrubs shed their leaves in fall or winter, then leaf out again each spring, heralding longer days and the return of warm weather. The leafy growth remains throughout summer, until autumn arrives once again. With cooling temperatures and fewer hours of sunlight, many deciduous plants put on a brilliant show of colors, with their leaves turning stunning shades of amber, orange, red or yellow.
While this natural cycle is beautiful to watch, it’s more than Mother Nature’s annual fashion show – you can use the transition to actually help you garden. In winter, deciduous trees allow plenty of sunshine to penetrate bare branches and warm your home. In spring, beautiful bulbs can grow beneath since new leaves have yet to unfurl. In summer, you can take advantage of the trees’ cooling shade and plant luscious foliage plants below. And in fall, enjoy the gorgeous changing colors, rake up the fallen foliage and have fun jumping in the leaf piles before adding them to the compost pile.
When deciding on a deciduous shade tree for your landscape, remember that the degree of shade provided varies considerably from species to species. Tulip trees and heartleaf linden offer fairly dense shade, which is a positive feature if you live in a warm climate or if you enjoy gardening with shade-loving perennials and bulbs. On the other hand, catalpas and honey locusts allow more light to filter through, making for dappled shade below their branches, even during midday. With these trees, you’re likely able to grow a wider variety of flowering plants nearby.
In regions with cool climates, deciduous trees and shrubs provide great fall color. As days shorten and temperatures drop, the energy-making chlorophyll that turns leaves green begins to wane. The yellow and orange pigments that have been hidden in the leaves come to the fore, and chemical processes that create red pigments go into high gear. The results, as artists and children know, are spectacular.
If autumn foliage color is important to you, ask your local Cooperative Extension agent or inquire at a nursery or garden center as to which plants produce the best color in your area. Since temperature, light and water supply all influence the degree and duration of fall foliage color, plants perform differently in various climates. Also take the time to select plants that exhibit the colors you want. October Glory™ red maple has rich reddish-purple leaves in autumn, while ‘Red Sunset’ maple has bright orange-red foliage.
Evergreen trees and shrubs, on the other hand, keep their foliage all year long, offering structure to the garden even in the depths of winter. They have all kinds of uses, serving as hedges, foundation plants and windbreaks, adding definition and beauty to the landscape. Especially in cold-winter climates, these beautiful ornamentals are prized for adding a touch of color to an otherwise bare winter landscape.
The two primary divisions of evergreens are needle-leaved and broad-leaved. Needle-leaved evergreens are often referred to as conifers, since most are cone-bearing plants with needlelike or scalelike leaves. (Bald cypress, larch and dawn redwood are exceptions. These are deciduous conifers, meaning they shed their needles in winter.) Conifers range in size from the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), which grows to more than 360 feet tall, to dwarf conifers, which reach only a few inches tall. Cedars, firs, junipers, pines and spruces are all popular conifers.
Needle colors range from frosty silver to muted green to soft steel blue to golden yellow. There’s such a wide gradations of color, size and shape among conifers, it’s possible to design a four-season garden full of contrast and texture with these trees alone!
The other evergreens are broad-leaved, and they have leaves rather than needles. The Southern magnolia, with its large, glossy leaves and intensely fragrant white blooms, is one of the most easily recognized evergreen trees. Most rhododendrons, which sport flowers in a wide range of colors in spring or summer, are among the most beloved broad-leaved evergreen shrubs.
Of course, some plants may be evergreen in some climates and deciduous in others. For example, a plant such as privet might hold its leaves year-round in a very warm climate but will shed its leaves in cold-winter areas only to re-leaf each spring. Similarly, some plant groups have both evergreen and deciduous members. Hollies, which are all members of the genus Ilex, are commonly thought of as evergreens, since most hollies hold their leaves year-round. However, there are some deciduous hollies, such as ‘Sparkleberry’, that are especially prized for their multitude of bright winterberries.
Which type of tree or shrub will work best in your landscape? That all depends on your needs and what you want to add to your yard. Texture, year-round color or structure, and shade are all things to consider. Often the most lovely landscapes include a mix of both – the difficult task is trying to narrow your choices from all the spectacular options out there!
