sunset zone a2

Widely adaptable with a striking silvery light blue color, white fir is a pyramidal evergreen tree native to western North America, from southwestern Canada to northern Baja California. This large coniferous tree is admired for its short, soft needles of silvery blue-green and its dense symmetrical habit. The female cones are green when immature, then brown at maturity, usually only found in the upper third of the canopy. Its bark is whitish gray and new twigs have a yellow-green hue and are slightly...

Widely adaptable with a striking silvery light blue color, white fir is a pyramidal evergreen tree native to western North America, from southwestern Canada to northern Baja California. This large coniferous tree is admired for its short, soft needles of silvery blue-green and its dense symmetrical habit. The female cones are green when immature, then brown at maturity, usually only found in the upper third of the canopy. Its bark is whitish gray and new twigs have a yellow-green hue and are slightly...

Widely adaptable with a striking silvery light blue color, white fir is a pyramidal evergreen tree native to western North America, from southwestern Canada to northern Baja California. This large coniferous tree is admired for its short, soft needles of silvery blue-green and its dense symmetrical habit. The female cones are green when immature, then brown at maturity, usually only found in the upper third of the canopy. Its bark is whitish gray and new twigs have a yellow-green hue and are slightly...

White fir is a pyramidal evergreen tree native to the western United States. The cultivar 'Violacea' has particularly beautiful coloration with intense silvery-blue needles that appear silvery white when new. Their cones are oblong and held upright on mature branches. White fir has a fine symmetrical growth habit and is an ideal native for year round interest. These trees prefer full sun, slightly acidic, well-drained soil and are more tolerant of heat, drought and pollution than other firs. In...

Very tall and narrow in form, subalpine fir looks like a green church spire. A cone-bearing evergreen tree with green needles that have a bluish cast, it is native from the Yukon of Canada southward in the Rocky Mountains to northern Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. Its bark is gray to nearly white, smooth but mildly bumpy.

The short but flattened needles whorl around the tree's twigs. They are dark green but covered in a bluish-white film (called a bloom). In early summer, male cones...

Norwegian Sunset maple is a rapidly growing, uniformly branched deciduous tree discovered as a chance seedling in a bed of Shantung maples (Acer truncatum) in Oregon. Its upright oval habit resembles that of its other suspected parent, Norway maple (Acer platanoides). This straight-trunked hybrid has glossy dark green five- to seven-lobed leaves that turn orange-red to red in fall. Small yellow flowers in spring give rise to winged green fertile fruit.

Plant this maple in full...

Native to rocky slopes and moist ravines in far western North America, this small, hardy, relatively drought tolerant maple makes a good choice for low-maintenance landscapes within its native range. An upright, typically multistemmed shrub or small tree, it has shallowly three-lobed, medium-green leaves that turn a good yellow in fall. Although rather sparsely branched and rangy in shady sites, it forms a much denser plant in partial sun. Its greenish yellow flowers appear in early spring, followed...

Box elder is a medium-sized to large, fast growing, short-lived deciduous tree native to many regions in North America. Typically low-branched with furrowed light gray to gray-brown bark, it bears bright green, compound leaves with three or sometimes five leaflets. Inconspicuous greenish yellow flowers emerge with the leaves. Male and female flowers occur on separate trees. Box elder is rarely grown as a landscape tree due to its weedy, weak-wooded nature, but a few cultivars with unique ornamental...

Box elder is a short-lived deciduous tree native to many regions in North America. Although sometimes scorned as an ornamental plant because of its weak wood and its penchant for self-sowing, it has given rise to many attractive cultivars. Introduced in the late nineteenth century, 'Auratum' has three-parted, lemon-yellow leaves with contrasting red stems. The leaves hold their color through summer. Fall color is usually unremarkable. A female selection, it produces inconspicuous greenish yellow...

Box elder is a short-lived deciduous tree native to many regions in North America. Although sometimes scorned as an ornamental plant because of its weak wood and its penchant for self-sowing, it has given rise to many attractive cultivars. Introduced in the late nineteenth century, 'Aureomarginatum' has three-parted leaves with broad irregular margins that fade from gold to creamy yellow. Fall color is usually unremarkable. A male selection, it produces inconspicuous greenish yellow flowers in spring,...