A stately, fast growing tree which establishes quickly and creates deep shade under its large, broad limbs with the largest leaves of all maples- over a foot across.  It is a deciduous tree, distinguishable in Autumn by its beautiful colors of  gold & rust before its leaves fall.  It can become a massive tree growing to a height of 40’-100’. It has pinkish spring blossoms and its seeds are dual-winged samaras, a food source for many species of wildlife.  It prefers moist, well drained soil, but tolerates heavy clay & serpentine soils.   It is hardy and can take full sun, partial shade, full shade, and even seasonal flooding. 

~ Red Alder ~  

Alnus rubra

 (  Growing Locations B,C )

First to grow in disturbed sites, it provides shade for establishment of other species, growing to a height of 30-100’. It fixes nitrogen  and helps to enrich poor soils.  Often found along Oregon’s mountain streams and moist slopes, it likes full sun or  partial shade, requires a good water supply and must have moist soil throughout the hot summers.  It has attractive smooth, light gray mottled bark and ovate, serrated leaves with rusty hairs on the underside.  It has both tiny female cones or strobiles and male catkins. It is a deciduous tree, losing its leaves in Fall and having a red appearance as its buds open in early Spring .     

~  Oregon Ash ~

Fraxinus latifolia

 ( Growing Locations B,C ) 

Actually a  member of the Olive family, it grows near streams or in wetland areas that are annually flooded and provides excellent canopy cover with its opposite compound leaves.  It prefers full sun and is deciduous, losing its leaves in the Fall. It’s seeds are single winged samaras, that look like little paddles and its bark is criss-crossed with ridges that look like a net.  It is very adaptive,  growing tall with short branches when crowded and wide with a  rounded crown in open areas.  It grows to a height of 40’-80’.

~ Douglas Fir ~ 

Pseudotsuga menziesii

( Gowing Locations A,B )

The most widely dispersed tree in the Pacific Northwest, it  is an evergreen beauty with short needles that  grow on the stem like a bottle-brush. Its needles are pointed but are actually soft to the touch and its small cones are identified by its three bracts. It’s buds are sharp-pointed and are a shiny mahogany color. It is highly adaptive and grows in low or high elevations and in dry or moist mountain locations.  It prefers full sun and can grow to over 200 feet tall. It is an important lumber tree.

 ~ Incense Cedar ~

Calocedrus decurrens

( Growing Location A )

This beautiful evergreen tree is found in drier locations and is drought tolerant. It thrives in full sun to partial shade and grows to heights of over 100’.  It has fragrant foliage and wood that retains its scent even after it is made into finished products.  Its cones look like a duck’s bill with its tongue sticking out. It has scale-leaves that appear jointed and form flat sprays that are twisted, giving the boughs a rumpled look. Its bark is reddish and rough.

~ Port Orford Cedar ~

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana

( Growing Locations A,B )

An evergreen with a lacy fern-like appearance, its attractive sprays are held in a horizontal plane. Its name means false-cypress and the wood is very aromatic. Though its native range is the coastal fogbelt of Oregon, it is often planted as an ornamental or windbreak tree. It does well in full sun to partial shade. It has scale-leaves with tiny white crosses on the underside of each segment & little round cones that look like hard berries before they open. It should be planted where there is good drainage to avoid root rot.

~Ponderosa Pine ~

Pinus ponderosa

( Gowing Locations A,B )

A hardy evergreen tree with long needles in bundles of three, it tolerates standing water in winter and dry soil in summer.   It has a deep tap root and can withstand heavy winds.  It likes full sun to light shade and grows to over 150 feet tall. When young, its needles make it look like a big bottle-brush, but as it grows limbs,  the needles hang like plumes.  It has medium sized egg-shaped cones.  Its bark  is dark gray when young,  but looks like armor plating when it gets old.

~Western Red Cedar ~

Thuja plicata

(  Growing Locations B,C )

A common cedar of Northwest forests, it is a large evergreen tree with a rapid growth rate.   Its foliage is dark, lustrous green with a sweet fragance.  Its scale-leaves overlap like fish scales and form flat sprays. It has tiny erect cones that bend back, giving the appearance of  a tiny smoker’s pipe before they open and bark that is dark reddish-brown.  It is found in moist to wet soils but does well in clay.   It likes sun to partial shade & is usually seen in shaded forests growing to heights of 175 feet.

~Western Hemlock –

Tsuga heterophylla

( Growing Locations A,B )

This evergreen tree’s foliage has delicate spray-like boughs with a definite nodding  top.  Most of its short flat, blunt needles are in ranks like little soldiers, but very short ones only a half inch long pop out on top of the twig in a disorderly fashion.  It has small cones that are an inch or less in length. Seedlings roots cannot tolerate drought.  It requires moist soil and loves rain and mist. It is extremely tolerant of deep shade, and likes to be crowded making it well-suited for establishment in sites that already have trees.  It grows to a height of 175’.

 ~ Coast Redwood ~

Sequoia sempervirens

( Growing Locations A,B )

This  evergreen conifer is among the world's tallest, reaching heights of 350 feet & growing for hundreds of years.   Its native habitat is limited to a narrow fogbelt in Northern California & Southerm Oregon,  but it does well on North aspect slopes that are protected & that receive moist air from waterways.   It cannot tolerate extended freezing or excessively dry soils & heavy winds dry it out.  It is sometimes seen in urban environments where it can be given plenty of water, a little shade & a good misting every day as its seedlings are established. It has needle-like leaves ½” - 1’” long in two flat rows on the stem,  thick reddish-brown bark & tiny ¾”-1” cones.

~Giant Sequoia ~

Sequoiadendron  giganteum

( Growing Location A )

Native to the high Sierra Nevadas of N. California,  this evergreen conifer is famous for its massive size and ability to live for hundreds  of years.  It grows best at higher elevations in meadows where adequate soil moisture is available in the summer, but it can withstand drier conditions & is very cold hardy.    Its bark is reddish-brown, fibrous, very thick, spongy & deeply furrowed, its leaves are only ¼” long, short,  thick & pointed and its cones are 2-3” long.