If you have ever walked through a Sierra Nevada forest and looked up to see a towering pine with impossibly long cones hanging from its highest branches like ornaments, you were almost certainly standing beneath a sugar pine. The sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) is the tallest and largest pine tree species in the world. It…
If you have ever driven through the American South, you have seen loblolly pine. It lines highways, fills plantation forests, and edges small towns from Virginia to east Texas. It is, in many ways, the tree that built the modern American timber economy. The loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) is the most commercially important tree in…
When people think of willows, the graceful, drooping weeping willow often comes to mind first. But the black willow (Salix nigra) is the true workhorse of North American wetlands — and arguably the more important tree. It is the largest native willow species on the continent, and it has been doing critical ecological work long…
There are very few plants on earth that stop you in your tracks the moment you see them. The Joshua tree is one of them. With its twisted, outstretched arms and shaggy silhouette set against a blazing desert sky, Yucca brevifolia is unlike anything else in the plant kingdom. It is ancient, resilient, and —…
Few trees deliver as much visual reward across all seasons as crabapples. In early spring, they explode into bloom with fragrant flowers ranging from pure white to deep rose-red. In summer, their dense canopies provide structure and, beautiful foliage in shades of burgundy, bronze, or deep green. As autumn arrives, the branches become laden with…
The Rising Sun Redbud is a cultivated variety (cultivar) of the Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis, a species native to eastern North America. The species itself has long been valued for its spectacular spring blooms and heart-shaped leaves. ‘Rising Sun’ is a trademarked selection developed and introduced by Kordes Nurseries. It quickly gained recognition for a…
There is something almost theatrical about a Royal Raindrops crabapple tree in full bloom. The deep magenta-pink flowers, the cut-leaf purple foliage, the tiny persistent fruit that carry color well into winter — it is the kind of tree that makes neighbors stop and ask questions. Royal Raindrops (Malus ‘JFS-KW5’) is a patented ornamental crabapple…
The Prairie Fire crabapple (Malus ‘Prairifire’) is a cultivated variety of the ornamental crabapple, developed specifically for disease resistance and year-round visual appeal. It was introduced by Dr. Daniel Dayton at the University of Illinois in 1982 as part of a long-running breeding program aimed at reducing the disease problems that plagued older crabapple varieties….
The Rising Sun Redbud is a cultivar of the Eastern Redbud, which is native to eastern North America. It was specifically bred for its spectacular foliage — leaves that open in brilliant shades of orange and gold before transitioning to lime-green through summer. This tree performs best in USDA Zones 5 through 9 and thrives…
The Wilma Goldcrest is a cultivated variety (cultivar) of the Monterey Cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa, a species native to a small coastal strip of California near the Monterey Peninsula. The parent species is one of the most recognisable trees on the American West Coast. ‘Wilma Goldcrest’ is a selected cultivar bred specifically for its compact, columnar…