Tree Species

DCLA Native Tree and Shrub Sale
Plant Descriptions and Ideal environments

Hints for success: Plant shrubs and trees so the root collar rests just above the soil, similar to how it was grown as a seedling. Fill the hole with topsoil, tamp as you proceed. Water after installation. Suppress weed growth by mulching within a yard of seedling. Water often throughout 1st year.

This year we have available:

Shrubs

High Bush Cranberry Viburnum trilobum
Recommended for shoreline planting. 6-12’ tall, pretty white blossoms in late spring, clusters of red berries in summer, and plenty of fall colour. Can be found in wet areas along shorelines, swamps and forest edges. In a garden setting, moist, well-drained soil is best. Prefers sun, to partial shade. For wildlife, this is an important survival food as winter progresses.

Nannyberry Viburnum lentago
6-9’ metres tall, white flowers in spring, purple fruit in fall. Suitable for shoreline planting, as well as wood edges and roadsides. An important species for wildlife.

Hardwoods

Black Willow Salix Nigra
The black willow is the largest native willow in Ontario and North America.  It is a common on moist sites throughout southern Ontario, as far west as the Bruce Peninsula and north to Pembroke.  It may be confused with many non-native willow species.  The black willow has long, narrow, pointed leaves with two small leaf-like 'stipules' at the base of the leave.  Trees may be single or multi-trunked but as the smooth dark brown bark matures it becomes deeply furrowed with scaly, flat-topped ridges.

Red Oak Quercus rubra
Height 60-80’, can tolerate a variety of moisture levels and soil types. Will tolerate shade when young, prefers full sun. Acorns an important food source for birds and forest mammals.

Silver Maple Acer Saccharum
The silver maple is a large tree that can grow to be 35 metres tall with a trunk that's more than 100 centimetres in diameter.  The silver maple is very similar to the red maple - except that its leves turn pale yellow or brown, not red, in the fall.  Bark on the silver maple is smooth and gray when the tree is young and then becomes dark reddish brown and breaks into strips that peel off and at either end and make the trunk look 'shaggy'.  

Bitternut Hickory  Carya Cordiformis
The bitternut hickory is a member of the group of trees called 'pecan hickories'.  It produces round and bitter inedicble nuts that are about 2 - 3.5 centimetres long.  It's dark green leaves are 15 - 25 centimetres long and are made up of 7 to 11 long, pointed leaflets on a central stalk.  It grows best on low, moist ground or in rich soil in higher ground.  It grows well even in shade, so is usually found in groups of other trees,

Evergreen/softwood Trees

Hemlock Tsuga Canadensis
Its shape is conical with a wide trunk that tapers into a thin top.  Skinny flexible branches grow straight out from the trunk and then droop at the ends.  The eastern hemlock's bark is scaly when the tree is young and cracks deeply as the tree gets older.  The cones of the eastern hemlock are oval shaped and are 12 to 20 millimetres in length.  Seeds fall out of the cones in late fall and winter.  It prefers moist and cool areas and trows in a range of different soil types.

Tamarack Larix Laricina
The tamarack tree is found throughout Ontario and reaches about 20 metres. It is conical shaped and very dramatic in the fall.  Its needles are about 2 - 3 centimetres long and grow in tufts.  The needles turn yellow in the late fall before some of them fall off. The bark is smooth and gray when the tree is young and then becomes reddish brown and scaly.  The tree doesn't produce seeds until it is 10 years old.

White Cedar Thuja occidentalis
Small, hardy, slow growing tree that can live up to 200 years! Likes cool, moist, nutrient rich sites. Valuable habitat for wildlife, especially deer during severe winters. Called arborvitae by Jacques Cartier as he learned from the Indigenous people how to treat scurvy with the foliage! Just in case…

Red Pine Pinus resinosa
Prefers well drained, sandy soil. Provides food and shelter for forest animals. Mature trees are often 200-250 years old. Is considered to be the tallest tree species in eastern N America, up to 230’. Thoreau stated, “There is no finer tree”.

"I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree."
From “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer