Betula papyrifera - Canoe Birch or Paper Birch

Betula papyrifera: Betula is Latin for birch; papyrifera from the Greek word 'papurus,' meaning 'papyrus' or 'paper' and the Latin word 'fero' meaning 'to bear, carry, bring'. Taken together, papyrifera means "paper bearing," for the tree's paper-like bark.

Native American tribes often used this tree to make canoes due to its waterproof bark. The bark can also be used to create a durable, waterproof layer in constructing sod-roofed houses.

Native to the north east United States and Canada. Branches are only slightly more upright than B. pendula. This species will naturally hybridize with almost any other native birch.
Leaves alternate, 1-3" long with doubly serrate margins. Often unequally cordate at the base. Upper surface glabrous, minutely hairy underneath. Fall color is yellow.
Pendulous male catkins 4" long in clusters of 1-3 in late winter to early spring. Female fruiting catkins (not pictured) 1" long occur at the ends of branches. Trees are monoecious.
Smooth, thin white bark with horizontal orange lenticels peels off in large papery sections. Young twigs are a shiny orange-brown. Compare to B. pendula whose bark cracks with maturity, revealing dark brown to black bark underneath.
White trunks create a striking winter silhouette.

Araucaria auracana - Monkey Puzzle Tree

Araucaria araucana: Genus and species named for Arauco Indians of Chile and Argentina, who have natural forests of this tree and harvest the seeds for food.

Curious looking tree similar to A. bidwillii.
Awl-shaped leaves 1-2" long, dark green, whorled around the branch.
Trees are dioecious -- male and female cones appear on separate trees.
4-7" female cones are solitary at the ends of branchs and take 2-3 years to ripen.
Bark is reddish to grey-brown with shallow seams and rings from old branch scars.
Trunk appears wrinkley with age.
This is the most hardy of the araucarias. They are also drought tolerant and disease resistant.

Acer saccharinum - Silver Maple

Acer saccharinum: Acer is the Latin name for maples; saccharinum refers to the tree's sweet sap. This species yields about half the amount of sugar as A. saccharum.

Native to wet floodplain forests in the Eastern United States.
Deeply 5-lobed leaves with sharply serrate margins are dark green on top, but silvery grey underneath, giving the tree its common name.
Yellow to orange to red fall color, often seen all together.
Tiny corymbs of red polygamous, apetalous flowers in late winter (~March) before the tree leafs out.
Samaras with twin seeds are joined at almost 180º. Fruit matures in late spring and persists through the summer.
Bark is light silver-grey, turning darker grey with maturity with narrow fissures and scaly plates.

Sophora japonica - Japanese Pagoda Tree

also known as Chinese Scholar Tree




Seed pods (legumes) resemble a string of pearls.

Robinia x ambigua 'Purple Robe' - Purple Robe Locust

Patented hybrid between Robinia ambigua 'Decaisneana' and R. hispida 'Monument.'


Pinnately compound leaves with ovate to oblong leaflets. Mostly thornless, but there are rounded thorn nubs at leaf nodes.
Purple flowers are mostly scentless, but a deep whiff with your nose buried in the blossoms can yield a faint rose scent.
Reddish brown to gray bark develops fissures and cracks. Wood is brittle and limbs tend to break on older trees.

Melia azedarach - China-Berry

Gleditsia triacanthos inermis - Thornless Honey Locust

Cultivar 'Sunburst' has yellow foliage.
Leaves pinnately or bipinnately compound.

Crataegus phaenopyrum - Washington Thorn

Watch out for long thorns.

Celtis sinensis - Chinese Hackberry

Medium textured tree with leathery leaves.
Distal 1/3 of leaf margins are crenate to serrate with entire margins about the leaf base. Leaf base is oblique, as is typical of the Elm family (Ulmaceae).
Smooth grayish brown bark takes on blackish margins and warty growths with age, often with shallow furrows and ridges.

Catalpa speciosa - Western Catalpa

Very coarse textured tree, often with a broad, round headed canopy at maturity. This species is taller than C. bignonioides.
Huge (6-12") cordate leaves.
Creamy white campanulate (bell-shaped) flowers with yellow and brown/purple markings. Inflorescences are smaller than in C. bignonioides.
Showy seed capsules resemble vanilla beans. Capsules are larger than in C. bignonioides.
Bark is thin grayish brown, becoing fissured with flat scaly ridges.