Silver Maple
Acer saccharinum , commonly known as silver maple
The silver maple is a large tree that can grow to be 35 meters tall with a trunk that’s more than 100 centimeters in diameter. Its light green leaves are 15 to 20 centimeters long, with 5 or 7 lobes. The silver maple is very similar to the red maple — except that its leaves turn pale yellow or brown, not red, in the fall. Its seeds are found in "keys" that fall down from the tree in the late spring. Bark on the silver maple’s trunk is smooth and gray when the tree is young, and then becomes dark reddish brown and breaks into strips that peel off at either end and make the trunk look "shaggy". Sometimes, the trunks of silver maples are hollow, creating space for animals and birds to live in.
Canadian Red Maple
Acer rubrum, the red maple
The red maple is a tall, straight tree in the forest, but in the open it tends to divide its main stem several times, often making it susceptible to breaking later in life. This is a good, fast-growing shade tree, but pruning and maintenance may be needed to keep its form strong if it is shading your house. Its roots are shallow, but they can spread widely, so make sure you plant your red maple where it will have room to grow.
Red Oak
Quercus rubra , the red Oak
The red oak is usually 20 to 30 meters tall, with a thick trunk sometimes more than 120 centimeters in diameter. Its leaves are dark green and are 10 to 20 centimeters long. They have sharp, pointed lobes (usually 7 to 9) with bristly tips. Acorns from the red oak are 2 to 3 centimeters long and are round with a scaly cap that covers less than ¼ of the acorn. The bark of the red oak is smooth and dark gray when the tree is young, but deep ridges develop as the tree gets older.
White Birch
Betula papyrifera , White Birch
The white birch is a medium-sized tree that can be 25 meters tall. The tree’s trunk is covered in thin, smooth white bark that peels off in large sheets. Bark from the white birch is very strong and pliable — it can be used to make canoes. Buds, leaves and seeds from the white birch are a great source of food for birds and animals. Leaves from the white birch tree are egg-shaped or triangular in shape and are 5 to 10 centimeters long. They are dull green on top and lighter green and slightly hairy underneath.
White Cedar
Thuja occidentalis, White Cedar
Cones from the eastern white cedar are 7 to 12 millimeters long and grow in clumps of 5 or 6 pairs. Small scaly leaves cover the tree’s fan-shaped twigs and are a yellowish-green color.
The bark of the eastern white cedar is thin and shiny when the tree is young, but separates into flat narrow strips as the tree gets older. White-tailed deer eat the twigs of the eastern white cedar during the winter.
White Pine
Pinus strobus, White Pine
It has skinny needles that are 6 to 12 centimeters long. It’s easy to recognize the eastern white pine because its needles grow in bunches of five.
The eastern white pine’s cones are 8 to 20 cm long and they hang down from the branches. Good seed crops aren’t produced until trees are 20 or 30 years old, and then only every 3 to 5 years. Its bark is dark grayish brown with broad thick ridges that are 2 to five centimeters thick.
Colorado Blue Spruce
Picea pungens, Colorado Blue Spruce
In the wild, Colorado Blue Spruce grows to about 23 m (75 ft), but when planted in parks and gardens it seldom exceeds 15 m (49 ft) tall by 5 m (16 ft) wide. It is a columnar or conical evergreen conifer with densely growing horizontal branches. It has scaly grey bark on the trunk with yellowish-brown branches.
Waxy gray-green leaves, up to 3 cm (1 in) long, are arranged radially on the shoots which curve upwards. The pale brown cones are up to 10 cm (4 in) long.
Austrian Pine
Pinus nigra, Austrian Pine
Austrian Pine is a large coniferous evergreen tree, growing to 20–55 metres (66–180 ft) high at maturity and spreading to 20 to 40 feet wide. The bark is grey to yellow-brown, and is widely split by flaking fissures into scaly plates, becoming increasingly fissures with age.
