Trees and shrubs
Find advice from University of Minnesota Extension horticulture specialists on selecting and caring for trees and shrubs for your home landscape.
Evergreen trees and shrubs
Evergreens keep their leaves or needles throughout the year and can act as windbreaks and provide shelter for animals.
Evergreens can be conifers (cone-bearing, needle-like foliage) such as pine, spruce, juniper or arborvitae. They can also be broadleaf (leaf-like foliage) such as boxwood and rhododendron.
Deciduous shrubs
Deciduous shrubs lose their leaves in fall and can provide color, texture and interest to your yard.
Black chokeberry provides fruit for wildlife well into the winter. It tolerates wet conditions and can be used to control erosion in very wet soils.
Redosier dogwood is native to Minnesota with colorful red or yellow winter bark.
Serviceberry, or juneberry, is a shrub or small tree native to Minnesota. This plant provides interest to the yard all year long.
Tatarian dogwood has colorful winter bark and provides a popular fruit for songbirds.
Winterberry is known for its bright red berries that last through the winter. Don't eat them, though! they are poisonous to humans and pets.
Forsythia is known for its yellow flowers that bloom in early spring.
Mockorange is grown for its fragrant white spring flowers.
Bush honeysuckle is grown for its graceful foliage and flowers that bloom spring through fall.
Deciduous trees
Trees provide shade, animal habit, color and beauty to the home landscape. Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall. Select the right tree for your yard, garden or boulevard.
Blue beech has smooth bluish-gray bark that provides multiple seasons of interest. The fluted “muscle-like” wood on the branches and trunk is a striking feature of this plant.
Red maple is highly valued as a landscape tree for its flowers and fall foliage that light up spring and autumn landscapes.
Boxelder is a hardy tree, not commonly grown for ornamental value, but it's yellow-green flowers can provide interest to spring landscapes.
Common Hackberry is a popular native shade and boulevard tree that is durable and provides fruit to wildlife.
River birch is popular for its ornamental peeling bark.
Problems in trees and shrubs
Anthracnose in trees and shrubs - Anthracnose is a generic term for a variety of symptoms caused by fungi that attack the leaves of some Minnesota trees and shrubs. Keeping trees healthy is the best way to ward off this disease.