Colorado Trees

If you want a large, stately shade tree for your landscape, consider the Heritage Oak. Oak trees come in a staggering variety of sizes and shapes and are one of the most widely distributed trees in North America with native growth in all of the lower 48 states.

Native to China, apricot trees can be grown successfully in Colorado at altitudes up to 6,500 feet. Depending on what you consider “success,” of course.

At one time, commercial cherry growing was big business in Northern Colorado, with over half a million trees in production. Pie cherries like Montmorency were canned and shipped around the country.

Archaeologists suggest that plums may be one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Traces of plums have been found in Neolithic sites as much as 10,000 years old along with olives, grapes, and figs. And no wonder.

The lilac shrub has been a favorite landscape plant in Colorado for over a hundred years. Its bushy habit and fragrant spring flowers make an attractive addition to foundation plantings year-round.

Stroll through Denver’s Washington Park or Capitol Hill neighborhoods in late summer and you’re likely to see a stately tree full of fragrant white flowers interspersed among bright green fern-like leaves.

If you’re one of the many who can’t wait for the end of summer when the Palisade peaches reach the markets from Western Slope orchards, you know that peach trees play an important role in the Colorado economy.

Despite originating in China thousands of years ago, many people consider the apple the all-American fruit. And while the U.S. is the world’s second-largest producer of apples, its 5-million-ton annual harvest pales in comparison to China’s 41 million.