Recommended Trees to Plant
in Northern Nevada
We’re often asked for our recommendation about what trees to plant in landscapes in our region. There are many factors, but the most important traits we consider are drought tolerance, alkaline soil tolerance, and local availability.
Drought tolerance
A tree’s ability to tolerate drought is one of the most important characteristics in this region. Irrigation is necessary to support healthy trees, but sometimes systems malfunction and trees must be able to survive lapses in watering. Even with irrigation during the spring, summer, and fall, trees are subjected to dry winters when irrigation systems are turned off to prevent freezing. We categorize a tree’s drought tolerance into low, medium, or high. Trees with a medium or high tolerance for drought are acceptable landscape trees.
Alkaline soil tolerance
As a high desert, most of Northern Nevada has somewhat alkaline soil. While this poor soil can be amended for gardening, it is not practical to amend soil for planting trees, and it’s best to select trees that tolerate it. We categorize a tree’s tolerance for alkalinity into low, medium, or high. Trees with a low tolerance for alkalinity grow more slowly, experience yellowing or whitish leaf color from chlorosis, have a shorter life span, are more susceptible to pests and diseases, provide poor shade, and look sickly. Trees with a medium or high tolerance for alkalinity are acceptable landscape trees.
Local availability
We are lucky to have Moana Nursery. They are a local nursery with three locations in the Reno-Sparks area with an excellent selection of trees. Home Depot and Lowe’s also have garden centers with tree species that do well here, but their selections are much less curated and their trees often have defects to the untrained eye that can cause major problems in the future. We strongly recommend visiting Moana Nursery and talking to the experts.
Most Highly Recommended Trees for Northern Nevada
These are all trees we have researched or observed doing well in our climate and are considered xeriscape-compatible. Medium and large trees are highly drought-tolerant, and small trees are at least medium drought-tolerant.
Catalpa, Northern or Western
Cedar, Devinely Blue Deodar
Coffeetree, Kentucky
Crabapple, Lollipop® Flowering
Crabapple, Prairifire Flowering
Crabapple, Royal Raindrops® Flowering
Crabapple, Ruby Tears™ Flowering
Crabapple, Snowdrift Flowering
Cypress, Leyland
Elm, Accolade™
Fringetree, White
Honeylocust, Sunburst
Honeylocust, Shademaster
Honeylocust, Street Keeper®
Hornbeam, Columnar European
Hornbeam, Frans Fontaine
Juniper, Hollywood
Juniper, Wichita Blue
Locust, 'Purple Robe' Black
Maple, Flame Amur
Maple, Tatarian (Hot Wings®)
Oak, Bur
Oak, Gambel or Scrub
Pear, Bartlett
Pear, Comice
Pine, Austrian
Pine, Bosnian
Pine, Jeffrey
Pine, Dwarf Mugo
Pine, Poodled Scotch
Planetree, Bloodgood London
Planetree, Exclamation! London
Redbud, Eastern (single trunk)
Redbud, Eastern (multi-stemmed)
Spruce, Weeping Blue
Other Recommended Trees for Northern Nevada
While not as drought tolerant, these trees still do well here, provide biodiversity, and may even outperform our highly recommended trees.
Apple, Gala
Apple, Golden Delicious
Apple, Granny Smith
Apple, Haralred
Apple, Honeycrisp
Apple, Red Delicious
Arborvitae, Amber Gold
Arborvitae, Emerald Green
Buckeye, Early Glow Ohio
Cedar, Blue Atlas
Cherry, Double Pink Weeping Higan
Cherry, Kwanzan
Cherry, Serpetine Snow Fountain
Cherry, Pink Cascade Weeping
Cherry, Snow Fountains
Cherry, Yoshino
Chokecherry, Canada Red
Chokecherry, Canada Red (multi-stemmed)
Dogwood, Bailey Red-Twig
Fir, Arizona Rocky Mountain (Corkbark)
Incense-cedar, California
Lilac, Ivory Silk Japanese Tree
Linden, Corinthian
Linden, Greenspire
Maple, Columnar Norway
Maple, Crimson Sentry Norway
Maple, Emerald Lustre Norway
Maple, Emerald Queen Norway
Maple, Princeton Gold Norway
Maple, Royal Red Norway
Oak, Crimson Spire
Oak, Regal Prince English
Oak, Northern Red
Pear, Chanticleer
Pear, Redspire
Plum, Krauter Vesuvius
Sequoia, Weeping Giant
Serviceberry, Autumn Brilliance
Spruce, Baby Blue Blue
Spruce, Globe Blue
Spruce, Columnar Norway
Spruce, Nodding Oriental
Spruce, Dwarf Alberta
Sumac, Tiger Eyes
Tuliptree, Emerald City
Not Recommended Trees
These trees do grow here, but they are not the best choice. Plant these at your own risk and expect slower growth, higher maintenance costs, and shorter lifespans.
Aspen, Quaking–Not heat tolerant, prone to disease
Birch, River or Dura Heat–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Dogwood, Kousa–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Dogwood, Satomi Chinese–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Dogwood, Yellow Twig–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Freeman–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Armstrong–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Autumn Blaze–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Celebration–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Paperbark–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Red–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Burgundy Belle Red–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, October Glory Red–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Maple, Red Sunset® Red–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Mountain-ash, European–Not tolerant of drought
Mountain-ash, Cardinal Royal–Not tolerant of drought
Oak, Pin–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Oak, Scarlet–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Plum, Greengage–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis, other pests
Russian-olive–Invasive, smelly, weak-wooded
Sweetgum, American–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis
Sweetgum, Slender Silhouette–Not tolerant of alkaline soil, prone to chlorosis