Best Evergreen Trees That Keep Their Leaves All Year Round
"Good nature could winter foresee when she made the Evergreen Tree." - Pepper Blair
Are you tired of brown or tan, lifeless winter landscapes? Once your view becomes an endless blanket of white snow, or when dirt and grime show through melting snow in late winter, you'll appreciate having evergreen trees and some winter interest in your yard!
Instead of feeling discouraged watching all the leaves fall, plant evergreen trees that maintain their foliage year-round for continuous color and privacy!
Broadleaf Evergreens vs Conifer Evergreens
Understanding the two main types of evergreen plants helps you choose the right winter landscaping options for your property.
Broadleaf Evergreens feature relatively flat leaves with broad surface areas rather than needle-like foliage. Popular varieties include:
Conifer Evergreens (needle evergreens) are easier to identify with their distinctive needle or scale-like leaves. Well-known options include:
- Spruce trees
- Pine trees
- Fir trees
- Juniper trees
- Cedar trees
Both evergreen types provide year-round green color, natural privacy screening, wind protection, and wildlife shelter during the winter months.
Top 5 Evergreen Trees For Year-Round Privacy
Ah, sweet privacy! It's nice when you are outside barbecuing and lounging around the pool in the warmer months! But maybe you have that neighbor with all the kids' toys everywhere, or a few junk cars, or worse, one that can see right into your bedroom windows once the leaves drop in the fall. So you need privacy and screening year-round!
Green Giant Arborvitae & Emerald Green Arborvitae are the gold standards and have been used everywhere for good reason. But there are so many more evergreen privacy tree varieties out there!
1. Holmstrup Arborvitae
- Dense evergreen privacy tree
- Narrow upright growth habit
- Cold-hardy evergreen
2. Canadian Hemlock
- Graceful, feathery evergreen needles
- Tolerates sun or shade
- Cold-hardy and long-lived
3. Eastern White Pine Tree
- Soft, bluish-green needles
- Fast-growing and adaptable
- Year-round evergreen beauty
4. Black Hills Spruce Tree
- Dense, dark green needles
- Cold-hardy and wind-resistant
- Classic pyramidal evergreen form
5. Deodar Cedar Tree
- Graceful, arching blue-green needles
- Fast-growing and drought-tolerant
- Majestic evergreen presence
Plant these majestic evergreen trees as corner specimens or create mixed windbreaks to shelter your home and wildlife from winter winds, drifting snow, and boring winter views.
Best Evergreen Privacy Trees For Winter Screening
Big trees full of broad leaves in winter are a rarity because heavy snows can weigh down branches and leaves. Sometimes, even tearing limbs and branches under heavy, soggy snowfall and strong storms. Broad leaves are also challenging in winter because the tree must provide water, food, and nutrients to them throughout cold temperatures when the ground is frozen!
That's why you don't see many broadleaf evergreen trees in areas with lots of snow and cold temperatures. But here are a few stalwart exceptions to the rule for your landscape! Just be sure to mulch their roots well and keep them watered right up until the ground freezes!
1. North Pole® Arborvitae
- A Proven Winners® selection
- Narrow evergreen privacy screen
- Space-saving vertical growth
- Dense winter foliage
2. Taylor Juniper
- Fast-growing evergreen column
- Blue-green winter color
- Low-maintenance privacy tree
3. Forever Goldy® Arborvitae
- Golden evergreen foliage year-round
- Bright winter landscape accent
- Compact privacy screening
4. Sting® Arborvitae
- Slender evergreen growth
- Eye-catching, bright green winter landscape feature
- Excellent compact growth & great in Containers
5. Slender Hinoki False Cypress
- Tall, narrow pyramidal form
- Soft, fan-like evergreen foliage
- Elegant, low-maintenance accent
Create straight, curved, or zigzag privacy screens to block winter winds, reduce snow drifting, and add year-round curb appeal to your property!
Broadleaf Evergreen Trees For Winter Landscapes
Large evergreen trees with broad leaves are rare in cold climates due to heavy snow loads and winter stress. However, these hardy broadleaf evergreens can withstand winter conditions with proper care and mulching.
1. Sweet Bay Magnolia Tree
- Fragrant evergreen with large leaves
- White summer flowers
- Excellent specimen evergreen tree
2. Dwarf Strawberry Tree
- Dark green evergreen leaves
- Peeling red-brown bark for year-round interest
- Showy flowers and red fruit in fall
3. Bracken’s Brown Beauty Magnolia Tree
- Large, fragrant white blooms
- Glossy green leaves with bronze undersides
- Cold-hardy evergreen Magnolia
4. Nellie Stevens Holly
- Large evergreen Holly tree
- Bright red winter berries
- Excellent privacy screen tree
5. Citrus Trees
Broadleaf evergreens that can be grown as patio plants all summer and brought indoors if you live in cooler climates.
- Glossy evergreen foliage year-round
- Fragrant white blossoms in spring
- Sweet, tangy fruit harvests
These broadleaf evergreen trees stand like exclamation points against winter horizons, creating wind barriers and bird-friendly winter sanctuaries!
Unique Evergreen Varieties For Garden Interest
Add distinctive texture and structure to your winter landscape with these unusual evergreen trees and shrubs featuring weeping, contorted, or architectural growth habits.
1. Slenderina Weeping Blue Spruce
- Unique, upright but weeping evergreen
- Attractive blue-green needles
- Excellent ornamental tree
2. Blue Ice Arizona Cypress
- Silvery-blue evergreen foliage with fine texture
- Upright, pyramidal form with a strong year-round presence
- Hardy, minimal care tree for year-round interest
3. Fernspray Gold Hinoki False Cypress
- Graceful, fern-like sprays of golden foliage
- Naturally pyramidal, sculptural growth habit
- Bright year-round color for focal points or accents
4. Tiny Kurls Eastern White Pine
- A dwarf evergreen with curled needles
- Unique texture for winter interest
- Container-friendly evergreen
5. Verdoni False Cypress
- Twisted, sculpted evergreen growth habit
- Year-round architectural interest
- Modern landscape specimen
Creating Year-Round Winter Interest
Don't underestimate the power of evergreen trees to transform your winter landscape! While deciduous trees have their own winter beauty with interesting branch patterns and bark, evergreen trees provide the essential backbone of color and structure your winter garden needs.
- Flowering Cherry trees with interesting branch patterns and colorful bark
- Ornamental Crabapple trees with persistent fruit
- Corkscrew Willows twisted form
Lighting Your Evergreen Trees
Don't forget the magic of LED landscape lighting to highlight your evergreen trees! Modern LED lights use minimal energy, and bulbs last for years.
Effective evergreen tree lighting:
- Uplighting - Place lights at base, pointing up into the canopy
- Silhouette lighting - Light from behind to create dramatic shadows
- Accent lighting - Highlight interesting bark or tree form
- Safety lighting - Illuminate walkways and driveways near trees
Creating Year-Round Winter Interest
Don't overlook the beauty of bare winter branches! Many ornamental trees create stunning winter silhouettes:
- Trees with colorful, exfoliating, or uniquely textured bark
- Ornamental trees with persistent fruit or showy cones
- Harry Lauder's Walking Stick and Corkscrew Willow with contorted branches
Winter Landscape Needs
Use winter months to evaluate your landscape structure - the "bones" of your garden design. Consider adding:
- Anchor landscape corners with vertical statement evergreens
- Frame entryways with matching evergreen trees
- Create living walls with columnar evergreens
- Windbreaks: Protect home and garden with evergreen tree barriers
- Provide year-round shelter for birds and small animals
- As accents in foundation plantings
- Around hardscape features like benches or garden art
- Mixed plantings combining evergreen and deciduous plants
Create Your Winter-Ready Landscape!
Don't let winter doldrums get you down! Inject vibrant greenery into your landscape with these evergreen trees and shrubs that maintain their leaves and needles throughout the year. Whether you need privacy screening, wind protection, wildlife habitat, or simply want to combat the winter blues with year-round color, evergreen plants are essential for four-season garden interest.
Key takeaways for successful evergreen landscaping:
- Choose appropriate evergreen types for your climate zone
- Provide adequate winter care
- Combine different evergreen varieties for visual interest
- Plan for both immediate and long-term landscape goals
- Consider wildlife needs when selecting evergreen plants
Transform your winter landscape from dreary to delightful with strategic evergreen plantings that provide beauty, function, and year-round enjoyment!
Happy Planting!
