While choosing a tree for Georgia, you have to pick one that’s well acquainted with the location. Here are the Best Trees to Plant in Georgia!
Trees are the best way to enhance the look of your landscape! But, if you live in the state of Georgia, you have to consider certain factors before you choose one, and keeping that in mind, we bring you the Best Trees to Plant in Georgia!
Check out our article on pine trees native to Texas here!
Best Trees to Plant in Georgia
1. Baldcypress
Botanical Name: Taxodium distichum
Height and Spread: 60-100 feet/25-30 feet
Also known as swamp cypress, it is valued for its colorful foliage and water-resistant wood. It showcases an unusual habit of raising conical ‘knees’ from the roots. Baldcypress is deciduous, though the needle-like leaves can last year-round in warm weather.
2. Maple Tree
Botanical Name: Acer rubrum
Height and Spread: 60-75 feet/40-50 feet
In Georgia, many varieties of maple trees grow wild that offers shade and interest to home gardens. The male tree features red-pink flowers in March and April, whereas female maple produces winged seedpods (red samaras) during late spring. Maple tree display stunning red fall foliage that makes them one of the best trees to plant in Georgia!
3. Sweetgum Tree
Botanical Name: Liquidamber styraciflua
Height and Spread: 65-115 feet/ 6 feet
Sweetgum is prized for its beautiful star-shaped leaves, brown gum-shaped spiked fruits, and fall colors that range from red, purple, and yellow. This long-living tree produces strong, heavy red-brown hardwood that is used in cabinets and flooring.
4. Sweet Birch Tree
Botanical Name: Betula lenta L.
Height and Spread: 40-50 feet/ 35-45 feet
Sweet birch tree features yellow fall foliage, dark shiny red to almost black bark that resembles a cherry tree. This tree is popular for the strong wintergreen fragrance of its bark and leaves. It grows well in fertile, nutrient-rich, and well-drained soil.
5. Smokebush Tree
Botanical Name: Cotinus coggygria
Height and Spread: 10-15 feet high with a similar spread
Smokebush is a deciduous shrub that is often used as a garden specimen. The tree is adorned with beautiful purple-pink smokey feathers, yellow flowers, and purple leaves. This drought-tolerant deciduous shrub prefers infertile loam, well-draining soil under full sun.
6. Witch Hazel Tree
Botanical Name: Hamamelis virginiana
Height and Spread: 10-20 feet high and wide
Witch hazel has a beautiful yellow color that glows throughout the fall. This low-maintenance deciduous shrub offers fiery amber flowers in the low winter sun. The tree requires a winter chill to achieve full flowering.
7. Oak Tree
Botanical Name: Quercus
Height and Spread: 50-70 feet/ 9 feet
The oak trees are known for their beauty, permanence, and stability. They offer a beautiful pyramidal shape when young and spread broadly in maturity. One popular variety is Bloodleaf, which has deep red fall color.
8. Tupelo
Botanical Name: Nyssa sylvatica
Height and Spread: 30-60 feet/20-30 feet
Tupelo displays hanging or horizontal branches, with beautiful scarlet fall foliage, and broad alternate leaves with both male and female flowers. All varieties of North American tupelo produces small blue-black or purple fruits and tiny green-white flowers.
9. Chinese Pistache
Botanical Name: Pistacia chinensis
Height and Spread: 25-35 feet with a similar spread
Native to Asia, Chinese pistache is popular for its fall color. Due to the drought tolerance nature, it is used in xeriscaping. The only drawback is the average beauty during the growing season, hence plant it beside other trees until fall when it becomes the center of attraction with its stunning foliage.
10. Sweetbay
Botanical Name: Magnolia virginiana
Mature Height and Spread: 10-20 feet with the same spread
Sweetbay magnolia is a showy, fragrant tree that offers cup-shaped creamy white, waxy flowers with shiny green foliage in mid-spring and sometimes throughout the summer. This tree prefers acidic, wet soil in full sun to partial shade.
11. White Dogwood
Botanical Name: Cornus florida
Mature Height and Spread: 20-25 feet with a similar spread
The white dogwood is a perfect choice for landscape and yards. White flowers exhibit their beauty in spring with leaves turning red-purple vividly in fall. You can create a beautiful contrast by planting it beside red or pink dogwoods. This one is surely one of the best trees to plant in Georgia!
12. Redbud Tree
Botanical Name: Cercis canadensis
Mature Height and Spread: 20-30 feet/15-35 feet
Redbud is a delicate flowering tree and can tolerate sun and shade both very well. The forest pansy variety can tolerate sun and offers pink flowers with burgundy leaves, while the white redbuds comes with green foliage and white flowers!
13. Crepe Myrtle
Botanical Name: Lagerstroemia indica
Mature Height and Spread: 10-30 feet/15-25 feet
Crepe myrtle is the most faithful flowering small tree for full sun. The right variety will serve you with beautiful foliage, amazing fall color, bark, and attractive flowers in full sunlight. Grow Natchez or Sarah’s favorite variety for the most graceful Crepes of all!
14. Peach
Botanical Name: Prunus persica
Mature Height and Spread: 15-25 feet/8-20 feet
Also known as belle of Georgia, the climate of the state is perfect for peaches in the yard, as they need full sunlight and can withstand the occasional frost. These trees produce freestone peaches, firm, and yellow-red blush skin with sweet white flesh in August.
15. Apple
Botanical Name: Malus domestica
Mature Height and Spread: 30 feet with an equal spread
Apple trees have originated from Central Asia, but Granny Smith, Fuji apples, Empire, Red Delicious, and Rome Beauty grow abundantly in the state. The apple tree is easy-to-grow, flourishing in a variety of soil types. However, as Georgia has acidic soil, hence, add lime to it before planting.
Want to grow Apple tree in a pot? Click here!
16. Pear
Botanical Name: Pyrus
Mature Height and Spread: 30-50 feet/20-35 feet
Pear trees are adapted to almost all of Georgia. The tree flowers early, one to several weeks before apples, hence they are more suspected to the spring frost danger. Choose the spot to plant your tree where it gets plenty of sunlight.
17. Apricot
Botanical Name: Prunus armeniaca
Mature Height and Spread: 18-25 feet tall and wide
Apricot trees are sensitive towards warm and cold spells during winter and flower in late January. Moorpark and yellow golden varieties can thrive in Atlanta, ‘Katy‘ also does well in Southwest Georgia, where the temperature drops rarely.
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