With the heat of July gearing up, you might be wishing you had more shade in your Salt Lake City garden. The good news is that it's never too late to plant trees for shade, and many varieties only take a few short years to flourish. Choosing the right trees for your space is important, though, so we’ve chosen our favorites for Utah to get you started!
Pacific Maple
The Pacific Sunset Maple makes an excellent shade tree for Utah landscapes, maintaining its round shape consistently and adapting well to both heat and drought. Its dark green foliage and upward growth habit keep this tree looking attractive all spring and summer before putting on its fall color show of yellow, orange, and even red. When planting this slow-growing variety in your garden, make sure to leave enough space for its mature height of 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide, and allow it to bask in full sun if possible.
Main Street Maple
Sometimes known as the Shantung Maple, this “no-brainer” shade tree could be the perfect fit for your Utah landscape this year and is commonly considered one of the best. With its beautiful color-changing habit, starting off maroon in the spring, turning green during the summer, and then exploding into shades of reds, oranges, yellows, and purples in the fall, this is a shade tree worth waiting for! This slower-growing tree reaches 30’ at maturity, and can be expected to live for up to 70 years!
Bigtooth Maple
An excellent shade-tolerant choice, the Bigtooth maple is a perennial native to Utah, and is also shade-tolerant, meaning you can plant it anywhere! Being drought-tolerant and capable of handling urban pollution makes this a very adaptable tree, but its rather tall canopy (about 7’ from the ground) means it should be planted clear of power lines.
Hybrid Norway Maple
A dense, deciduous tree with a lovely oval shape, this maple prefers full sunlight and can be planted just about anywhere in a garden with its small mature size of 35’, but should also be kept clear of power lines.
English Oak
You’ll want to clear the way for this shade tree and its stately size and stature. Growing faster than most other elm varieties, the mature height is 60’ and similar in width. This is the perfect shade tree if you’ve got the room, and promises a long and loyal stay in your garden—up to 300 years!
Frontier Elm
One of our favorites here at Millcreek Gardens, the Frontier elm is particularly resistant to diseases and insect attacks, as well as being a quick-grower. Its smaller size makes it the best choice for creating shade in any area, and can be used wonderfully in garden settings for shade, as well as in urban settings.
Eastern Redbud
A redbud tree in bloom can be a memorable occasion, displaying small magenta buds that burst into pretty pink flowers before the leaves appear. Reaching a mature height of about 30’, this is one of the best ornamental shade trees we hope you’ll try in Salt Lake City. The Eastern redbud also looks stunning planted in groups together for a showy and colorful spring show! Fun fact: did you know that Redbud blossoms are edible!?
Japanese Zelkova
This tough, deciduous tree is another top pick for residential shade planting and also one of the prettiest! Native to Asia, the Zelkova is fairly drought-tolerant once established and is primarily chosen for its beautiful cascading growth pattern and vibrant coppery shades in the fall.
Tulip Tree
This large-growing tree is an exciting ornamental shade tree we love here in Utah, and is the tallest native hardwood tree in North America. Growing upwards of 100’, this isn’t the tree to plant if you’re cramped for space. With yellow tulip-shaped flowers in the spring, dazzling green leaves in the summer, and foliage that turns bright gold in the fall—this is certainly one of the most magnificent shade trees you might find in our area, and one to add to your list if you have the space to let it grow uninhibited!
If you’re ready to start selecting some of the best shade trees for Utah, look no further! Here at Millcreek Gardens we’ve got the advice you need to keep your landscape cool for years to come and would love to be a part of your next tree planting adventure!