Approved Street Tree List

What is the Approved Street Tree List?

Planting in the Right-of-Way or just looking for a great tree for your front or backyard to grow in Denver? Start off on the right track by using The Office of the City Forester Approved Street Tree list. This list is an interactive tool that allows you to search and filter by criteria to find the right tree for your spot. You can browse the full list, do a quick search or use the drop-downs for size, shape, water requirement, salt tolerance, wildlife value and more to find great options for your future tree on your property. Bonus – we use this list of approved street trees when selecting trees for Denver Digs Trees so you’re guaranteed a hardy tree for our urban environment.

Who makes the list…and who doesn’t?

Looking for natives? You won’t find many on this list. Why? Denver’s a tough place for a tree to grow up. We have hot, dry summers and cold, dry winters. Most of our moisture falls as snow and evaporates before it can soak into the ground. Before we started actively planting trees in the city, they naturally only grew along our creeks and rivers. This means our native trees are pretty thirsty and aren’t good fits for most addresses in the city.

Love that deep red color of the maple leaf? That’s another one you won’t find too many of. Many of our maples can’t hack the alkaline soils of our arid landscape and get a yellowing condition called chlorosis. The Autumn Blaze, famous for it’s brilliant fall color, is one of those. They burn bright and die young, often not making it even 10 years. There are maples on the list and some of them do have red color. But, in our humble opinion, for color, hardiness, and overall wildlife value, we vote Oak all the way.

When you think of a tree, what do you picture? For many it’s a big old oak, filled with birds and squirrels, a low branch big enough to sit on. That’s true to form for the reliable oak. They’re slow growers but they house more wildlife than any other tree and are known to be excellent trees for our environment. Plus, some of them turn a dark, rich red in the fall just check out the Crimson Spire to see what we’re talking about.

Want something new? Passionate about diversity? The Office of the City Forester has you – they’re always trying out new species to see what will thrive here now and well into our increasingly hot future. Check out the Japanese Pagodatree, Chinese Pistache, Pecan, or Turkish Filbert. There’s so many more to choose from on the Office of the City Forester Approved Street Tree List – go on, check it out!