Quaking aspen

Central Tallgrass prairie

Colorado Rockies forests

Eastern Canadian Forest-Boreal transition

Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests

Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests

Northeastern Coastal Forests

Northeastern Hardwoods

Northern Pacific Alaskan coastal forests

Northern Rockies conifer forests

One of the largest and fastest-growing native hardwoods of eastern and central North America - a streambank and bottomland tree reaching 50 to 80 feet (occasionally far more) with a broad, open-rounded crown. Its glossy triangular (deltoid) leaves with coarse marginal teeth and flattened petioles flutter and clatter in the wind, and female trees release the cottony seed fluff that gives the tree its name. Fast, tough, and tolerant of drought and urban conditions, but messy and weak-wooded - Missouri Botanical Garden calls it generally inappropriate for ornamental or urban use, better suited to rural lowspots and stream corridors.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Populus deltoides

Eastern cottonwood

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Celtis occidentalis

Common hackberry

A tough, widely adaptable native shade tree of central and northeastern North America, growing 40 to 60 feet tall and wide with a rounded, spreading crown. Mature gray bark develops the warty corky ridges that make it instantly recognizable, and the round purple drupes are edible and feed dozens of bird species. One of the most pollution- and stress-tolerant street and shade trees available - it shrugs off wind, urban conditions, and wet, dry, or poor soils alike.

A tough, aromatic native conifer of eastern North America - actually a juniper, not a true cedar - with scale-like evergreen foliage and a broadly conical to columnar form. Missouri Botanical Garden calls it the most drought-resistant conifer native to the eastern U.S., thriving on limestone glades, fence rows, and abandoned fields. It is dioecious: female trees carry the powdery blue, berry-like cones that gave the cedar waxwing its name and feed many birds and small mammals through winter.

Full sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Juniperus virginiana

Eastern red cedar

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Prunus serotina

Black cherry

The largest native cherry of eastern North America - a medium-to-large deciduous shade tree that hangs elongated racemes of small white flowers in spring, then ripens drooping strings of pea-sized fruit from red to near-black in late summer. The fragrant white bloom feeds bees while the fruit is eaten by 33 species of birds and many mammals; it is also a workhorse larval host, supporting the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a string of giant silk and sphinx moths. Every part except the ripe fruit is cyanide-bearing and toxic.

A dense, conical-to-narrow-pyramidal evergreen tree native to eastern and central North America, prized as a screening and foundation conifer. Flat, fan-like sprays of scale-like, aromatic yellow-green foliage clothe the tree from the ground up, and red-brown bark exfoliates on mature trunks. Wild trees can reach 40 to 60 feet but cultivated plants typically stay near 20 to 30 feet; small urn-shaped cones and dense evergreen cover make it valuable food and shelter for birds.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Thuja occidentalis

American arborvitae

A medium-to-large native shade tree of central and eastern North America, reaching 50 to 80 feet with an ovate-rounded crown and large, asymmetric heart-shaped leaves. In June it carries pale-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers on pendulous cymes - each cluster hung from a distinctive strap-like leafy bract - that ripen into pea-sized nutlets. The fragrant June bloom is a premier nectar source: Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as attracting bees and butterflies, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as having special value to both native and honey bees.

The only native U.S. holly with both spiny green leaves and bright red berries - an upright, pyramidal, broadleaf evergreen tree that slowly matures to 15 to 30 feet in cultivation (to 50 feet in the wild). Thick, leathery, deep green leaves bear spiny marginal teeth, and pollinated female trees carry showy red-to-orange drupes that ripen in fall and persist through winter as bird food. This is the classic "Christmas holly" of wreaths and decorations.

A small-to-medium understory tree of dry, rocky eastern-North-American woods, named for its drooping clusters of papery, sac-like seed pods that resemble the fruit of hops. The birch-like, sharply-serrated leaves turn an undistinguished yellow in fall, and reddish-brown male catkins persist on the bare branches through winter. Also called ironwood for its extremely hard, dense wood; tough, low-maintenance, and drought-tolerant once established.

A tough, medium-sized native tree of the eastern and midwestern United States, grown as much for its showy edible orange fruit as for its distinctive thick, dark gray bark broken into rectangular blocks. Small urn-shaped white-to-greenish-yellow flowers open in May and June, and the sweet fruit ripens after frost. Largely dioecious - a female tree needs a male pollinizer nearby to set fruit - and notably drought- and walnut-tolerant once established.

Full sun / Part shade

A small native deciduous tree (or thicket-forming, suckering shrub) of eastern and central North America, grown for clouds of fragrant white 5-petaled flowers that open in March before the leaves and for the edible red plums that follow in early summer. It forms a broad, spreading crown with attractive dark reddish-brown twigs that sometimes carry thorny lateral branchlets. A documented larval host for swallowtails and other butterflies, with flowers of special value to native, bumble, and honey bees.