When you think of conifers, a Christmas tree probably comes to mind. Yet these cone-bearing plants come in various shapes, sizes, and colors. Use our guide to the best choices to provide year-round beauty and structure to your landscape. Choose from spruce, fir, pine, and other conifer tree types.
Silver Korean Fir
A sure standout in the landscape, silver Korean fir features short, tightly packed needles with white undersides. The soft needles also curl toward the stem, giving this conifer tree a decidedly flocked appearance year-round. As it grows, this fir develops a classic, pyramidal Christmas tree shape.
Name: Abies koreana ‘Horstmann’s Silberlocke’
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 30 feet tall
Zones: 5–8
Weeping White Pine
A genuinely graceful tree, weeping white pine looks like a waterfall of long, blue-green needles. It’s especially effective when grown over a sturdy arbor or other structure, where it will create a curtain effect. Weeping white pine is a widely adaptable tree native to parts of North America.
Name: Pinus strobus ‘Pendula’
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: As tall as it’s supported. When unsupported, it grows like a groundcover
Zones: 4-9
Dwarf Blue Spruce
Loved for its beautiful silvery-blue color, dwarf blue spruce is a good choice for small-space landscapes. Many selections reach no more than eight feet tall and take a long time to reach their mature size.
Name: Picea pungens ‘Montgomery’
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 10 feet
Zones: 3–8
Japanese Umbrella Pine
A pine look-alike, this striking evergreen tree has shiny, stiff, dark green needles arranged in little tufts, called whorls, that resemble the ribs of an umbrella. The effect gives the entire tree a distinctive texture. It’s an uncommon choice to add a slightly different look to the landscape, and it can be used to create bonsai.
Name: Sciadopitys verticillata
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 30 feet tall
Zones: 4–8
Contorted White Pine
One of the most eye-catching evergreen trees, contorted white pine features twisted branches and needles. It grows relatively quickly, reaching about 12 feet over its first decade.
Name: Pinus strobus ‘Contorta’ or ‘Torulosa’
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and well-drained soil
Size: To 40 feet or more
Zones: 3–9
Golden Korean Fir
Most conifer trees have a golden-hued variety that’s either love-it or leave-it proposition. Golden Korean fir is a standout among these varieties. It offers decidedly greenish-yellow needles in the spring, but they slowly fade to green by winter. The tree’s sunny coloring contrasts beautifully with its purplish cones.
Name: Abies koreana ‘Aurea’
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 30 feet tall
Zones: 5–8
Bristlecone Pine
Known for its exceptionally long life, a bristlecone pine can live for hundreds of years in the wild. However, in cultivated landscapes, they're more likely to last less than a century. This slow-growing North American native has blue-green needles with flecks of white resin, a feature no other pine has. As the name implies, its cones are prickly.
Name: Pinus aristata
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: 30 feet or more
Zones: 3–8
Dwarf Alberta Spruce
A favorite for its dense growth, tiny needles, compact size, and nearly perfect cone-shaped habit, dwarf Alberta spruce is widely and easily grown. It’s native to areas of North America.
Name: Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 20 feet tall
Zones: 3–6
Mugo Pine
There are hundreds of mugo pine conifer trees. Most offer rich, deep-green needles that look lush all year and have a compact, mounded shape, which easily fits into landscapes of all sizes.
Name: Pinus mugo
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 10 feet
Zones: 3–7
Japanese White Pine
A tree of exceptional beauty, Japanese white pine conifer trees offer clusters of silvery blue needles at the ends of their branches and a structure that looks especially good in winter. It’s widely used as a bonsai or a container plant.
Name: Pinus parviflora
Growing Conditions: Full sun and medium moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 40 feet
Zones: 5–7
Blue Star Juniper
Among the thousands of junipers, ‘Blue Star’ stands out for its silvery-blue color and dense, ground-hugging habit. It generally needs no pruning, but because it grows variably in the wild—from groundcover to a spreading or an upright shrub—this evergreen’s height can be pruned if desired.
Name: Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’
Growing Conditions: Full sun and medium moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 3 feet tall
Zones: 4–8
Eastern White Pine
A rapid-growing, long-lived, needled evergreen tree, the Eastern white pine offers long, soft, blue-green needles and is adaptable to a range of conditions. It’s native to areas of North America and makes an excellent choice for wildlife gardens.
Name: Pinus strobus
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and medium moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 80 feet tall in cultivation and more than 100 feet tall in the wild
Zones: 3–8
Blue Spruce
The more grown-up version of dwarf blue spruce, this tree offers a gorgeous silvery-blue color from its stiff, somewhat prickly needles. Many varieties are available, including columnar forms that make an excellent focal point in the landscape.
Name: Picea pungens f. glauca
Growing Conditions: Full sun and medium moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 60 feet in cultivation and 100 feet or more in the wild
Zones: 2–7
Fraser Fir
A top landscape tree and a favorite Christmas tree, Fraser fir offers beautiful dark green needles and a graceful pyramidal shape. During the holidays, this tree is often available potted. Once you’ve opened all the gifts and removed the decorations, you can plant them. Fraser fir is native to Eastern North America.
Name: Abies fraseri
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 50 feet tall
Zones: 4–7
Hinoki Cypress
For a dense screen, you can’t go wrong with Hinoki cypress. This tree offers deep green foliage and a horizontal branching habit. Dwarf varieties of this evergreen conifer have become very popular for use in containers, small accents, and rock gardens.
Name: Chamaecyparis obtusa
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and medium moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 75 feet
Zones: 4–8
Balsam Fir
Native to areas of northern North America, balsam fir is a top-notch choice because of its woodsy scent, dark green needles, and purplish-blue cones. Try growing your own for the holidays. Blisters on the otherwise very smooth, gray-brown bark are a distinguishing characteristic of balsam fir trees.
Name: Abies balsamea
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 70 feet tall
Zones: 3–6
Canadian Hemlock
A graceful, native evergreen tree, Canadian hemlock has arching, feathery-looking flat sprays of lacy foliage. Known for having the smallest needles and cones of its genus, it’s a winner since it doesn’t mind a bit of shade. However, hemlock trees have been in widespread decline in the eastern United States since the 1950s due to an infestation of the pest hemlock woolly adelgid. If you plant this tree, it must be treated to protect it from this insect.
Name: Tsuga canadensis
Growing Conditions: Part shade to full shade and medium moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 70 feet
Zones: 3–7
Dawn Redwood
Technically, dawn redwood isn’t an evergreen, but it is a conifer tree (in that it produces cones for its seeds). It offers feathery foliage that looks beautiful in spring and summer. In autumn, the needles turn russet red and then drop, exposing the tree’s delightfully architectural branching habit. It helps cast shade and add privacy to decks, patios, and other outdoor living areas. In the wild, it’s considered endangered.
Name: Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 100 feet
Zones: 4–8
