Best Trees for Climbing
Go Climb A Tree!
Trees can provide many benefits to your home and neighborhood. They purify the air we breathe, increase property values, reduce home energy costs, and provide climate control, to name a few. But let's not forget that trees can also provide fun and adventure. Looking up at the sturdy limbs of established trees, who doesn't want to climb to the top and see what's happening in the neighborhood? Count me in! Here are a few of our favorite trees to climb.
Fruitless Mulberry
- Deciduous tree with a round or vase-shaped habit
- Dark green foliage turns yellow-green to yellow in fall
- Produces an abundance of pollen
- Use as screen, specimen, lawn or shade tree
- 30’-50’ tall | 30’-50’ wide
- Full sun
Maple ‘Red Sunset’
- Deciduous tree with upright, rounded habit
- Glossy green leaves are pale underneath, turning orange-scarlet in fall
- Red twigs, branchlets, and buds, and red flowers in spring
- Use as firescaping, specimen tree
- Cold hardy
- 40’-50’ tall | 30’-35’ wide
- Full sun
Zelkova ‘Village Green’
- Deciduous tree with upright, vase-shaped habit
- Dark green foliage with red-orange fall color
- Use as a shade tree
- 40’-60’ tall | 30’-50’ wide
- Full sun
Chinese Elm ‘Drake’
- Semi-evergreen to evergreen tree with a wide, arching to weeping habit
- Small, dark green leaves remain on the plant most of the year
- Use as a shade tree
- 40’-60’ tall | 50’-70’ wide
- Full sun
Camphor Tree
- Evergreen tree with a rounded, spreading habit
- Glossy, aromatic, green leaves
- Insignificant but fragrant, yellow flowers in late spring, followed by small, black fruit
- Used as street, park, or shade tree
- Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies
- 50’-65’ tall | 50’-60’ wide
- Full sun to partial sun
Valley Oak
- Deciduous tree with a massive, broad habit
- Native to California
- Lobed, dark green leaves with light undersides
- Large branches are often contorted
- Use in water-wise landscapes, native gardens, or large spaces
- Water-wise, deer resistant, attracts butterflies, heat tolerant
- 70’ tall | 70’ wide
- Full sun
