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A List of Fast Growing Trees
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This page contains suggestions for quick growing landscape trees. To learn more about selecting, planting, and caring for trees with fast growth rates, see BLI's page on fast growing trees.
Types of Fast Growing Trees
Click on one of the titles below to see suggestions for trees in each category.- Fast growing shade trees and privacy trees (deciduous)
- Fast growing hardwoods trees: oak, maple, and elm
- Fast growing evergreen trees (conifers)
- Fast growing flowering trees
- Fast growing trees to beware of
Fast growing shade trees and privacy trees (deciduous)
The western and southern sides of your home or garden, where sun tends to be the hottest, are the prime locations for shade trees. The southeastern side is also a good place as midsummer sun can get hot even early in the day.Also, keep in mind how dense you'd like the shade to be. Low-growing broadleafs such as the tulip tree and evergreens create the deepest shade in which only forest flowers such as violets and trilliums can grow. If you're looking for lighter, dappled shade, the honey locust (Gleditsia tracanthos) or bald cypress will provide the filtered light where camellias and azaleas can thrive.
Some shade trees to consider:
This Rocky Mountain native is best known for its white trunk and golden autumn leaves. Its compact growth makes it suitable for lining driveways and fences. The quaking aspen can be planted in USDA zones 2 through 9 and, in sunny areas with plenty of water, it can reach up to 60 feet tall.
Although the honey locust reaches only 40 feet tall, it grows remarkably fast when young—sometimes over two feet each year over a period of ten years. It prefers sunny climates of USDA zones 5 through 9 and is perfect for dry areas with poor soils, salt, and high pH levels (acidic soils). Its foliage provides good shade and privacy and the tree produces tiny spikes of sweet-smelling yellow flowers.
Native to the southeastern US (USDA zones 5 to 9), the sweetgum's elegant oval shape, distinctive star-shaped leaves, and varigagted autumn colors make it a great fast growing ornamental tree that works well as a shade tree or in lines. This tree can grow up to 80 feet tall with a spread of 50 feet, so plant it clear of obstructions.
The willow's grace is metaphorical as well as literal, but this tree does have problems. One major concern is that the roots can damage water, septic and sewer lines. Its also a fairly brittle tree with weak wood that breaks in high winds. Because willows reach a wide lateral spread, they require plenty of growing room. If you're looking for a tree to grow out by a lake, try the willow, but keep it away from the house.
Some willows to consider include the Weeping Willow for its shade and moisture tolerance, the Niobe Golden weeping willow (Salix alba 'Tristis') for its golden stems, the black willow (Salix nigra) of the eastern US for its hardiness and usefulness as a privacy screen. Another favorite is the corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa'), the spiral stems of which are used in dried flower arrangements. This is a fast grower, but it's more of a tall shrub than a tree, which makes it suitable for hedges and privacy screens.
Although its needles make it look like an evergreen, this cypress is actually a deciduous conifer (tht is, it loses its needles in winter). It's slender, cone shaped growth pattern make it popular in landscaping. Another reason for this tree's popularity it its excellent ability grow in or around water or saturated land by producing protruding knobs (known as "knees") that extend above water or the wet soil.
Fast growing hardwood trees: oak, maple, and elm
This popular maple is best known for its brilliant red autumn leaves. In early spring, it produces hanging clusters of small red or yellow flowers in early spring, usually before it puts out leaves. The tree typically reaches 70 feet tall and 40 feet wide, but in the moist, acidic soils of its native territory (USDA zones 3 to 9), it can reach up to 90 feet. It's a highly tolerant tree, though, and can grow in almost any climate.
Some faster growing varieties of oak include the sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima), willow oak (Quercus phellos), and water oak (Quercus nigra). The sawtooth oak produces acorns in as soon as six years. The stately willow oak is one of the best choices for pest- and disease resistant trees. The tall, slender water oak does well in wet, sandy soils in warm climates.
Native to the riverbanks and floodplains of the eastern US, sycamores are magnificent long-lived trees shade trees with beautiful white bark and brilliant yellow leaves in autumn. Unfortunately, they're also messy as they shed their bark, and drop large leaves and fuzzy seed balls. Because these trees can reach up to 60-100 feet tall with as spread of 80 feet, they're appropriate only for the largest of landscapes with moist, rich soil and plenty of water.
Although this tree is still susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease, it's fast growing and can stay beautiful for many years without any problems. The American elmis is a large spreading shade tree that can grow up to 80 feet tall at maturity. Plant these from Zones 4 to 9, and keep them well watered and fertilized.
Fast growing evergreen trees (conifers)
The black pine, eastern white pine, and Loblolly pine are some of the faster growing varieties of pine. The black pine (Pinus nigra) grows to 90 feet in a dense conical shape and produces long, dark green needles. Its size and strength make it an excellent windbreak tree. The eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) grows approximately one foot a year for the first 6-7 years and can reach 80-110 feet with a spread of 20-40 spread. It produces soft, light green-blue needles of 4 inches long. The Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) is native to the southeastern US, where it can grow to over 100 feet
The Douglas fir is one of the fastest growing of all evergreen forest trees and grows much faster then the Frazier fir. Works well as a stand alone specimen or in rows to line a driveway.
The Norway spruce (Picea abies) is one of the fastest growing of all the spruces. As the tree grows older, the side branches become horizontal, turning upward at the tip. Secondary branches hang downward giving the tree a weeping effect.
This trees dense sprays of bright blue-green foliage make it well loved throughout its native US Southwest. A medium to fast growing tree, the Leyland cypress works well as a privacy screen. On the downside, they only live to twenty or twenty-five years and even more established cyrus may have a shallow root systems, making them liable blow over in high winds.
This tree is one of the "false ceders" native to the US Pacific Northwest and is, in reality, a type of cypress. It's aromatic wood earned it the name "incense," but its fast growth-rate makes it popular in home landscapes, too. The sweeping sprays of delicate needles add grace to the garden, while it's unual bark adds texture. Younger trees have a scaley, purplish bark while the bark of older trees deepens to reddish and becomes deeply furrowed. It produces unusual comes about 1 inch that resemble a duck's bill when closed, but flare open later in the season.
Fast growing flowering trees
This warm-climate ornamental tree can reach 30 to 40 feet with a comprable spread. The dome-shaped tree produces bright green summer foliage that turns yellow in autumn. Large yellow flowers are followed by papery, green fruit reminiscent of clusters of Chinese lanterns, that changes to yellow and then brown. It tolerates sandy or clay soils and is tough enough for urban landscapes.
Also called the tulip-poplar, white-poplar, yellow poplar, and whitewood, the tulip tree's problems with litter, aphids, and limb breakage make its use controversial, but it's flowers keep it popular. Make a good street-side tree.
The sast growing magnolia's non-invasive root system that makes it good for small backyards. These trees keep their attractive shape all year round, so they look good even when not in bloom.
The Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum) and the Northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) are also sometimes recommended for fast growth and flowers, but both tend to be invasive and are best avoided despite their attractiveness.
Fast growing trees to beware of
With an outstandingly fast growth rate of 6 to 10 feet per year, it's no wonder this species can become invasive in warmer areas (zones 8-10) of the US, where it's known to produce suckers and self-sow exuberantly. In cooler areas (zones 5-7), growth is typically slower, but then the masses of fragrant purple-red flowers the tree is loved for don't always apprear at these lower temperatures.
Although the Siberian elm is hardy in hot, dry conditions, it's also prone to diseases, limb breakage, and elm leaf beetle and, on top of all that, it also tends to be messy.
The tough plant produces edible berries and thrives in poor conditions. Unfortunately, it often thrives a little too well, taking over whole sections of the garden and ousting native vegetation. Once established, the plant is almost impossible to eradicate. What's more, the prolific flowers produce lots of pollen to aggrevate allergies. As if that weren't enough, the tree's straggling growth pattern has earned it the nickname "ugly Agnes," a moniker derived from it's Latin name, Eleagnus.
Sometimes praised as a drought and heat tolerant tree that can thrive where no other green thing would set root, it's precisely this tree's unstoppable growth and stubborness that's earned it the name "Tree from Hell" and a place on the invasive species list in 42 US states. In some cases, though, it can be useful. If you’re dealing with truly difficult conditions in Texas or Arizona, the tree a heaven may be just the tree for you. If you do choose to plant it, pull out unwanted young seedlings by the roots to keep the plant from taking over.
The poplar is planted primarily for its columnar form and usefulness as a windbreak. The most common poplar, the Lombardy poplar, however is a short-lived tree and only survives for twenty or so years, and they're also canker-prone and messy. If you decide to plant poplars, choose one of the longer-lived "Theves" hybrid strains.
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