Native Tree List

Native trees, particularly oaks, are keystones to Barrington area ecosystems.

The beautiful, mature trees of our landscape do need care! Learn more with the Chicago Region Tree Initiative

Guaranteeing the continuation of the tree canopy into the future is also critical – planting young trees where appropriate ensures the next generations will fill the gaps left as trees age out.

What to do with all those leaves in the fall? Here are some tips on natural solutions that will benefit the trees, understory plantings, native pollinators and more!

Black Walnut

Juglans Nigra

Height: 50-75' | Width: 30-50'

Bark is medium brown and has thick, interfacing ridges. Leaves are green in summer, changing to yellow in fall. Fruit is a yellow-green, rounded husk, up to 2 inches in diameter, containing an edible nut.
Sugar Maple

Acer Saccharum

Height: 60-75' | Width: 40-50'

Bark is gray brown and deeply furrowed. The 5 lobed leaves are dark green in summer, changing to yellow, orange and red in fall.
Red Maple

Acer Rubrum

Height: 40-60' | Width: 35-45'

Mature bark is dark-gray with vertical, scaly plates. Young trees have smooth gray bark. Leaves emerge with red tinge but deepen to dark green. Fall color varies by cultivar from red to yellow to orange.
Black Maple

Acer Nigrum

Height: 60-75' | Width: 40-50'

Bark is dark gray to almost black and deeply furrowed. The 5 lobed leaves are dark green in summer, changing to yellow in fall.
Shagbark Hickory

Carya Ovata

Height: 60-80' | Width: 30-50'

Mature trees have gray bark that exfoliates in long flat plates with outwardly curving ends giving the tree a shaggy appearance. Leaves are dark green and fall color is golden brown. Fruit is a rounded nut with a thick four-sectioned husk, edible nut ripens in the fall.
Swamp White Oak

Quercus Bicolor

Height: 50-60' | Width: 50-60'

Mature bark is a dark gray-brown with blocky ridges. Leaves are dark green above with silvery-white underside. Leaves turn to golden or orange brown in fall.
White Oak

Quercus Alba

Height: 50-80' | Width: 100'

Bark is gray to light tan, with thick overlapping plates or thick ridges. New leaves emerge pinkish, changing to dark green, fall color is a wine red. Acorns have warty caps.
Red Oak

Quercus Rubra

Height: 60-75' | Width: 60-75'

Mature bark is dark gray with flat-topped ridges. Lower bark can be blocky or furrowed. Leaf color is dark green on upper surface and slightly paler beneath in summer and changing to a russet red to bright red in fall.
Bur Oak

Quercus Macrocarpa

Height: 70-80' | Width: 70-80'

Mature bark is dark gray to brown with deep furrows. Leaves are lustrous, dark green above with lighter silvery green beneath. Fall color is yellow-brown. Large acorns with fringed caps.
Blue Beech

Carpinus Caroliniana

Height: 20-30' | Width: 20-30'

Bark is blue-gray, fluted with long, sinewy ridges. Leaves emerge reddish-purple, changing to dark green, then yellow to orange-red in the fall.
Eastern White Pine

Pinus Strobus

Height: 50-80' | Width: 20-40'

Mature bark is dark grayish-brown with broad ridges and deep furrows. Evergreen needles arranged in clusters of 5; densely crowded near the ends of horizontal branches. Long and slender, up tp 8 inches, cylindrical brown cones with obvious white resin tips.