Native Trees
Now and in years to come...
What counts as native? Anything that grows somewhere in Alberta? Anything that grows in my local eco zone (Aspen Parkland, where I live) Anything that grows in the particular environment where I'm at?
I take the first approach. This stretches things toward the drier, warmer end somewhat, but it's likely to get drier and warmer.
Alberta can be divided up into major climate zones:
Mountain -- From about 4500 feet elevation and up. Somewhat higher at the south end of the province. That line where prairie ends and solid, mostly coniferous trees begin. It's really a band of zones that change with elevation. The bottom level is essentially aspen parkland but not much grass in it. Above that you get more balsam fir. White spruce is mixed with Engelmann spruce, but these two trees are difficult to differentiate. In areas with fast drainage, you get lodgepole pine instead of spruce. At the highest elevation you get alpine fir and scrub willow and dwarf birch. Then above that only some tough grasses, mosses and a few brave alpine plants.
Aspen Parkland -- An area of mixed aspen, groves of spruce, and prairie grasslands. The overall balance shifts with rainfall -- grasslands growing in dry spells, spruce forests burning in dry spells, aspen expanding into grasslands during wet decades, spruce coming in as secondary trees as aspen die of old age. This is complicated by creek areas where balsam poplar and willow dominate, slough margins with willow and birch and black spruce. I know this one best because I live here.
Boreal Mixed forest. -- A band of forested areas with mostly mixes of spruce and poplar, but pine on sandy/rocky soils.
Mixed Grass Prairie. -- Left to itself, you get a mixture of grasses, a few drought adapted shrubs. Trees are confined to coulees and areas near water.
Alberta Native trees & shrubs.
This list is not complete. There are additional shrubs that I'm still learning about, but that aren't common in Aspen Parkland. There are a raft of willows that are difficult to tell apart. Entries in bold are ones I normally carry, although some of them are available in very limited nubmers as I harvest them wild from my own woods.
Conifer Trees
- Tamarack (Peat bogs in all forested regions)
- Alpine Larch (Mountain zone)
- Western Larch (Southern mountain zone)
- Balsam Fir (Mountain zone, Boreal zone, Rare in Aspen Parkland)
- Alpine Fir(Mountain zone)
- White Spruce (All but mixed grass prairie)
- Black Spruce (Wetlands and moist sites)
- Englemann Spruce (Sub-alpine regions in Mountain zone)
- Lodgepole Pine (Mountain, SW Boreal, Aspen Parkland)
- Jack Pine ( NE Boreal, Uncommon in Aspen Parkland)
- Limber Pine (Mountain)
- Whitebark Pine (Mountain)
- Ponderosa Pine (SW Mountain Region)
- Douglas Fir (Mountain Region S of Calgary)
- Western Red Cedar (Spotty in Jasper Park)
Conifer Shrubs
- Common Juniper
- Creeping Juniper
- Mountain Juniper
Leafy Trees
- Aspen Poplar
- Balsam Poplar
- Manitoba Maple (Native to SE corner of Alberta)
- Paper Birch
- Black Birch
Round Leaf Hawthorn
Green Alder
Leafy Shrubs
- Beaked Hazelnut
- Dwarf Birch
- Wild Gooseberry
- Wild Black Currant / Black Gooseberry
- Wild Red Currant
- Saskatoon
- Shrubby Cinqfoil / Potentilla
- * Pinchery *
- * Chokecherry*
- * Prickly Wild Rose*
- Common Wild Rose
- * Wild Raspberry*
- * Wolf Willow *
- Canada Buffaloberry
- Silver Buffaloberry
- Common Redosier Dogwood
- Labrador Tea
- Common Blueberry
- Bracted Honeysuckle
- Twining Honeysuckle
- Buckbrush / Snowberry
- Low bush cranberry
- High Bush Cranberry
- Bebb Willow
- Pussy Willow
- Coyote / Sandbar willow
- Bog Willow
- Golden Currant
- Douglas Maple
- Mountain Alder
- River Alder
- Red Elderberry
Please be patient
Lodgepole Pine in our front yard.
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Sherwood's Forests is located about 75 km southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. Please refer to the map on our Contact page for directions.