Evergreen Trees
An evergreen is a tree that keeps it’s foliage year-round. This gives evergreens a huge advantage over deciduous trees because they can harvest sunlight all year. Warm season trees like palm trees are evergreens but we don’t get those in Canada.
In Ontario, all of our native evergreen trees are conifers (trees with cones) like pines, cedars, and spruces. We also have one variety each of fir and hemlock. Conifers are super hardy thanks to the waxy coatings on their needles. The wax prevents them from losing water and allows them to survive frost.
Another bonus of having needles is that conifers are less likely to catch wind and get uprooted by a storm. Plus, needles aren’t as tasty as leaves for bugs and other herbivores. Pinecones on the other hand have seeds that are eaten by birds and squirrels so having conifers in your garden will attract them.
Here’s the 9 species of evergreen that can be found in Ontario, Canada:
Balsam Fir
Balsam firs have fairly long needles coming in at about 3 inches, beating most conifers other than pines. Their cones stand upright and have a blueish-purple color when young. They also produce a oily sap that is commonly used for its aromatic and antiseptic properties. They’re probably the most popular tree to use as a Christmas tree on this list. This could be thanks to their wide, full spread (sometimes reaching more than 50 feet) and their pleasant aroma.
Black Spruce
Black spruces are a medium height, narrow conifer with short needles and low sweeping limbs. These long-living trees have redish-purple cones that can stay on the tree for 30 years. They are the smallest cones of any spruce tree and they grow in clusters at the top of the tree.
Eastern Hemlock
Unlike most conifers who like to have lots of sunlight, the eastern hemlock needs shade from taller trees or buildings to survive their youth. They don’t grow super fast but they keep growing until age 250 and can live to be nearly 1000 years old.
Jack Pine
The jack pine is also known as the gray pine but there are other species that carry the same name so I went with the former. Jack pines are well adapted to sandy and rocky soil and can handle a few days without rain.
It is known to not grow straight up sometimes giving it a wavy trunk. The cones are also curved and can stay closed on the forest floor for many years before they are opened by the heat of a forest fire.
The pine family has the longest needles of any conifer but jack pine needles are only about an inch long.
Red Cedar
The red cedar, also known as the eastern juniper, is known for its aromatic berries that can be used for flavoring gin. Only the females have berries though, the males have pinecones.
The birds also love the berries and they spread them far and wide, often making the red cedar one of the first trees to repopulate barren land. They are another long-living species that can live past 900 years old in the right conditions.
The red cedar has the smallest pinecones and the smallest needles on the list. The small, soft needles make them a good pick for your garden if you think there will be children running around.
Red Pine
The red pine has the longest needles of any on this list growing up to 6 inches long. Red pines are known for their redish bark and for being similar to the red pines in Norway giving them the nickname “Norway Pine”. This tree is not a fan of metropolitan areas as it gets sick or infested easily.
White Pine
The eastern white pine is the fastest growing conifer in Ontario with growth rates reported to be up to 5 feet a year! This makes them popular for timber and pretty much any other use. It is recommended to plant them 6 feet apart for timber and in double or triple rows for windbreaks. They are the tallest growing tree on the list with one tree reported to be 189 feet tall. Their spread is also fairly big reaching up to 40 feet if given the room. Their pinecones are also the biggest coming in at up to 8 inches. The white pine is definitely a winner when it comes to size.
White Cedar
The white cedar has been used as a medicine for generations by native peoples for scurvy and other illnesses. It’s other name “arborvitae” literally means tree(arbor)-life(vitae).
Today, the white cedar or eastern arborvitae is widely cultivated for its soft, dense, needles which make them great for landscaping. This tree rarely grows past 50 feet tall and it dwarfs the others on this list.
Even with its small height cap, the white cedar is the longest living evergreen in Ontario. The oldest one we know of is 1316 years old can be found on the cliffs of Lion’s End.
White Spruce
The white spruce can deal with deer, drought, or shade, but don’t plant one near the street as they don’t like salt. These trees are highly resistant to cold and grow further north than any other tree in Canada. I read that they can occasionally live up to 1000 years old. However, I couldn’t find any specific examples of old white spruces.
Well, that wraps up my list of Ontario native evergreens. There are plenty of beautiful native options for any use and for any size property. I used the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s native plant encyclopedia to find which varieties can be found in Ontario. You can find the encyclopedia here:
Canadian Wildlife Federation: Native Plant Encyclopedia (cwf-fcf.org)
Ontario Native Evergreen Statistics
I’ve compiled some of the data I found while doing research for this post in the graph below. Please note that for all “maximums” I’ve used the highest numbers I could find. These trees are anomalies and are growing in nearly perfect conditions. “Maximums” are therefore not a good representation of what to expect from your trees.
| Tree Variety | Max Age | Max Height | Max Spread | Growth Rate | Needle Length | Pinecone Length | Sun Requirements | Soil Requirements | Weakness |
| Balsam Fir | 200 years | 104 feet | 53 feet | 1 foot/year | 1 inch | 2-4 inches | full sun-shade | moist, well-drained | drought, wind |
| Black Spruce | 343 years | 98 feet | 30 feet | 6 inches/year | 1/2 inch | 1/2-1+1/2 inches | full sun-shade | moist, well-drained | heat, wind |
| Eastern Hemlock | 988 years | 175 feet | 35 feet | 1-2 feet/year | 1/2 inch | 1 inch | full sun-full shade | moist, well-drained | salt, heat, drought, wind, pests, disease |
| Jack Pine | 246 years | 100 feet | 30 feet | 2+ feet/year | 1 inch | 1-2 inches | full sun | sandy, rocky | shade |
| Red Cedar | 940 years | 65 feet | 20 feet | 1-2 feet/year | 1/16-1/4 inch | 1/8-1/4 inch | full sun-part shade | very adabtable | outcrowding other plants |
| Red Pine | 465 years | 141 feet | 25 feet | 1 foot/year | 5-6 inches | 2-3 inches | full sun-part shade | moist, well-drained | salt, wind, pests, disease |
| White Pine | 486 years | 189 feet | 40 feet | 2-5 feet/year | 3-6 inches | 8 inches | full sun-part shade | moist | drought, pollution, high pH soil, clay soil |
| White Cedar | 1316 years | 70 feet | 15 feet | 1-2 feet/year | 1/8-1/4 inch | 1/4-1/2 inch | full sun-part shade | moist, well-drained | salt, drought, wind, snow, pests |
| White Spruce | 1000 years | 140 feet | 20 feet | 1-2 feet/year | 1/2-3/4 inch | 1-2 inches | full sun-part shade | moist, well-drained | salt, drought, poor drainage, pests |
Books Now Open For Tree Planting Fall 2024
If you live in Ontario and need help planting trees, we offer a full tree planting service as well as garden design and maintenance services.
Saplings are much more cost effective than adult trees and have less environmental impact to deliver and transplant. You will need to be patient for the end result that you want, but every year you will get to see your trees grow with you.
Contact us below for your native Ontario evergreens and other native plants like deciduous trees, ornamental grasses, perennials, and fruits & veggies.
