California Grown Evergreens: Enhancing Your Landscape with Versatile and Hardy Trees

When it comes to creating a backdrop of lush greenery, nothing does it better than California evergreen trees. Tourists have long flocked to the state to admire its towering redwoods and pristine forests, but its vast greenery doesn’t stop there. Versatile, hardy, and adaptable, the California evergreen is a prime choice for enhancing your landscape at home, especially due to its easy to care for and long-lasting qualities.

Unlike deciduous trees that shed their leaves every year, evergreens boast year-round foliage. Although the word evergreen conjures up images of towering pines, the term actually applies to any tree that keeps its green foliage throughout the year and has the ability to endure cold weather, dry seasons, and humidity. This versatility makes evergreen trees a great option for bringing visual interest to your landscape—even better, they grow fast with little maintenance, helping ensure instant privacy.

California privacy trees can be enjoyed throughout much of the continental United States when planted in the appropriate USDA growing zone. Read on to learn about the wide varieties of these evergreen trees and their many benefits.

California Grown Evergreens Care and Maintenance

California evergreens are loved for their many low-maintenance qualities. Many varieties boast disease resistance, cold hardiness, and drought tolerance, meaning they can be planted without worry. Though care instructions will vary depending on the variety of California evergreen you select, here are some important elements to consider when making your purchasing decision.

The first step in selecting the right evergreen variety for your landscape is to take stock of your desired location. Evergreens are a popular choice for creating a privacy border, which helps block traffic and neighbor noise. If creating a privacy border is your intention, you’ll want to measure the area where you’d like to create your wall and how tall you’d like your privacy fence to be. This will help inform how many trees you’ll need and how far apart the trees will need to be planted, to take advantage of the evergreen’s full height potential (crowding will cause shorter trees!).

If planting an evergreen as more of a focal point, you’ll still need to make sure your tree has adequate space to thrive and is planted away from buildings, sidewalks, and utility lines. Spacing—from both a height and width perspective—is key as many evergreens can reach as tall as 50 feet and as wide as 30 feet.

In choosing your planting area, the amount of sunlight your trees will receive is also important to consider. Most evergreens require partial to full sun, between 4 to 8 hours, to reach their towering heights. Perhaps most importantly, you’ll need to ensure whichever variety you select is compatible with your growing zone.

Fast Growing Trees differs from other nurseries because our Plant Experts specially nurture our evergreens so their roots are strong and can immediately thrive once planted at your home. On initial planting, regular watering will be needed to help settle the roots. But once established, most evergreen varieties can suffice on rainwater alone, unless your area is prone to periods of severe drought

Most evergreen varieties don’t require fertilizing or pruning, adding to their low-maintenance appeal. To enjoy fast growing evergreen trees California style, learn more about the varieties of evergreens available for planting in the Golden State and more below.

Most areas within northern California boast a marine environment, which includes mild summers and winters, a dry summer season, and a wet winter. Trailing from the Oregon border down along the Sierra Nevada Mountains, this area can grow a number of well-adapted evergreens such as the Berckman's Gold Arborvitae.

Coastal California, which runs from San Francisco all along the coastline to Los Angeles, enjoys mild, warm, and dry summers and deals with higher humidity year-round. While winters can be cold, and fall and winter bring with them high precipitation, this region rarely deals with temperatures below freezing, making evergreens like the Taylor Juniper and Leyland Cyprus favorites in these areas.

Unlike its northern counterparts, southern California’s desert climate deals with wide swings in temperatures—ranging from hot summers to cold winters. This affects the Los Angeles suburbs of the Valley, areas south of Fresno, and Joshua Tree National Park. Winds can be high in this area, with low to average humidity and low precipitation year-round. When planting in the desert climate, you’ll want to make sure you have proper irrigation and watering tools so your evergreens maintain healthy, vivid greenery.

The best time of year to plant evergreens is generally early to mid spring or fall. While specific instructions will vary depending on the variety, for evergreen trees California grown, you’ll want to dig a hole about twice the size of the tree’s root ball, place the tree in the hole and backfill with soil, watering well to settle the roots. Read on to learn more about specific varieties of California-bred evergreens and their unique qualities.

Types of Evergreen Trees in California

California boasts some of the country’s most beautiful evergreens—many of which can be grown and enjoyed throughout the country with proper care. Here are some of our bestselling varieties, much-loved by customers for their versatility and beauty.

Emerald Green Thujas feature easy-growing foliage and are ideally sized for most outdoor spaces. Named for its richly colored beauty, the Thuja tolerates a range of soil types and extreme weather, is disease resistant and drought tolerant, and cold hardy down to -30 degrees.

Reaching mature heights of 8-12 feet tall, the Thuja’s lush greenery makes it an ideal choice for privacy screens. Though well-suited for California's in-land areas, it is also a popular evergreen choice throughout the continental United States, growing well in zones 3-8.

The Italian Cypress, with its elegant, columnar silhouette, speaks volumes within any landscape. Reminiscent of classical Mediterranean estates, the Italian Cypress doesn’t just boast good looks, but also low-maintenance properties. Specially nurtured for California landscapes, its dense, vibrant foliage features a soft texture alongside its smog and deer resistance.

Plant these stunners in your yard as eye-catching focal points or plant in chic containers besides your doorway to greet visitors. Reaching heights of 35-40 feet, Italian Cypresses are also available as small evergreen trees California style—the Dwarf Italian Cypress tree reaches a mature width of just 2 feet, making a big impact even in the most narrow spaces. Whichever variety you plant, be sure they have access to full sun, maintain moderately moist soil, and are compatible with zones 8-10.

Benefits of Fast Growing Evergreen Trees for California

The benefits of California evergreens are numerous, which is why they’re among some of our bestselling trees, both within California and beyond.

Privacy: Cheaper and more appealing to the eye than a metal or wooden fence, evergreens are often planted as a privacy barrier because of their lush greenery and space-saving width. With the ability to reach heights taller than the average home, they keep away noisy neighbors and help dim the noise from nearby streets and houses.

Cold hardiness: While newly planted evergreens may need some protection during harsh winters, most evergreen trees are bred to withstand colder temperatures, like the Emerald Green Thuja, which can tolerate temperatures as low as -30 degrees. Cone-shaped evergreen trees naturally ease off snowfall, reducing the weight on their branches to prevent breakage. Additionally, needled evergreen trees that keep their wax-coated leaves during the winter avoid excess water loss.

Disease and pest resistance: California evergreens maintain fast, sturdy growth because of their strength and innate ability to deter natural enemies like pests and deer.

When you shop with FastGrowingTrees, rest assured your tree is ready to thrive. Our experienced team of horticulturalists inspect every tree before it leaves our nursery, ensuring it’s developed healthy roots. Your California grown beauty is ready and waiting! Still not sure which evergreen is right for your landscape? Reach out to our Plant Experts for help.

Common Questions about California Evergreens

What are the best evergreen plants for low maintenance?

Because of their ability to keep their leaves throughout the year, all evergreens have some degree of low-maintenance. However, because of their disease and drought resistance, the Thuja Green Giant and Emerald Green Thujas are among our most popular evergreen varieties.

What fertilizer do evergreen trees need?

Many evergreen varieties don’t require regular fertilizing, unless your yard requires it. However, some varieties will benefit from a general evergreen and shrub fertilizer in early spring.

What is the most beautiful evergreen?

When it comes to evergreens, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Known for their rich green hues and towering heights, all evergreens inspire awe and it just comes down to an individual’s preference.

More Resources About California Evergreen Trees

Plant Care Guides: Evergreen Trees

Plant Recommendations: Evergreen Trees