Betula pendula

Silver Birch

Among deciduous trees, these are right at the top for popularity. With a light and airy gracefulness, they have proved adaptable to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. The main branches grow upright, but the side branches are graceful and pendulous. Bark on young trees and branches is golden brown, but mature trunks and limbs become silvery-white and papery with black clefts - very conspicuous in winter. Whether planted singly or in groups, they will seldom fail to impress and are great in a woodland setting.

6m x 5m

Prunus x yedoensis ‘Awanui’

Hybrid Yoshino Cherry

Quite possibly the most popular variety of flowering cherry in the Auckland area. The hybrid Yoshino cherry is known for the great masses of beautiful pale shell-pink, large single blossoms that become white with age. Flowers are faintly fragrant and smother the tree in early spring. 'Awanui' has an excellent spreading form with horizontal branches that weep with age - an excellent shade tree for summer. The dark green foliage changes colour to a golden yellow in autumn before falling.

5m x 6m

Liquidambar styraciflua

American Sweet Gum

This handsome tree hails from USA and is one of the finest deciduous trees for autumn colour. The maple-like leaves provide a fantastic display with the whole tree painted a riot of colour in tones of red, yellow, orange, green and purple from March to June. The leaves fall to reveal the bare, shapely framework with its rugged, corky bark and its stately, pyramidal form of beautifully spaced branches. Ultimately grows to a good size, so give plenty of space - makes an ideal specimen or feature tree.

7m x 5m

Prunus campanulata 'Superba'

Formosan or Taiwanese Cherry

A robust grower from Taiwan / Formosa, this flowering cherry has beautiful bell shaped flowers, 3cm in size and of a lovely claret-red. The flowers smother the branches from early spring, hanging in drooping clusters. With the blossoms being full of nectar they are most tempting to birds, especially the tui. The tree is densely branched and bushy with a graceful, slender habit. Generally regarded as the brightest coloured and earliest blooming of all the flowering cherries and a well established specimen in full flower is an arresting sight.

5m x 4m

Ginkgo biloba

Maidenhair Tree

Easily one of the world's most urban tolerant trees, often growing where other trees cannot survive, it is also one of the best known examples of a living fossil, having changed little over the millennia. It has delicate green foliage in spring and summer that changes to a buttery yellow over autumn. A popular tree with elegant framework and a neat pyramidal habit.

12m x 8m

Fraxinus oxycarpa var. raywoodii

Claret Ash

One of the most popular deciduous trees available and an ideal candidate as a lawn specimen, shade tree or for street or avenue planting. With an elegant framework and neat pyramidal habit, the handsome leaves are up to 30cm long and divided into many leaflets. These are bright green through spring and summer, before gradually deepening into rich purple with claret-red tones in autumn. Tolerates average soils, but benefits from some summer moisture and mulching.

10m x 5m

Cotinus 'Grace'

Smoke Bush

This amazing cultivar is a hybrid Cotinus and deserves to be more widely grown. It has leaves an intense wine-red when young, darkening to plum-red at maturity before they turn to an bright orange-red in the autumn. In mid summer, the shrub is festooned with masses of deep-pink flowers that cover the whole bush and give rise to the common name.

2.5m x 2.5m

Jacaranda mimosifolia

Jacaranda

Surely the most beautiful and popular of all urban trees - it is well known in many subtropical regions of the world and is highly valued for their intense blue-lilac flower displays in late spring. Here in NZ, they do not flower as prolifically as warn destinations like Brisbane and Pretoria, but they will thrive in warm, frost-free positions and delight you with their showy display in late spring to early summer.

10m x 8m

Pistacia chinensis

Chinese Pistachio

This colourful deciduous tree is a smaller grower that provides a dazzling autumnal display in warmer areas of the country. Related to the edible pistachio nut, this species is grown more for the elegant green glossy leaves that are comprised of 10 - 16 tiered leaflets. This foliage colours beautifully in autumn in gorgeous tones of scarlet, crimson, orange and often yellow - with colours more intense in warmer climates. This plant thrives in any reasonable soil and climate and is a great plant to add a splash of colour into the garden.

5m x 4m

Gleditsia triacanthos 'Inermis'

Green Honey Locust

In North America, Honey Locusts are popular ornamental trees well suited to the urban environment and are one of the most beautiful and popular deciduous trees available. Noted for the delicate foliage of divided leaflets, this cultivar does not produce the large thorns that the wild plant is known to. The plant has an irregular habit with non symmetrical branching and is a fantastic shade or lawn tree specimen. Bark can be somewhat brittle and not suitable to high winds or coastal exposure.

6m x 3m

Liriodendron chinense

Tulip Tree

A handsome deciduous tree hailing from China with a clean trunk and spreading, ascending braches that ultimately form a tall, pyramidal crown. It is noted for its tulip shaped flowers, but also the curious large, saddle-shaped leaves. These are bright green in spring and summer and turn a beautiful yellow-gold in autumn, making a spectacular display. Give plenty of space and makes an ideal specimen or feature tree.

6m x 4m

Gleditsia triacanthos 'Sunburst'

Golden Honey Locust

One of the most beautiful and popular of the yellow-foliaged deciduous trees. This tree is noted for the new spring foliage, which emerges with a bright golden hue before fading to green over summer. The plant has an irregular habit with non symmetrical branching and is a fantastic shade or lawn tree specimen. Bark can be somewhat brittle and not suitable to high winds or coastal exposure.

6m x 3m

Quercus palustris

Pin Oak

A useful landscaping tree with a pyramidal shape when young that becomes more open and round headed at maturity with the lower branches almost drooping to the ground. The dark green leaves are oak shaped, finely cut and turn a brilliant scarlet, yellow and red bronze in autumn. The tree has characteristic twiggy growth giving a delicate appearance that is unusual in oaks. A very hardy tree that grows moderately fast in moist conditions and will withstand some dry, though only when established.

10m x 5m

Acer palmatum

Japanese Maple

This maple is famed for its excellent autumnal colour and as a stately shade tree. The prized autumn leaf colour has leaves changing from green in spring and summer into shades of yellow, orange and red tones. It does best in full sun to part shade and prefers an evenly moist soil that is well drained. Mulch well in summer to keep the roots cool and moist. It needs protection from strong drying winds otherwise leaves will scorch and burn

6m x 4m

Acer davidii

David's Maple

This tree is relatively rare in cultivation and often not thought of as a maple as the leaf shape is quite different to most commonly available maples. It is one of several Acer species known as a stripebark or snakebark maple due to the lovely prominent silver 'lightning strike' marks on the bark. Has three-lobed, heart-shaped leaves, unevenly toothed and glossy green in colour during spring and summer and golden with some red-orange in autumn.

8m x 4m

Acer palmatum var. dissectum

Weeping Maple

These stunning deciduous trees have graceful branches, first horizontal, then weeping to the ground and are clothed in delicate finely cut, almost fern-like leaves, with either a rich green in the green forms or a rich burgundy-red in the purple forms. Weeping maples are elegant, exclusive shrubs for the discerning gardener and are best located in a sheltered site where they will be greatly admired. With a dwarf habit of growth, they are slow growing, but will continue to increase in shape and beauty throughout their long life. Plant in rich soil, mulch well and supply adequate summer moisture. They can be grafted at any height and will weep and cascade from that height. Forms range in height from 1m, 1.2m, 1.5m and 1.8m.

1 - 1.8m x 1.5m

Taxodium distichum

Swamp Cypress

A most beautiful and unusual tree from southern USA where it abounds in rivers and coastal swamps preferring damp, wet soils. It forms a large tree with fibrous, reddish-brown bark and a strongly buttressed trunk that tapers widely at the base. Great habit to tree and ultimately forming attractive pyramidal shape. Beautiful soft green, ferny foliage that turns to rich golden brown and orange in autumn before falling.

7m x 4m

Acer palmatum var. atropurpureum

Purple Japanese Maple

This stunning deciduous tree is by far one of the most popular ornamental plants for the garden and is the most attractive of the Japanese maples. It is well known for its rich crimson foliage in spring that ages to dark purple in summer, before changing to bright scarlet in autumn. It has a nicely branched growth habit and typical maple-shaped, five lobed leaves. All this as well as having dramatic, deep purple stems all through winter. A very versatile plant that deserves a space in every garden.

6m x 3m