Native Evergreen Conifers

Highlights

An evergreen is the plant your yard leans on in February, when everything else is sticks. Pines, spruces, hemlocks and the trees we call cedars all keep their needles through winter, and the native ones are caterpillar food on a grand scale: pines (Pinus) host 409 native moths and butterflies in the Shropshire-Tallamy caterpillar records.

The trick is knowing which group fits your yard. Sun, soil and region decide most of it. This page sorts that out quickly, then sends you to the guide for the group you want.

Why native conifers matter

Start with caterpillars. Pines (Pinus) host 409 native moths and butterflies in the Shropshire-Tallamy caterpillar records, spruces (Picea) 262 and hemlocks (Tsuga) 169. Junipers add 111.

Cover in the worst weather

Dense evergreen branches are shelter when the hardwoods are bare, and eastern hemlock gives winter and severe-weather cover. White-tailed deer lean on them too: northern white cedar is highly preferred by white-tailed deer for both shelter and browse.

Seeds for the specialists

Red crossbills come in at least 11 different types, and their bill size tracks the size of the cones they work. Clark’s nutcrackers bury pine seeds by the thousands, and after fires limber pine forests regrow largely from nutcracker seed caches. Pinyon seeds have no wings at all, so the trees depend upon the behavior of four corvid species to spread.

Which conifer am I looking at?

Grab a branch and work down the list.

• Needles in bundles: a pine. Pine needles grow in little bundles, sheathed at base, although white pines shed the sheath early.
• Single needles, four-sided and stiff: a spruce. Roll one between your fingers. Spruce needles are 4-angled in cross section, so they spin.
• Single needles, flat and soft, with tiny cones: a hemlock. Eastern hemlock cones are about 3/4 inch long. (Firs have flat needles too, but their cones appear upright on branches.)
• No needles, just flat scales: a “cedar,” meaning a juniper, arborvitae or white cedar. None are true cedars, which grow only in the Old World.

The native conifer groups, and what each one is for

Each group has its own guide with species, sizes, zones and where to buy.

Native pines: sun, sand and speed

Thirty-seven pine species are native to the U.S. and Canada, from a 10 to 20 foot pinyon in the Southwest to a 60 to 120 foot longleaf in the Southeast. Most want full sun and good drainage, and several handle poor, sandy ground. Loblolly has the most rapid growth rate of all pines, but pinyon is slow, so growth speed depends on the species. Pick a pine for a sunny screen, a dry slope or a big open yard.

Native spruces: cold country and cover to the ground

Seven spruces are native to North America, and they are northern and mountain trees. Region matters more here than anywhere else. Colorado blue spruce is native to the Rockies, yet the University of Minnesota says it is “no longer recommended for Minnesota landscapes,” and in Michigan trials Black Hills spruce, a native form of white spruce, resisted the canker fungus that hit blue spruce hard.

Native hemlocks: the shade answer, with homework

Eastern hemlock can survive in as little as 5 percent of full sunlight, deeper shade than any other big native evergreen here. It is also under attack from hemlock woolly adelgid, which can kill mature trees in as little as 2 to 4 years. Treatment works. Penn State notes that one imidacloprid treatment typically lasts four to six years, so an eastern hemlock is a promise to check it every spring. In the Northwest, western and mountain hemlock are the natives to plant.

Native cedars and junipers: the tough sites

America’s cedars are junipers, arborvitae, white cedars, incense cedar and Alaska yellow cedar. Eastern red cedar has the best drought resistance of any conifer native to the eastern United States, while Atlantic white cedar prefers sandy, peaty, moist to wet, acidic soil. Native arborvitae is a lovely hedge, but deer damage can be a serious problem. Out West, Rocky Mountain juniper is the dry-country pick.

Bald cypress: the conifer that drops its needles

Not every conifer is evergreen. Bald cypress is deciduous, turning orange to cinnamon-brown before it drops its needles in fall, and it handles a wide range of soil conditions, including standing water. It’s the one to plant in a wet yard where most pines would struggle.

Which conifer is right for my region?

Pines in the sunny South and dry West, spruces and hemlocks where summers stay cool, cedars for the hardest sites everywhere. By region:

• Northeast: eastern white pine or red pine for sun, red or white spruce for a windbreak, eastern hemlock in shade if you’ll treat it, northern white cedar on limy ground.
• Mid-Atlantic: eastern white, pitch or Virginia pine; eastern red cedar for dry sites; Atlantic white cedar for wet, acidic ground.
• South: longleaf, loblolly or shortleaf pine, bald cypress in wet spots, and red spruce only high in the mountains, where it grows as low as 4,500 feet in the southern Appalachians.
• Midwest: jack and red pine in the north, shortleaf pine farther south, Black Hills spruce for windbreaks, eastern red cedar almost anywhere dry.
• Southwest: two-needle pinyon, ponderosa pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, and Colorado blue or Engelmann spruce up high.
• California: ponderosa pine and incense cedar in the mountains, western redcedar and Sitka spruce on the north coast.
• Northwest: western redcedar, western hemlock and Sitka spruce near the coast, shore pine in sand, Engelmann spruce east of the Cascades.

Where can I buy native conifers?

Ask for the species by its Latin name, buy small, and skip the European pines and spruces that fill garden-center lots. Start with our list of native plant nurseries or order online.

Similar native plants

If you want more evergreen in the yard, look at American holly and inkberry in the East, or Oregon grape and kinnikinnick in the West. They pair well with conifers, and they carry berries the needle trees don’t.

Start with sun and region, and the choice gets simple: a pine for the sunny dry spot, a cedar for the hard one, a spruce or hemlock where summers stay cool, bald cypress where water stands. Then head to the pines, spruces, hemlocks or cedars guide and pick your tree. Happy planting!

Written by

Emily Lessard

Founder & Editor, The Plant Native

Emily Lessard is the founder and editor of The Plant Native, the site that helps homeowners across North America get started with native plants. She holds a Sustainable Landscapes certificate through the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association, is finishing a Native Perennial Garden Design Certificate at Temple University, and is the author of Plant Native: A Practical Guide to Over 100 Native Plants of North America (Quarto, March 2027). She gardens outside Philadelphia in the 8.3 Southeastern Plains ecoregion.

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Updated October 12, 2026Find more: Beginner Guide · Evergreen · Evergreen Shrub · Evergreen Tree · Shrub · Tall Tree · Tree

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