How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z

The two tables below hold every species in our catalog, A to Z, with its class and the feet it climbs in a year while young. Each row also gives how tall it finally gets and how long a 3-foot sapling takes to pass 20 feet on an average site. Slow growers add about 1 foot a year, medium growers about 1.5 feet and fast growers about 2.75 feet, by the rules our growth estimator uses. Of the 364 species, 138 are slow, 171 medium and 55 fast. The quickest pass 20 feet in 7 years and the slowest in 27, and a tree or shrub that never passes it says so.

How to read the table

The class and the mature height are the ones Blue Whale Trees gives on each plant’s page, and the mature height is the top of that page’s range. The three classes follow the Missouri Department of Conservation’s growth key. A slow tree adds 12 inches or less a year, a medium tree 12 to 24 inches and a fast tree 24 inches or more. Our estimator puts a slow grower at 1 foot a year on an average site, a medium grower at 1.5 feet and a fast grower at 2.75 feet. Those are the figures in the Feet a year column.

The years to 20 feet are the estimator’s figures, not measurements. They start from a 3-foot sapling on an average site. Growth slows as a tree nears its mature height, so a tree that tops out near 20 feet takes far longer to get there than its class alone would say. A poor site grows at about two thirds of the average rate and a good site at about 1.3 times it. The estimator recomputes every figure here for a site, a starting size and a span of years of your choosing. A tree or shrub whose mature height is 20 feet or under never passes it, and its row says what it tops out at instead.

The first year or two after planting fall short of any rate while the roots take hold. The measured growth of our species, the inches a year that foresters have recorded, is in How fast native trees grow. This page is the table that article could not hold.

The quickest to 20 feet

By the estimator’s rules, 25 trees pass 20 feet in 7 years on an average site. They are the fast growers with a mature height well above it, and these are the ten tallest of them, with six more at 70 feet just below the list:

• Cherrybark Oak: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 6 to 9, 80 to 120 feet.
• Black Walnut: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 4 to 9, 70 to 100 feet.
• Black Cherry: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 2 to 9, 50 to 80 feet.
• Cucumber Magnolia: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 4 to 8, 50 to 80 feet.
• Nuttall Oak: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 5 to 9, 50 to 80 feet.
• Spruce Pine: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 7 to 9, 40 to 80 feet.
• Sugarberry: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 5 to 10, 50 to 80 feet.
• Northern Red Oak: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 3 to 8, 50 to 75 feet.
• Tamarack: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 2 to 6, 50 to 75 feet.
• Willow Oak: 7 years to 20 feet, fast class. Zones 5 to 9, 40 to 75 feet.

The slowest to 20 feet

Seven trees take 24 years or more to pass 20 feet, all slow growers with a mature height not far above it, and eight more tie at 21 years just below them. The seven:

• Pear Hawthorn: 27 years to 20 feet, slow class. Zones 4 to 8, 7 to 23 feet.
• Chapman Oak: 24 years to 20 feet, slow class. Zones 7 to 10, 10 to 25 feet.
• Florida Yew: 24 years to 20 feet, slow class. Zones 6 to 10, 12 to 25 feet.
• Franklin Tree: 24 years to 20 feet, slow class. Zones 5 to 9, 10 to 25 feet.
• Littlehip Hawthorn: 24 years to 20 feet, slow class. Zones 5 to 9, 10 to 26 feet.
• Mountain Maple: 24 years to 20 feet, slow class. Zones 2 to 7, 10 to 25 feet.
• Pagoda Dogwood: 24 years to 20 feet, slow class. Zones 3 to 8, 15 to 25 feet.

Trees, A to Z

The table holds the 183 trees we grow, small, medium and large. A name opens the plant’s page. A small tree that tops out at 20 feet or under never passes it, so its last column says the height it stops at.

Jump to a letter: A B C D E F G H K L M N O P R S T U W Y

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Shrubs, A to Z

The table holds the 181 shrubs we grow. A shrub that tops out at 20 feet or under never passes it, and its last column says the height it stops at.

Jump to a letter: A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U V W Y

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Common questions

How fast do native trees grow?

A slow grower adds about a foot a year while young, a medium one about a foot and a half and a fast one about 2.75 feet, on an average site. The first year or two after planting fall short of any rate while the roots take hold.

Which native trees grow fastest?

Cherrybark oak, black walnut, black cherry and cucumber magnolia are among the 25 trees that pass 20 feet in about 7 years from a 3-foot sapling on an average site. The fast class holds 55 of the 364 species we grow.

How many years does a tree take to reach 20 feet?

From a 3-foot sapling on an average site, about 7 years for the quickest fast growers and 27 for the slowest trees that get there at all. Most medium growers that mature well above 20 feet take 12 to 13 years.

Why does the site change the rate?

The estimator’s site factor stands for the water, soil depth and drainage a spot gives. A poor site runs at about two thirds of the average rate and a good one at 1.3 times it, and the table’s years are for an average site.