# Measuring trees: height, age and size, done honestly

> Articles on measuring trees: the sine method for height, why tangent readings run tall, how to estimate a tree's age, and why its size is a poor guide.

3 of 67 articles tagged Measuring trees. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/measuring-trees/. Each article links to its own Markdown page; each tag at the end has a page of its own.

These are for the trees you already have; what we sell arrives as a seedling or a young sapling and is measured by its age, not its height. The [growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md) turns a tree's height and trunk now into a projection of what a species does next.

## Articles tagged Measuring trees

- [Winter identification: telling native trees apart by bark, buds and twigs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/winter-tree-identification/index.html.md): How to identify a tree in winter by its bark, buds, twigs and pith, where the opposite-branching shortcut fails, and a table of winter signs for native trees. Published 2026-09-26; tags: How trees work, Measuring trees.
- [How old is that tree, really?](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/how-old-is-that-tree/index.html.md): Forest trees live far longer than the lifespans quoted online, and open-grown trees are usually younger than they look. Both errors ignore how trees grow. Published 2026-09-14, updated 2026-09-20; tags: Growth & age, Measuring trees, Oaks.
- [Why almost every tree height you read is too tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/tangent-vs-sine-tree-height/index.html.md): Why the tangent method overstates big hardwoods by ten to thirty feet, how the sine method with a laser fixes it, and how tall eastern trees really get. Published 2026-09-14, updated 2026-10-06; tags: Measuring trees, Growth & age.

## Tags

- [Growth & age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-and-age/index.html.md): 10 articles
- [Measuring trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/measuring-trees/index.html.md): 3 articles
- [Planting](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting/index.html.md): 22 articles
- [Protection & care](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protection-and-care/index.html.md): 21 articles
- [Decay & damage](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/decay-and-damage/index.html.md): 11 articles
- [How trees work](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/how-trees-work/index.html.md): 25 articles
- [Oaks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/oaks/index.html.md): 8 articles
- [Forests & habitat](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/forests-and-habitat/index.html.md): 24 articles
- [What to plant](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-to-plant/index.html.md): 30 articles