# Tree finder

> 46 of our 444 trees and shrubs match: zone 3, shade.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/?sun=shade&zone=3

Find the right native tree or shrub for your site by filtering on USDA hardiness zone, mature size, sun, soil moisture and what you want from each species. The list narrows as you set each filter. Every result is a tree or shrub we grow from seed, so anything it shows can be requested now and ordered once it is priced.

Start from

- [A small tree for shade](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=small-tree&sun=shade)
- [A small tree under wires](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=small-tree&height=20)
- [An evergreen hedge](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?want=evergreen,screening)
- [Wet ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?moisture=wet)
- [Trees for honey bees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?want=honey)

Without JavaScript the list here does not follow the form: it is the list for the choices in the address, or the finder's own example. The [shop](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md) lists the same trees and shrubs with its own filters and works without it. Set your choices below and press "Show these in the shop".

46 of our 444 trees and shrubs match

Matching: Zone 3, Shade.

Best fits first: those that list your sun outright, then those that only tolerate it.

- [American Basswood (Linden)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-basswood/index.html.md) (*Tilia americana*): Large tree, Zones 2–8, 60–90 ft, Price on request. The bee tree: a broad shade tree whose fragrant June flowers hum with pollinators.
- [Arrowwood Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/arrowwood-viburnum/index.html.md) (*Viburnum dentatum*): Shrub, Zones 2–8, 5–10 ft, Price on request. Blue-black berries nearly half fat by dry weight ripen from August for robins, bluebirds and catbirds, after flat white flower heads in May for the bees.
- [Balsam Fir](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/balsam-fir/index.html.md) (*Abies balsamea*): Medium tree, Zones 2–7, 40–75 ft, Price on request. The fragrant Christmas-tree fir of the North Woods, with flat, dark needles of strong balsam scent, upright purple cones and a narrow spire of a crown.
- [Bunchberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bunchberry/index.html.md) (*Cornus canadensis*): Shrub, Zones 2–6, 1 ft, Price on request. A dogwood only a few inches tall, with white four-bracted flowers in late spring, bunches of red berries in late summer and wine-red fall leaves.
- [Canada Yew](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/canada-yew/index.html.md) (*Taxus canadensis*): Shrub, Zones 2–7, 3–6 ft, Price on request. A low, sprawling evergreen for deep shade whose branches root as they spread, with bright red, berry-like fruit that birds eat.
- [Common Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/index.html.md) (*Celtis occidentalis*): Large tree, Zones 2–9, 40–60 ft, Price on request. Sole host of the hackberry emperor and American snout, with sweet fruit held for waxwings and bluebirds until March. A tough tree for dry or city ground.
- [Mountain Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-maple/index.html.md) (*Acer spicatum*): Small tree, Zones 2–7, 10–25 ft, Price on request. A shade-loving small maple with upright spikes of tiny flowers in early summer and leaves that turn yellow, orange and red in fall.
- [Nannyberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nannyberry/index.html.md) (*Viburnum lentago*): Shrub, Zones 2–9, 12–18 ft, Price on request. A big, adaptable viburnum with creamy flowers, edible blue-black fruit and wine-red fall color.
- [Red Osier Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-osier-dogwood/index.html.md) (*Cornus sericea*): Shrub, Zones 2–7, 6–12 ft, Price on request. A fast, thicket-forming shrub of wet ground whose young stems turn bright red after the leaves fall and glow against snow all winter.
- [Riverbank Grape](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/riverbank-grape/index.html.md) (*Vitis riparia*): Shrub, Zones 2–9, 35–75 ft, Price on request. A hardy native grape vine that climbs by tendrils along streams and fences, with fragrant spring flowers and tart blue-black grapes for birds and jelly.
- [Roundleaf Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roundleaf-dogwood/index.html.md) (*Cornus rugosa*): Shrub, Zones 2–8, 3–10 ft, Price on request. A shade-tolerant northern dogwood with nearly round, wrinkled leaves, flat clusters of white flowers and pale blue berries on red stalks.
- [Squashberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/squashberry/index.html.md) (*Viburnum edule*): Shrub, Zones 2–8, 2–7 ft, Price on request. A northern viburnum with lobed leaves that turn brilliant red in fall and sour red fruit for jam, for cool, moist woods and stream banks.
- [Trailing Arbutus](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/trailing-arbutus/index.html.md) (*Epigaea repens*): Shrub, Zones 2–8, 1 ft, Price on request. A creeping evergreen only inches high whose sweetly scented pink and white flowers open in early spring, the mayflower of New England woods.
- [Velvetleaf Blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/velvetleaf-blueberry/index.html.md) (*Vaccinium myrtilloides*): Shrub, Zones 2–7, 1–4 ft, Price on request. A low wild blueberry of the North with softly hairy leaves that turn red in fall and sweet, tart blue berries from July into September.
- [Alderleaf Buckthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/alderleaf-buckthorn/index.html.md) (*Rhamnus alnifolia*): Shrub, Zones 3–7, 2–5 ft, Price on request. A low native buckthorn of fens, swamps and wet thickets, with alder-like leaves and black fruit for birds, at home in cold, limy wetlands.
- [American Beech](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-beech/index.html.md) (*Fagus grandifolia*): Large tree, Zones 3–9, 50–80 ft, Price on request. A smooth, silver-gray tree of eastern forests, with triangular nuts that feed wildlife and copper fall leaves that cling through winter.
- [American Fly Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-fly-honeysuckle/index.html.md) (*Lonicera canadensis*): Shrub, Zones 3–7, 3–6 ft, Price on request. A native woodland honeysuckle of moist northern and mountain forests, with yellow flowers in pairs and twin red berries for birds.
- [American Hornbeam (Musclewood)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-hornbeam/index.html.md) (*Carpinus caroliniana*): Small tree, Zones 3–9, 20–35 ft, Price on request. Smooth, sinewy gray trunks, orange-red fall color and complete comfort in shade and damp soil.
- [Black Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-maple/index.html.md) (*Acer nigrum*): Large tree, Zones 3–8, 60–75 ft, Price on request. A sugar maple for warmer, drier ground, with a dense rounded crown, nearly black furrowed bark and sap that boils down to syrup.
- [Blackhaw Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/blackhaw/index.html.md) (*Viburnum prunifolium*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 12–15 ft, Price on request. A tough, tree-like viburnum with white spring flowers, purple-red fall color and sweet blue fruit.
- [Bladdernut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bladdernut/index.html.md) (*Staphylea trifolia*): Shrub, Zones 3–8, 8–15 ft, Price on request. Drooping white bell flowers in May and papery inflated seed pods that rattle in the fall wind.
- [Downy Arrowwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-arrowwood/index.html.md) (*Viburnum rafinesqueanum*): Shrub, Zones 3–8, 3–10 ft, Price on request. A small arrowwood for dry, shady woods, with flat white flower clusters in late spring, dark fruit for birds and purplish red fall leaves.
- [Eastern Hemlock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-hemlock/index.html.md) (*Tsuga canadensis*): Large tree, Zones 3–7, 40–100 ft, Price on request. A graceful evergreen of cool northern woods and Appalachian ravines, with flat sprays of fine needles and tiny cones, that grows even in deep shade.
- [Eastern Leatherwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-leatherwood/index.html.md) (*Dirca palustris*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 3–6 ft, Price on request. Tiny yellow flowers in the first week of spring, on a rare, slow shade shrub with bark you can tie in knots.
- [Eastern Teaberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-teaberry/index.html.md) (*Gaultheria procumbens*): Shrub, Zones 3–8, 1 ft, Price on request. An evergreen groundcover for acid shade, with glossy leaves that smell of wintergreen and red berries that often hang on through the winter.
- [Eastern Wahoo](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-wahoo/index.html.md) (*Euonymus atropurpureus*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 6–20 ft, Price on request. A native shrub or small tree of rich woods and stream banks, with dark purple flowers, yellow to red fall leaves and pink capsules that open on scarlet seeds.
- [Hobblebush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hobblebush/index.html.md) (*Viburnum lantanoides*): Shrub, Zones 3–6, 3–12 ft, Price on request. A shade shrub of cool northern woods with lacy white flower heads in spring and big heart-shaped leaves that turn bronze-red and purple in fall.
- [Hop Hornbeam](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hop-hornbeam/index.html.md) (*Ostrya virginiana*): Medium tree, Zones 3–9, 25–40 ft, Price on request. A tough, shade-tolerant tree of dry upland woods with shreddy bark and hop-like seed clusters.
- [Limber Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/limber-honeysuckle/index.html.md) (*Lonicera dioica*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 3–10 ft, Price on request. A low native honeysuckle that twines up a fence or sprawls as a shrub, with whorls of yellow to red flowers for hummingbirds and red berries for birds.
- [Mapleleaf Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mapleleaf-viburnum/index.html.md) (*Viburnum acerifolium*): Shrub, Zones 3–8, 3–6 ft, Price on request. A small viburnum for shade, with maple-shaped leaves that turn pink, magenta and purple in fall and blue-black berries for birds.
- [Mountain Fly Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-fly-honeysuckle/index.html.md) (*Lonicera villosa*): Shrub, Zones 3–6, 1–5 ft, Price on request. A small native shrub of northern bogs and wet woods, a wild relative of the haskap, with paired pale yellow flowers and edible blue berries.
- [Ohio Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/ohio-buckeye/index.html.md) (*Aesculus glabra*): Medium tree, Zones 3–7, 20–40 ft, Price on request. Ohio's state tree, among the first to leaf out, with upright clusters of greenish yellow flowers and glossy brown buckeyes in prickly husks.
- [Pagoda Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pagoda-dogwood/index.html.md) (*Cornus alternifolia*): Small tree, Zones 3–8, 15–25 ft, Price on request. A small dogwood with branches held in flat tiers like a pagoda, cream flower clusters in late spring and blue-black fruit on red stalks.
- [Partridgeberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/partridgeberry/index.html.md) (*Mitchella repens*): Shrub, Zones 3–8, 1 ft, Price on request. A trailing evergreen an inch or two high, whose paired white flowers join to make one red berry that often lasts the winter.
- [Purple-flowering Raspberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/purple-flowering-raspberry/index.html.md) (*Rubus odoratus*): Shrub, Zones 3–8, 3–6 ft, Price on request. A thornless bramble for part shade, with fragrant rose-purple flowers 2 inches across all summer over big, maple-like leaves.
- [Red Elderberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-elderberry/index.html.md) (*Sambucus racemosa*): Shrub, Zones 3–7, 8–12 ft, Price on request. Cone-shaped white flowers in May and glowing red berries by June, the earliest berry crop for birds.
- [Rosebay Rhododendron](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/rosebay-rhododendron/index.html.md) (*Rhododendron maximum*): Shrub, Zones 3–7, 10–15 ft, Price on request. The great evergreen rhododendron of Appalachian stream valleys, with pink-white trusses in July.
- [Roseshell Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roseshell-azalea/index.html.md) (*Rhododendron prinophyllum*): Shrub, Zones 3–8, 3–10 ft, Price on request. Bright pink, clove-scented flower clusters in spring on a wild azalea hardy enough to grow from southern Quebec to the Ozarks.
- [Silverleaf Hydrangea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/silverleaf-hydrangea/index.html.md) (*Hydrangea radiata*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 3–6 ft, Price on request. White lacecap flowers from May into July over leaves that flash silver in the wind, on a woodland shrub of the southern Blue Ridge.
- [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus rubra*): Medium tree, Zones 3–9, 40–70 ft, Price on request. The elm of the slippery inner bark, a fast, shade-tolerant tree of moist slopes and bottomlands, best grown in a wild corner among trees of other kinds.
- [Striped Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/striped-maple/index.html.md) (*Acer pensylvanicum*): Small tree, Zones 3–7, 15–35 ft, Price on request. A small maple for deep, cool shade, with green bark striped in white and big three-lobed leaves that turn bright yellow in fall.
- [Sweet Pepperbush (Summersweet)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sweet-pepperbush/index.html.md) (*Clethra alnifolia*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 4–8 ft, Price on request. Spires of intensely fragrant white flowers in August, when almost nothing else is blooming, and bees know it.
- [Virginia Creeper](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/virginia-creeper/index.html.md) (*Parthenocissus quinquefolia*): Shrub, Zones 3–10, 30–50 ft, Price on request. A fast native vine that climbs by sticky pads, turns crimson early in fall and feeds birds through the winter with blue-black berries.
- [Wild Hydrangea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/wild-hydrangea/index.html.md) (*Hydrangea arborescens*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 3–6 ft, Price on request. A woodland shrub that blooms on new stems even when cut to the ground each winter, with broad heads of creamy white flowers in early summer.
- [Witch Hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/witch-hazel/index.html.md) (*Hamamelis virginiana*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 12–20 ft, Price on request. The last flower of the year: ribbon-like yellow blooms in November as the golden leaves fall.
- [Yellowroot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellowroot/index.html.md) (*Xanthorhiza simplicissima*): Shrub, Zones 3–9, 1–3 ft, Price on request. A low, suckering shrub for shady stream banks and moist woods, with leaves like celery that turn yellow and reddish purple in fall.

Ask what is ready: [put the first 12 on my request list](https://bluewhaletrees.com/list/#items=american-basswood:1,arrowwood-viburnum:1,balsam-fir:1,bunchberry:1,canada-yew:1,common-hackberry:1,mountain-maple:1,nannyberry:1,red-osier-dogwood:1,riverbank-grape:1,roundleaf-dogwood:1,squashberry:1).

## How the matching works

- **Zone.** A tree or shrub is listed when your zone is inside its hardiness range.
- **Mature size.** The type the catalog gives each one, as in the shop's size boxes.
- **Height limit.** Those whose typical mature height tops out at or under the limit, or at 60 ft or more for its last step. The article on [small trees for a small yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-native-trees-for-small-yards/index.html.md) says how far each goes from a house or a line.
- **Sun and soil.** What each one is known to tolerate, counting the labels for shade, wet ground and drought.
- **Must have.** Every trait you tick, all at once.
- **Counts.** The number beside each box and each choice is how many would remain if you chose it too.
- **Best fit first.** Trees and shrubs that list your sun and soil outright come before those that only tolerate them. Within that, those with your zone in the middle of their range come before those at its edge.
- **Ties.** Those that can be ordered now come first, then those with a photo, then the rest by name.
- **ZIP code.** It sets the zone from the same listing as the ZIP code tool, and the code itself is not kept.
- **Compare.** Tick Compare on up to four cards, then press Compare side by side for their facts in one table above the list. The trees stay in it while the filters change, and the address carries them, so a copied link opens the table.
- **Hedge spacing.** On a Hedge or screen list each card gives the spacing its own page sets. A hedge length gives how many to set in one straight row, with one at each end. The article on [hedges, screens and windbreaks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-hedges-screens-and-windbreaks/index.html.md) covers staggered rows.

## Common questions

### Which native tree is best for my yard?

In the finder's list the best fit comes first: trees and shrubs whose pages list your sun and soil outright, then those that only tolerate them. Within each group, those with your zone in the middle of their range come before those at its edge.

### Can the tree finder identify a tree from a leaf or photo?

No: the finder lists native trees and shrubs to plant, matched to your zone, size, sun and soil. To name a tree you found, use the [tree identification](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/identify/index.html.md) tool, which names it from a photo of a leaf, the bark, a twig, fruit or a flower.

### What tree can I plant close to my house?

Set the finder's height limit to the room you have: it matches the top of each species' typical mature height. Our article on [small trees for a small yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-native-trees-for-small-yards/index.html.md) says how far each one goes from a house.

### What trees can I plant under power lines?

Within 15 feet of the wires, the International Society of Arboriculture says a tree should mature at 20 feet or lower. Virginia Cooperative Extension allows trees to 25 feet within 20 feet of the wires, and suggests large shrubs under 15 feet directly under them.

### How many trees or shrubs do I need for a hedge?

Divide the hedge's length by the spacing, round down and add one, since a straight row has one at each end: a 40-foot hedge at 4 feet apart takes 11. On its Hedge or screen list, the finder gives each species the spacing its own page sets.

The address carries every choice, so a copied link opens the same list. The page draws that list before any script runs, so a shared link and the page's Markdown copy show the trees and shrubs themselves. These are its keys:

- **zone**: 2 to 10.
- **size**: shrub, small-tree, medium-tree or large-tree.
- **height**: 15, 20, 30, 40 or 60 for a top height at or under that many feet, or 60-plus.
- **sun**: full, part or shade. **moisture**: dry, average or wet.
- **want**: one or more traits joined by commas, such as want=evergreen,screening. The boxes are flowers, fall-color, winter-interest, wildlife, honey, edible, evergreen, rare, early-bearing, screening, nitrogen-fixing, salt, street-tree and erosion-control. The address also takes drought, wet-tolerant and shade.
- **hedge**: a hedge length in feet, read when screening is wanted. **sort**: name, height, hardy or fast, or the price orders once prices are set.
- **compare**: up to four plant page names joined by commas, such as compare=black-gum,pawpaw, for the table side by side.

Each tree's facts come from its own page: its zones, mature height, sun, soil, labels and hedge spacing. The 20 and 40 ft height steps are the International Society of Arboriculture's zones by overhead wires ([Avoiding Tree & Utility Conflicts](https://www.treesaregood.org/Portals/0/TreesAreGood_Avoid%20Utility%20Conflict_0621.pdf), 2021). Within 15 feet of distribution wires, the species chosen "should have a mature height of 20 feet (6 meters) or lower". From 15 to 50 feet out, it should have "a potential mature height of 40 feet (12 meters) or lower". The planting-site check follows the same zones. The 30 ft step is the small-tree ceiling the [growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md) uses for its generic small tree. Virginia Cooperative Extension draws the low zone wider, to 20 feet from the line, where "trees in the low zone should not exceed 25 feet at maturity" ([Selecting and Managing Trees to Avoid Conflicts with Overhead Utility Lines](https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/430/430-029/430-029.html), 2024). Under the line itself it suggests large shrubs with "a mature height of less than 15 feet", the limit's first step. A ZIP code's zone is the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map's ZIP code listing, prepared by the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University.

When nothing fits, the site is usually the problem rather than the catalog: [tell us](https://bluewhaletrees.com/support/index.html.md#contact) the zone, soil, sun and what the tree needs to do, and we will suggest something.

The address carries the tree finder's inputs, so a link opens it filled in, and Copy link on a result writes one: zone (a whole number from 2 to 10), size (shrub, small-tree, medium-tree or large-tree), height (a mature height to stay under: 15, 20, 30, 40 or 60 feet, or 60-plus), sun (full, part or shade), moisture (dry, average or wet), want (one or more of flowers, fall-color, winter-interest, wildlife, honey, edible, evergreen, rare, early-bearing, screening, nitrogen-fixing, salt, street-tree, erosion-control, shade, wet-tolerant or drought, joined by commas), hedge (a hedge or screen length in feet, for a plant count), sort (featured, name, price-asc, price-desc, height, hardy or fast), compare (the slugs of the plants to compare, joined by commas). For example, [/tools/tree-finder/?zone=6&size=small-tree&sun=part&moisture=average&want=fall-color](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?zone=6&size=small-tree&sun=part&moisture=average&want=fall-color).