Using trees for landscaping can create visual balance, vertical interest, and vibrancy unmatched by smaller flora. But employing them in the right ways and to the greatest effect can vary based on your style of landscaping, whether the trees are in the front or back yard, and what exactly you’re trying to accomplish by adding trees to your Utah landscaping.

The Best Trees for Utah Landscaping

The benefits of landscaping with trees are manyfold. Aside from their obvious aesthetic appeal (hello property value booster!), they’re great for improving air quality, providing shade, regulating temperature, supporting wildlife, conserving soil, and much more! So, when looking at your Utah landscaping, taking advantage of the best trees for a Utah yard becomes an important topic to research.

Thankfully, our team here at Big Rock Landscaping has compiled that critical information for you, along with our favorite ways to use trees for landscaping the front and back yards.

Best Landscaping With Trees Ideas For Your Home

Using trees for landscaping can create visual balance, vertical interest, and vibrancy unmatched by smaller flora. But employing them in the right ways and to the greatest effect can vary based on your style of landscaping, whether the trees are in the front or back yard, and what exactly you’re trying to accomplish by adding trees to your Utah landscaping.

Tree Landscaping Ideas For The Front Yard

There are many ways to use trees for landscaping your front yard, all of which can effectively enhance the look, vibe, and value of your home.

This home’s style invokes a sense of maturity and longevity, both of which are greatly magnified by the simple existence of trees nearby. But the addition of the four new trees along the front of the house increases its character, curb appeal, and even the cool enjoyment of sitting on that gorgeous front porch.

For instance, this home’s style invokes a sense of maturity and longevity, both of which are greatly magnified by the simple existence of trees nearby. But the addition of the four new trees along the front of the house increases its character, curb appeal, and even the cool enjoyment of sitting on that gorgeous front porch.

Trees can also help make a real statement of your front entry. Here they guide the eye, subtly bringing focus and attention to a door that deserves every gaze it gets. Not only does that increase the appeal of arriving home each day, but those trees boast a welcoming curb appeal, boosting resale value should you ever wish to leave.

Another use for trees in your Utah landscaping is to create privacy. This drive is lined with trees that not only keep this home tucked away in cozy seclusion but they effectively dampen sound and bring a sense of enchantment to the property it couldn’t get any other way.

Tree Landscaping Ideas For The Back Yard

Designing your landscaping for the backyard can become an even more personal process than landscaping the front. And the way you use trees in that private space often reflects a more intimate vibe and personalized functionality.

Take this beautiful landscape design, for example. While the lawn is neatly manicured, the strategic use of large rocks and native trees gives the landscaping its distinction. The space feels thoughtful and sophisticated but with a hint of wildness and freedom from perfection, reflecting the way the homeowners want to feel in their own backyard.

Tree varieties are thoughtfully chosen for their look and ability to provide temperature control and extra shade for plenty of backyard play and fun family gatherings.

Contrast that landscape style with this one, where the use of trees denotes a homey personality. Tree varieties are thoughtfully chosen for their look and ability to provide temperature control and extra shade for plenty of backyard play and fun family gatherings.

This clever use of a variety of evergreens surrounding the homeowner’s backyard pool juxtaposes a bit of the untamed with plenty of luxury, offering the year-round privacy we all crave in our outdoor spaces when living in close quarters.

One of the most common ways to use trees for landscaping in a backyard is to create a privacy screen. This clever use of a variety of evergreens surrounding the homeowner’s backyard pool juxtaposes a bit of the untamed with plenty of luxury, offering the year-round privacy we all crave in our outdoor spaces when living in close quarters.

LEARN MORE: The 5 Plants That Won’t Fail In Utah

Common Trees For Utah Landscaping

Often the best trees for Utah yards are those that grow natively and, therefore, happily thrive in the climate. With cold winters and drought-plagued summers, Utah requires a rather hardy tree! Here are some of Big Rock Landscaping’s favorite trees for landscaping in Utah.

Hornbeam

Hornbeams are a deciduous birch variety that doesn’t require a lot of maintenance. For instance, the need to prune is rare because of their natural pyramid-like shape. Their dense foliage provides plenty of shade and a gorgeous golden color in the fall. They like full sun but can manage in partial shade, can handle a variety of soil types (well-drained is best), and are not susceptible to major diseases or pests. Hornbeams are a robust tree, well-suited to what Utah has to offer.

Cupressina Spruce

Another low-maintenance tree for Utah landscaping is the Cupressina Spruce. It grows quickly (up to a foot a year!) and requires little to no pruning. Its evergreen needles bring life to the yard year-round and even turn a festive blue-green in deep winter. This type of spruce has a columnar shape and works beautifully in numbers as a natural privacy screen or pathway border.

Amur Maple

The Amur Maple is a smaller tree, often with a sprawling multi-trunk form covered in smooth, gray-brown bark. They’re perfect for ornamental application in landscaping and can even do well in pots or under power lines because of their short stature (typically less than 20 feet). They also put on a full show in the fall with yellow to vibrant red leaves when planted in full sun.

Using Trees In Modern Landscape Design

When we think of modern landscaping, which is becoming more and more common in Utah, we often think of clean lines and plenty of hardscaping. But incorporating trees into a modern landscape design can provide just the right amount of natural contrast your space needs.

The variety of trees in this modern landscape balance all the streamlined angles of the hardscape and home with the welcome movement of natural life. Plus, as the trees grow, homeowners will enjoy the shade and natural cooling effects of more mature trees on their property.

Many who embrace a modern landscape design aesthetic might be tempted to remove mature growth but the example above is your sign to fully embrace it. Using structural features like retaining walls commonly found in modern landscaping can even highlight the natural beauty of older trees while surrounding them with more contemporary flora.

The Utah Tree Experts: Big Rock Premium Landscaping

Are you ready to make trees a natural focal point in your landscape design but aren’t sure which are the best trees for Utah? With decades of experience in bringing Utah landscapes to life with the right trees for your home, aesthetic, lifestyle, and budget, Big Rock Premium Landscaping is the professional team you’ll want on the job. We’re ready to help you design and implement your perfect outdoor living space—just contact us for a consultation to get started!