See something we could improve on this page? Give website feedback.
Label:
Guide
Winter trees have a special charm that brings beauty to the season. Whether it is brilliant berries, mottled or textured bark, or interesting branch formations, explore ways to enjoy your neighborhood trees this winter.
Create a Winter Wonders Tree Walk
Looking for a fresh way to explore Portland this winter? Curious about the trees in your neighborhood park? Want to spark a little wonder with friends, family, or neighbors? Create your own Winter Wonders Tree Walk and discover the magic hiding in plain sight!
Follow these easy steps:
- Start with the How to Build a Tree Walk Guide Download it, print it, or craft your own version to make it extra fun.
- Learn a few winter tree traits, then choose which species you want to feature on your walk.
- Use the Tree Inventory Map to discover which trees grow near you, then add them to your guide. Watch the How to Build a Tree Walk video below for additional guidance.
- Take a test walk. Can you find the trees on your list? Can you identify them using their winter clues?
- Share your tree walk with neighbors and friends!
Wonderful Winter Trees
The Pacific Northwest is famous for its evergreens—trees whose leaves, needles, or scales do not drop each year, like deciduous trees do. Winter is the perfect time to visit cone-bearing evergreens and appreciate their structure, colors, or forms. Try spotting a few of these favorites:
- Visit a false cypress (Chamaecyparis) and see if you can guess which of the six species you are looking at.
- Search for Vanderwolf's Pyramid Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis)—a Yard Tree Giveaway favorite, known for its brilliant blue-green needles that deliver a splash of color in winter.
- Find a towering Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and imagine how different it looks from the holiday-sized version you see indoors.
- Look for splashes of color: red pome clusters on hawthorns (Crataegus) or the bright drupes of American holly (Ilex opaca) that hold onto the branches long after the leaves have fallen. Compare their leaves with the evergreen holly oak holly oak (Quercus ilex).
Some trees show off their bark instead of their leaves in winter. Can you find:
- The ruby-toned bark of the ornamental Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) and its 1,000+ varieties.
- The bark of a lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana) and a lacebark elm (Ulmus parvifolia) and determine which reminds you of silken lace.
- The colorful, peeling bark of trees in the eucalyptus genus, an uncommon find that brings delight to any winter wandering.
Portland's warm hardiness zones (8b and 9a) let a surprising number of evergreen oaks thrive here. How many can you spot?
- Bambooleaf oak, Quercus myrsinifolia
- Silverleaf oak, Quercus hypoleucoides
- Southern live oaks, Quercus virginiana
- Canyon live oak, Quercus chrysolepis
- Holly oak, Quercus ilex
- Interior live oak, Quercus wislizeni
- Blue oak, Quercus douglasii
- California black oak, Quercus kelloggii
Waiting for blooms? Keep your eye out for ornamental Camellias—one of Portland's earliest signs of spring, although it is not regulated as a tree. And don't forget to mark the location of a star magnolia (Magnolia stellata), one of the city's earliest blooming regulated trees.
Tree Identification Review
Need a refresher on your tree vocabulary? The International Society of Arboriculture's Online Dictionary can help you brush up on everything from abiotic to zipline!
Most amateur arborists learn tree identification by studying leaves—but in winter, bark, branching patterns, buds, flowers, cones, and fruit become your best friends.
- Start with the easiest visual identifier: Does the tree have any leaves, needles, or scales in winter? Evergreen trees hold on to their foliage for more than one year, while deciduous trees will be bare every winter.
- Broadleaf trees (angiosperms) produce flowers. Some trees have showy flowers, others have pronounced bracts, and a variety of unimpressive catkins take the name of a flower on other trees.
- Gymnosperms produce naked seeds. Most are also cone-bearing trees called conifers. This ancient line includes Ginkgo. See if you can find a female Ginkgo fruit but do not touch! Compare its seeds to the cones of a Douglas-fir or grey pine?
Broadleaf evergreen trees and deciduous conifers each make up 1% of the trees in our parks. Why so rare? What species do you think dominate our parks instead?
Winter Tree Identification
Even without leaves, trees have plenty of winter clues. Look closely at:
- Bark texture and color
- Branching pattern
- Bud size, shape, and arrangement
Use a dichotomous key or a pocket guide to match what you see.
Photos and illustrations are great tools for practicing your winter ID skills and getting comfortable with this new branch of tree identification.
Share Your Finished Tree Walk!
Send your completed walk to ufvolunteers@portlandoregon.gov.