Trees are a beautiful, and vital part of daily life, and planting more of them in your yard can improve multiple aspects of your life. 

Trees hold soil in place

When the trees grow, the roots go deep into the soil, and by doing so it holds the soil in place. This prevents the effects of erosion, especially when the trees are strategically placed on hills or on steeper parts of your yard.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide

This may seem your grade school class all over again, but yes, trees take in carbon dioxide in exchange for oxygen. This is a major benefit to us, as we need oxygen to survive. However, it doesn’t stop there, trees can also absorb nitrogen oxide, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone. 

Trees Slow Water Runoff

Trees are also very effective at slowing water runoff, thus limiting the impact of flash flooding. It is estimated that trees can intercept about 1000 gallons of water yearly.. 

Trees can filter noise

Trees are also great at filtering noise from busy streets, and highways. When planted strategically, trees can dramatically decrease nuisance noise.

Trees can reduce energy costs

Trees create shade in the summer, which would lower the costs to cool your home, and additionally, they can block fierce winds in the winter which would lower the cost to heat the home.

Increase Property Value

Trees along with great landscaping can increase the value of your home! Estimates range from 7 to 19 percent increase in property value. 

Trees Produce Food

There are many different varieties of produce or food that can be derived from food. An expert can guide you to whichever ones are best for your region and your home.

Trees can help people with mental illness 

Being around nature, and green environments have shown to produce the necessary chemicals in the brain that stimulate happiness.

Water-Wise Coniferous Trees

There are many coniferous trees out there. But living in Utah, being water-wise is just common sense. Many of us have heard, “Slow the Flow.” A campaign in Utah to save our H2O as they say. So here is a list of water-wise coniferous trees to plant in your yard. 

To see the photos of the trees, you can go to this link: https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/index.cfm

White Fir

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: mountains of western North America including Oregon, California, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico
• Age Range: 300-years

Incense Cedar

• Pine Family: Cupressaceae
• Native Habitat: Western North America including Oregon, California, Nevada, and Mexico

Blue Atlas Cedar

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: mountains of northern Morocco and Algeria

Cedar of Lebanon

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin
• Age Range: growth slow after 70 years

Arizona Cypress

• Pine Family: Cupressaceae
• Native Habitat: Arizona, Utah, southwestern New Mexico, and southern California, with a few populations in southern Nevada and in the Chisos Mountains of western Texas and in Mexico

Utah Juniper

• Pine Family: Cupressaceae
• Native Habitat: the southwestern United States, in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, western New Mexico, western Colorado, Wyoming, southern Montana, southern Idaho, and eastern California

Rocky Mountain Juniper

• Pine Family: Cupressaceae
• Native Habitat: western North America, in Canada in British Columbia and southwest Alberta, in the United States from Washington east to North Dakota, south to Arizona and also locally western Texas, and northernmost Mexico 
• Age Range: 1500 years old

Bristlecone Pine

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: Western North America 
• Age Range: 5,000 years old

Pinyon Pine

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: the southwestern United States, especially in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah

Limber Pine

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: Western United States, Mexico, and Canada
• Age Range: 3,000 years old

Austrian Pine

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: southern Mediterranean Europe from Spain to the eastern Mediterranean on Anatolian peninsula of Turkey and on Corsica/Cyprus, including Crimea, and in the high mountains of the Maghreb in North Africa
• Age Range: 40 years old

Ponderosa Pine

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: the western United States and Canada

Scotch Pine 

• Pine Family: Pinaceae
• Native Habitat: Western Europe to Eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains and Anatolia, and north to well inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia