Nebraska Nut Trees, Shade Tree, Flowering Trees, Fruit Tree (Fig), Nut Trees, Grape Vines and Berry Plants.

When most Nebraska gardeners plant a bush or a tree, they want to get a crop of fruit or berries as soon as possible, or if they plant a shade tree, they want to receive shade as soon as possible. Two options usually are either to plant a larger tree or to plant a fast growing tree, but if you plant a fast growing tree the cell walls are greatly elongated or enlarged, so that lignin and cellulose is not concentrated in the cell walls to provide insulation from sudden temperature drops during the winter, so that the tree or bush may be damaged or killed. Sometimes it is better to to plant a slow growing tree, especially if you are planting a shade tree.

Sassafras trees, and Green Ash trees, along with Weeping or Corkscrew Willow trees will survive and produce abundant shade in all the climate growing zones of Nebraska. Red Maple trees, River Birch tree and Sycamore trees are fast growing trees in Nebraska. In zone 5 of Nebraska, Oak Trees, Elm tree and Tulip Poplar trees will provide excellent shade that will reduce your power bills and stop erosion of your soil, as well as increase the property value remarkably. Bald cypress trees, Ginkgo trees and Sweet Gum trees are brilliant leafy shade trees in the fall in Zone 5. The Lombardy poplar tree is often planted in thick rows to serve as a privacy screen, and the Lombardy palm trees grow in a columnar shape and are very fast growing trees. The Sour Wood tree is a brilliantly colored leaf display in the fall.

Dogwood trees and Redbud trees as well as the Japanese Magnolia tree are beautiful flowering trees in all USDA climate zones of Nebraska in the spring. The Sassafras tree produces aromatic gold clusters of flowers, beginning when the Sassafras tree is very young, so that not only is it a flowering tree but a very large growing shade tree. The Cleveland flowering pear tree is dense with white fluffy flowers in the early spring, and the flowering apricot tree is the earliest spring blooming tree in Nebraska. The Kwanzan pink flowering cherry tree is loaded with pink spring blooms, and the Japanese Yoshino flowering cherry is covered with white flowers.

Two fig trees will survive Nebraska cold winters if they are properly mulched in USDA climate zone 5. The Chicago hardy fig tree has survived such similar freezes in Illinois, and the Tennessee Mountain fig trees have survived similar temperature in Nashville.

Red raspberry plants grow very well in Nebraska. The Boyne red raspberry bush has been researched extensively by Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and will survive the extreme temperatures of Nebraska winters. The other New York researched red raspberries that are ever bearing and the taste of the berry is tart, with a sweet balanced flavor. Black raspberry plants are not cold hardy enough for planting in Nebraska soils.

Blackberries, including the thornless blackberry and the thorny blackberry cultivars, are prone to winter freezing and are not recommended for planting by the University of NE that is located in Lincoln, Nebraska. Blueberry plants, too, are iffy generally, because most of the commercial blueberry bushes cant stand the frigid winters in zone 4 of NE. Most important in growing a blueberry bush is the soil profile requiring a very acid soil profile of 4.5 to 5.5 and a Nebraska home gardener should strongly consider amending the soil for container grown blueberry plants inside the home in winter and then maintain the proper outside the house after the temperatures warm up in Nebraska.

The black walnut tree is not only a good shade tree, but it produces large crops of walnuts at maturity. The Chinese chestnut tree is a very cold hardy nut tree and will begin bearing at an early age and in the fall is filled with delicious chestnuts, just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The American chestnut tree is blight resistant and produces crops of large, sweet chestnuts.

Red Mulberry trees are native berry trees for Nebraska, but many tasty red, black and white mulberry cold hardy tree cultivars are available to buy from nurseries online that produce juicy, flavorful mulberries. Mulberries are a favorite food trees of wildlife animals, along with the autumn olive tree, the elderberry plants and the strawberry bushes. The Kieffer pear tree produces a hard pear that ripens very slowly, like the American persimmon tree and the pears and persimmons last well in the fall beneath the trees when wildlife food plots have little other fruit to offer game animals. Deer, game birds and turkey are attracted to the fast growing sawtooth oak tree acorn crops in the fall, and turkey are especially fond of the gobbler oak tree acorns that are small and easy to eat. The white oak tree produces big acorn crops, once the trees reach maturity. Hickory nuts and the Chinese chestnut trees provide an abundant crop of nuts for hungry wildlife animals like deer and birds in the fall.

Nebraska bamboo planting as a fast growing privacy screen can be found growing in established yards from Lyman in the Western plains to Lincoln and Omaha in the Eastern plains of Nebraska. Bamboo plants are easy to grow in full sunshine or partial shade in damp soil conditioned with organic matter included/ in the mix. As clumps of bamboo canes (stems, culms, poles) develop, the leaves grow dense and filter out street noise and automobile toxic fumes of carbon dioxide and convert the gases into breathable Oxygen. Bamboo is very cold hardy and survives temperature of below zero F temperatures like those during the extreme winter ice and snow of the year, 2014. Order your own privacy block from Ty Ty Bamboo Nursery, tytyga.com, that can be delivered directly to your house and shipped immediately in boxes, during any time of the year.


The good news for plant collectors in Nebraska: Agave plants, Aloe plants and Yucca trees required little or no care to grow, no fertilizing or watering and are ideal container plants that are armed with thick, fleshy leaves with thorny prickly stickers growing all over and on leaf terminal is a sharp spike. The Aloe vera is a first aid plant that has fluids in the leaves that heal, fire ant stings, bug bites and burns on the skin. The Agave tequilana also contains liquids that are sweet and can be fermented into an alcoholic drink called, tequila. The Agave americana 'Marginata' is also called the, Century Plant' and is beautifully variegated with bright striping on the borders of the leaves. The Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' is also brightly striped with dramatic variegation. The Spanish Dagger, Yucca gloriosa grows up to 16 feet tall and sends up impressive flower stalks during the spring.