Tree comparisons for the Colorado Front Range
Quick answer
Deciding between two trees for your Front Range yard? These head-to-head comparisons weigh each pair on what actually matters here — alkaline clay, drought, cold, wind, hail, and pests — and name a pick for most yards.
Shade trees
Bur Oak vs Swamp White Oak
Our pick: Bur Oak
For most Front Range yards, plant bur oak. It shrugs off the alkaline clay, drought, wind, and cold that give swamp white oak iron chlorosis and a slower start here. Choose swamp white oak only where the soil stays reliably moist.
Kentucky Coffeetree vs Honeylocust
Our pick: Kentucky Coffeetree
For most Front Range yards, plant Kentucky coffeetree.
Hackberry vs Honeylocust
Our pick: Hackberry
For most Front Range yards, plant hackberry.
Pin Oak vs Red Oak
Our pick: Red Oak
Plant red oak, not pin oak. Both are red-fall oaks that resent our alkaline clay, but pin oak almost always develops severe iron chlorosis within two or three years here, while red oak holds on far better. Honestly, in very alkaline soil even red oak struggles.
Small & ornamental trees
Redbud vs Serviceberry
Our pick: Serviceberry
For most Front Range yards, plant serviceberry.
Quaking Aspen vs Bigtooth Maple
Our pick: Bigtooth Maple
For most Front Range yards below about 7,500 ft, plant bigtooth maple, not aspen. Aspen is a montane native that declines on the plains.
Autumn Blaze Maple vs Bigtooth Maple
Our pick: Bigtooth Maple
For most Front Range yards, plant bigtooth maple, not Autumn Blaze. Autumn Blaze is the best-selling maple in America, but it's rated Not Recommended here.