• The Douglas fir is a common evergreen shade treeFir image by tikoov from Fotolia.com
  
  Evergreen trees offer a beautiful addition to any landscape, as they provide year-round greenery for you to enjoy. Unlike deciduous trees, which drop their leaves each fall, evergreens remain draped in their foliage all year. Large evergreen trees provide shade for your home and yard, function as a backdrop for garden landscaping and offer privacy from neighboring dwellings. Contrary to popular belief, many evergreen trees offer a variety of foliage colors, not just green.
  
  

White Fir

• White fir trees (Abies concolor) are one of the most well-known evergreens, as these hardy specimens decorate many homes during the Christmas season. White firs have needles with a silvery blue-green hue, and their bark is light reddish-brown. They are hardy trees, tolerant to many soil conditions and drought. When fully mature, a white fir can reach up to 50 feet tall, with a spread of 20 feet at its widest part.
  
  

Eastern Red Cedar

• The Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a pyramid-shaped evergreen that reaches heights between 30 and 45 feet, with an average spread of 15 to 30 feet. The bark is gray-brown, and the needles are dark green. The fruits of the Eastern red cedar are bluish-white, and are not only aesthetically appealing, but attractive to wildlife as well as a source of food. These trees are drought-tolerant, but they prefer damp soil and full sun to truly thrive.
  
  

Colorado Spruce

• A Colorado spruce (Picea pungens) can make an attractive addition to your home landscape. The official state tree of Colorado since 1939, this evergreen shade tree can reach a height of up to 60 feet and have a spread of 20 feet or more. The Colorado is a hardy tree and can adapt to a number of soil conditions. The foliage is typically green, though some cultivars sport foliage that is bluish-green in color.
  
  

Douglas Fir

• The Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) makes an excellent evergreen shade tree, as it is the largest member of the pine tree family. This species of fir reaches an average of 80 feet in urban areas, though in forests it can grow to more than 300 feet tall. The Douglas fir is the most common tree in the western hemisphere, appearing from British Columbia in the north to parts of southern Mexico.