Tamarack

Sun

Full sun; intolerant of substantial shade.

Water

Keep the root zone consistently moist. Established trees tolerate wet ground, but drought and hot, drying winds cause stress.

Soil

Moist to wet, acidic soil, including peaty or sandy ground. Also grows in moisture-retentive loam; avoid dry, chalky sites and prolonged deep flooding.

Height

40-60 ft (12-18 m)

Spread

15-30 ft (4.5-9 m)

Foliage

Soft, short, blue-green to light green needles grow in clusters on short shoots. They turn clear golden yellow in autumn and fall, leaving a fine framework of bare branches through winter.

Growth

Moderate to fast in cool conditions with ample moisture.

Care needed

Medium

• Cold hardy
• Wildlife

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Needs looking after

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   7 ft (2 m)

2. After 1 year

   9 ft (2.8 m)

3. After 2 years

   12 ft (3.6 m)

4. After 3 years

   15 ft (4.4 m)

5. After 5 years

   20 ft (6.1 m)

About 16 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Mildly toxic: may upset a stomach

Native to

the US and Canada

Growth rate

Fast

• Plant in full sun with enough room for a full-sized tree; do not rely on pruning to keep it small.
• Water deeply during dry spells, especially for the first two or three growing seasons.
• Apply 2-3 in (5-8 cm) of organic mulch over the root zone, keeping it clear of the trunk.
• Avoid routine feeding; use fertiliser only where a soil test identifies a deficiency.
• Protect young trunks from deer rubbing and keep lawn equipment away from the bark.

Pruning. Prune in late winter while dormant, removing dead, damaged or crossing branches and retaining one main leader. Avoid topping or cutting back into old, bare wood, which may not regrow.

Late winter

Inspect the branch structure and remove damaged branches or a competing leader if necessary.

Spring

Plant while dormant or before growth is well advanced, and water the root ball thoroughly.

Late spring

Refresh mulch and check new needles for casebearer damage or feeding larvae.

Summer

Check soil moisture during dry weather and water deeply before needles begin to brown.

Autumn

Enjoy the yellow foliage; normal needle fall does not indicate that the tree is dying.

Late autumn

Check tree guards and water young trees if the ground is dry before winter.

• Use as a specimen beside a pond or rain-fed hollow, with the trunk above any permanently submerged ground.
• Plant in loose groups in a large wet meadow for light shade and strong autumn colour.
• Combine with moisture-loving shrubs and ferns at a sunny woodland edge.
• Contrast its soft summer needles and golden autumn foliage with dark evergreen conifers.

Garden styles it suits: Bog garden, Woodland, Wildlife garden, Rewilded, Autumn colour and New England.

Plant it with: Black spruce, Red-osier dogwood, Winterberry, Highbush blueberry, Royal fern and Tussock sedge.

Wildlife: Seeds feed birds, including crossbills and siskins, as well as small mammals. Branches provide nesting and shelter, and the foliage supports several moth and sawfly species.

• Larch sawfly: larvae can strip needles. Inspect young trees in late spring and summer, remove small colonies by hand, and seek local advice if heavy defoliation recurs.
• Larch casebearer: tiny larvae in portable cases cause pale or browned needles in spring. Support tree vigour and beneficial insects; consult a qualified arborist for repeated severe damage.
• Heat and drought stress: needles brown or drop early. Water deeply, mulch the root zone and avoid planting where summers are persistently hot.
• Cankers and branch dieback: prune affected branches back to healthy wood in dry weather, avoid bark injuries and have extensive or trunk-level damage assessed by an arborist.

Tamarack is not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses. Its needles, bark, cones and resin are not intended as food; chewing plant material or resin may cause irritation or stomach upset.

• European larch (Larix decidua)

  Usually has larger cones, about 1-1.5 in (2.5-4 cm) long, compared with tamarack's small cones of about 0.5-0.75 in (1.3-2 cm). Its young branchlets are often yellowish rather than tamarack's orange-brown.

• Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi)

  Its cone scales curl conspicuously outward at their tips, giving the cones a rose-like appearance; tamarack's cone scales do not.

• Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum)

  Its soft needles sit individually along slender shoots rather than in larch-like clusters, and its cones are rounded rather than small and upright.

Larix is the Latin name for larch, and laricina means larch-like.

Propagation. Grow from seed collected from ripe cones in autumn. Sow outdoors in a protected seedbed or give seed a period of cold, moist stratification before spring sowing; cuttings are difficult and unreliable.

Accepted botanical name

Larix laricina

In the US and Canada

Native in Alaska, Canada, the lower 48 states and St. Pierre and Miquelon.

Native range

Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Masachusettes and Michigan.

Measured

Soil pH 5.5 to 6.5. Average height 1055 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.