Trees that grow straight up and narrow are often described as columnar or upright-growing trees. Their tall, slender form makes them ideal for landscapes where space is limited, such as along driveways, fences, or property lines. Because they grow vertically rather than spreading wide, they provide height and structure without overwhelming nearby plants or buildings.
One major advantage of narrow trees is their efficient use of space. They fit well in small yards, urban gardens, and tight planting areas where traditional broad-canopy trees would not be practical. Their vertical growth habit also makes them useful for creating visual screens or windbreaks in narrow spaces.
These trees are commonly used to add strong architectural interest to landscapes. Their upright shape creates clean lines and a formal appearance, which works well in modern, minimalist, or symmetrical garden designs. When planted in rows, they can create striking avenues or natural borders.
Narrow, upright trees often have lower maintenance requirements compared to wide-spreading species. Because their growth is more controlled, they usually require less pruning to maintain shape. This makes them appealing for homeowners who want an attractive landscape without constant upkeep.
Columnar Trees
Columnar English Oak
Columnar English oak grows in a narrow, upright form reaching 40-60 feet tall but only 15-20 feet wide at maturity. This fastigiate oak maintains a tight columnar shape without pruning and provides classic oak foliage and acorns in a space-saving form.
Cultivars like ‘Fastigiata’ or ‘Skyrocket’ are perfect for formal landscapes, tight spaces between buildings, or creating vertical accents where traditional spreading oaks would be too large.
Italian Cypress
Italian cypress is the quintessential narrow evergreen tree, growing 40-60 feet tall but only 3-6 feet wide in a pencil-thin columnar form. These Mediterranean conifers maintain their naturally tight, upright shape and provide year-round screening with minimal footprint.
Italian cypress is ideal for narrow spaces, formal gardens, lining driveways, and creating dramatic vertical accents in warm climates where its elegant form and dark green foliage create instant architectural impact.
Skyrocket Juniper
Skyrocket juniper is an extremely narrow evergreen reaching 15-20 feet tall but only 2-3 feet wide with silvery blue-green foliage. This tightly columnar conifer maintains its pencil-thin shape naturally and provides vertical accent without taking up valuable ground space.
Skyrocket juniper is perfect for flanking entryways, punctuating garden beds, creating rhythm in landscapes, and adding height to small urban gardens where horizontal space is limited.
Columnar Norway Maple
Columnar Norway maple grows in a narrow, upright form reaching 40-50 feet tall but only 15-20 feet wide compared to the spreading form of standard Norway maples. Cultivars like ‘Columnare’ maintain tight, fastigiate growth without extensive pruning and provide dense shade in narrow spaces.
These trees are excellent for street plantings, tight urban lots, and situations where vertical screening or shade is needed without wide lateral spread.
Slender Hinoki Cypress
Slender Hinoki cypress grows in a narrow, pyramidal form reaching 20-30 feet tall but only 4-6 feet wide with dark green evergreen foliage. This Japanese conifer maintains elegant, upright growth and provides year-round screening with minimal space requirements.
Hinoki cypress is ideal for narrow planting strips, Asian-inspired gardens, formal landscapes, and adding vertical evergreen interest without the footprint of spreading conifers.
Columnar Sweetgum
Columnar sweetgum varieties like ‘Slender Silhouette’ grow extremely narrow, reaching 50-60 feet tall but only 4-6 feet wide with spectacular fall color. These fastigiate selections provide the brilliant fall foliage of standard sweetgums in a space-saving vertical form.
Columnar sweetgum is perfect for narrow spaces, creating vertical screens, and adding dramatic fall color where traditional spreading sweetgums would be too large.
Pyramidal European Hornbeam
Pyramidal European hornbeam grows in a tightly upright, conical form reaching 40-50 feet tall but only 20-25 feet wide. Cultivars like ‘Fastigiata’ or ‘Frans Fontaine’ maintain narrow pyramidal shapes with smooth gray bark and clean foliage.
These trees are excellent for formal allées, narrow street plantings, creating vertical hedges, and situations where upright form is desired with limited lateral spread.
Armstrong Red Maple
Armstrong red maple is a columnar cultivar reaching 50-60 feet tall but only 15-20 feet wide with brilliant red fall color. This narrow maple maintains its upright form throughout its life and provides spectacular autumn displays in confined spaces.
Armstrong maple is ideal for narrow urban lots, street plantings, and landscapes where traditional spreading maples would be too wide but vertical interest and fall color are desired.
Emerald Green Arborvitae
Emerald Green arborvitae grows in a naturally narrow, pyramidal form reaching 12-15 feet tall and only 3-4 feet wide. This compact evergreen maintains dense, emerald-green foliage year-round without extensive pruning.
Emerald arborvitae is perfect for narrow screening, flanking entryways, creating privacy hedges in tight spaces, and adding vertical evergreen structure to small gardens where space is at a premium.
Columnar Blue Spruce
Columnar blue spruce varieties grow in narrow, upright forms reaching 30-50 feet tall but only 10-15 feet wide with striking blue-gray needles. These fastigiate selections provide the dramatic color of blue spruce in space-saving vertical forms.
Columnar blue spruce is excellent for narrow landscapes, creating vertical accents, formal gardens, and situations where the tree’s distinctive color is desired without the wide spread of standard specimens.
Amanogawa Flowering Cherry
Amanogawa flowering cherry is an extremely narrow Japanese cherry reaching 15-25 feet tall but only 4-8 feet wide with upright branches. This columnar cherry produces fragrant, semi-double pink flowers in spring while maintaining an upright vase shape.
Amanogawa is ideal for narrow urban gardens, small courtyards, tight planting spaces, and creating spectacular spring displays where traditional spreading cherries would be too large.
Swedish Aspen
Swedish aspen grows in a narrowly columnar form reaching 30-40 feet tall but only 8-12 feet wide with distinctive white bark. This fastigiate poplar provides the attractive bark and golden fall color of aspens without the wide spread and suckering of standard varieties.
Swedish aspen is excellent for narrow landscapes, creating vertical accents, adding fall color in confined spaces, and providing the aesthetic of aspens in controlled, upright forms.
Degroot’s Spire Arborvitae
Degroot’s Spire arborvitae grows in an extremely narrow, columnar form reaching 15-20 feet tall but only 3-4 feet wide. This dark green evergreen maintains its tight, spire-like shape naturally and provides dense screening with minimal footprint.
Degroot’s Spire is perfect for narrow planting strips, creating vertical accents, flanking doorways, and adding height to small spaces where traditional evergreens would spread too wide.
Columnar Sargent Cherry
Columnar Sargent cherry grows in an upright, narrow form reaching 30-40 feet tall but only 12-15 feet wide with beautiful spring flowers. This fastigiate cherry provides spectacular pink blooms and attractive mahogany-colored bark in a space-saving vertical form.
Columnar Sargent cherry is ideal for narrow streets, urban landscapes, and creating spring displays where traditional spreading cherries would interfere with buildings or overhead wires.
Taylor Juniper
Taylor juniper is an extremely narrow evergreen growing 15-20 feet tall but only 3-4 feet wide with silvery blue-green foliage. This tightly columnar conifer maintains its narrow form naturally and provides year-round screening in minimal space.
Taylor juniper is excellent for narrow side yards, creating vertical screens, flanking entries, and adding height to small gardens without horizontal spread.
Fastigiate European Beech
Fastigiate European beech grows in a narrow, upright form reaching 50-60 feet tall but only 15-20 feet wide with smooth gray bark. This columnar beech maintains tightly upright branching and provides the attractive foliage and bark of European beech in a space-saving form.
Fastigiate beech is ideal for formal gardens, creating vertical accents, narrow landscapes, and situations where the distinctive beech character is desired without wide lateral spread.
Princeton Sentry Ginkgo
Princeton Sentry ginkgo is a narrowly upright cultivar reaching 40-60 feet tall but only 15-20 feet wide with brilliant golden fall color. This columnar selection provides the distinctive fan-shaped leaves and exceptional fall color of ginkgo in a controlled, upright form.
Princeton Sentry is excellent for urban streets, narrow lots, and creating vertical accents with spectacular autumn displays in confined spaces.
Pyramidal Japanese Yew
Pyramidal Japanese yew grows in a narrow, upright form reaching 20-30 feet tall but only 8-10 feet wide with dark green evergreen needles. This fastigiate yew maintains its columnar shape with minimal pruning and provides dense, year-round screening.
Pyramidal yew is ideal for formal gardens, narrow foundation plantings, creating vertical evergreen hedges, and adding structure to landscapes with limited horizontal space.
Sky Pencil Holly
Sky Pencil holly is an extremely narrow evergreen growing 8-10 feet tall but only 1-2 feet wide, making it one of the narrowest landscape trees available. This incredibly tight columnar holly maintains its pencil-thin shape naturally with small evergreen leaves.
Sky Pencil is perfect for the narrowest spaces, flanking doorways, creating vertical accents in containers, and adding height to small gardens where even moderate width is too much.
Columnar Crabapple
Columnar crabapple varieties like ‘Sentinel’ grow in narrow, upright forms reaching 15-25 feet tall but only 6-10 feet wide. These fastigiate crabapples provide spectacular spring flowers and ornamental fruit in space-saving vertical forms.
Columnar crabapples are excellent for narrow urban lots, street plantings, creating vertical flowering accents, and adding spring interest where traditional spreading crabapples would be too wide.
Dakota Pinnacle Birch
Dakota Pinnacle birch is a narrowly pyramidal cultivar reaching 25-30 feet tall but only 8-12 feet wide with attractive white bark. This columnar birch provides the distinctive bark and elegant appearance of birches in a controlled, upright form.
Dakota Pinnacle is ideal for narrow landscapes, creating vertical accents, adding winter interest through bark color, and fitting birch beauty into confined spaces.
Columnar Red Oak
Columnar red oak varieties grow in narrow, upright forms reaching 40-60 feet tall but only 15-20 feet wide with brilliant red fall color. These fastigiate oaks provide the strength, fall color, and character of red oaks in space-saving vertical forms.
Columnar red oak is excellent for narrow streets, tight urban lots, and creating fall displays where traditional spreading oaks would be too large.
Irish Yew
Irish yew grows in a naturally narrow, columnar form reaching 15-25 feet tall but only 4-6 feet wide with dark green evergreen foliage. This fastigiate yew maintains tight, upright growth and provides formal, architectural presence with minimal horizontal spread.
Irish yew is ideal for formal gardens, creating vertical evergreen accents, flanking formal entryways, and adding structure to landscapes requiring narrow, columnar evergreen forms.
Columnare Blue Atlas Cedar
Columnare Blue Atlas cedar grows in a narrow, upright form reaching 30-40 feet tall but only 8-12 feet wide with striking blue-gray needles. This fastigiate selection provides the dramatic color and texture of Blue Atlas cedar in a controlled, vertical form.
Columnare cedar is excellent for adding dramatic blue evergreen color in narrow spaces, creating vertical accents, and fitting the distinctive cedar appearance into landscapes with limited horizontal room.