Rochester, Minnesota approved boulevard tree list, no date printed

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It is also not planting advice and it does not say which tree suits a site. The Forestry Division of the Parks and Recreation Department posts its approved list as part of the Boulevard Permits page, under the heading Approved Boulevard Trees. The page carries no printed date, so none is given here. It describes the list as a comprehensive list of all species approved by the city for boulevard and right-of-way tree planting.

How the list is used

The page says a Tree Planting Permit is needed before planting and that the permit is free. After the application, staff visit the property and put a white flag at each available planting space, and the permit lists the recommended species for each space. The page also says a species on the list may not be allowed at a given spot because of tree diversity in the area, site conditions or planting space limits, and that the permit defines the authorized trees and locations. Once a tree is in the ground it is public property. The page names Ordinance 9-4 for boulevard maintenance requirements.

The three groups

The page sorts 46 entries into small-stature, medium-stature and large-stature trees. Names, spellings and height ranges are copied as the page prints them, including a few misspelled scientific names. Cultivars are printed for some entries and are not copied here. Some entries carry a note limiting them to seedless selections, and some say single stem only.

Small-stature trees (8 entries)

Common name as printed	Scientific name as printed	Mature height in feet as printed
Cherry, Amur Choke	Prunus maackii	20-30
Crabapple	Malus spp.	15-30
Hawthorne, thornless	Crateaegus crus-galli	20-30
Maackia, Amur	Maackia amurensis	20-30
Magnolia, star	Magnolia stellata	15-20
Plum 'Princess Kay'	Prunus nigra	15-30
Redbud, eastern	Cercis canadensis	20-30
Serviceberry 'Autumn Brilliance'	Amelanchier x grandiflora	15-25

Medium-stature trees (10 entries)

Common name as printed	Scientific name as printed	Mature height in feet as printed
Alder	Alnus spp.	30-50
Cherry, Black	Prunus serotina	50-80
Ginkgo, seedless selections only	Ginkgo biloba	40-50
Hop hornbeam/Ironwood	Ostrya virginiana	25-40
Hornbeam, American	Carpinus caroliniana	20-35
Horsechestnut, red	Aesculus glabra	30-40
Magnolia, cucumber	Magnolia acuminata	40-60
Mountain ash, Korean	Sorbus alnifolia	40-50
Buckeye, Ohio	Aesculus glabra	20-40
Yellowwood, American	Cladrastis kentukea	30-50

Large-stature trees (28 entries)

Common name as printed	Scientific name as printed	Mature height in feet as printed
Birch, River	Betula nigra	40-70
Blackgum	Nyssa sylvatica	30-50
Catalpa, Northern	Catalpa speciosa	40-70
Coffee tree, Kentucky, seedless selection only	Gymnocaldus dioica	60-80
Dawn Redwood	Metasequoia glyptostrobodies	70-100
Filbert, Turkish	Corylus colurna	40-80
Hackberry	Celtis occidentalis	40-60
Hickory, shagbark	Carya ovata	70-90
Hickory, bitternut	Carya cordiformis	50-80
Honeylocust, Thornless, seedless selection only	Gledistia triacanthos var. inermis	60-80
Horsechestnut	Aesculus hippocastanum	50-75
Linden, American	Tilia americana	50-80
Maple, black	Acer saccharum subsp. nigrum	60-75
Maple, red	Acer rubrum	40-70
Maple, sugar	Acer saccharum	40-80
Oak, black	Quercus velutina	50-60
Oak, bur	Quercus macrocarpa	50-80
Oak, chinkapin	Quercus muehlenbergii	40-60
Oak, English	Quercus robur	40-70
Oak, Heritage	Quercus x macdanielli	50-60
Oak, Northern Pin	Quercus ellipsoidalis	50-70
Oak, red	Quercus rubra	50-70
Oak, swamp white	Quercus bicolor	50-60
Oak, white	Quercus alba	50-80
Sweetgum	Lquidambar styraciflua	40-60
Sycamore	Acer pseudoplatus	40-60
Tamarack	Larix Laricina	40-70
Tulip Poplar	Lirodendron tulipifera	70-90

The page shows the under-power-lines mark on all 8 small-stature entries and on two medium-stature entries, hop hornbeam and American hornbeam. No large-stature entry carries it. The Tree Planting Guide on the city’s Tree Care and Programs page says any tree planted under power lines must be of small stature.

Setbacks, as the city states them

Two city pages give distances and they do not match. The Boulevard Permits page says trees must be planted 10 feet from driveways, 12 feet from any above ground utilities, 25 feet from intersections of sidewalks, 25 feet from existing small stature boulevard trees, 35 feet from existing large stature boulevard trees or future boulevard planting locations, and 20 feet from light poles and power poles. It also gives a minimum of 1.5 inches caliper and says clumps are not permitted. The Tree Planting Guide says 15 feet from all utilities including light poles, fire hydrants and utility boxes, 10 feet from the edge of the driveway and curb stops, 25 feet from the inside of the intersection, and 35 feet between trees. Which set applies to a given permit is a question for the Forestry Division.

The Free Tree Program

The Free Tree Program page says the city offers free tree planting for qualifying private properties through a federally funded urban forestry grant program. It says the program is not citywide, that properties must be in qualifying neighborhoods (census tracts 1, 2, 3 and 6), and that approved applicants select their preferred tree species from approved options. The page does not say which list those options come from.

Limits

The list sits on a web page, and the PDF linked from that page as Approved Boulevard Tree Planting List did not open as a PDF when read on October 9, 2026, so only the web page text was used.
Height ranges are the city’s own and appear in feet only. Two entries share the scientific name Aesculus glabra (red horsechestnut and Ohio buckeye) as printed.
Planting site rules differ between city pages, as shown above.

This list sits beside the others on the city lists comparison page. For how lists connect to the research on mixing species, see the street tree diversity page.