Help choosing a fast-growing shade tree...
Hi there! I am a newbie when it comes to all things gardening, as most of my adult life has been spent in highly urban settings. But we have recently purchased a home with a decent sized yard, in an old neighborhood with an abundance of 50-60 year old trees. While our backyard is shaded by a mix of conifers and a lovely old beech tree, the front yard is completely bare... and since it is a south-facing exposure, the summer sun beating down on our front yard and porch is scorching. I would like to plant a shade tree, but I am totally overwhelmed by the choices!
Here are the things I would like to achieve:
1. Relatively fast growing. Obviously, we would like to enjoy some shade as soon as possible, and since all of the other homes on the street have mature trees I would like something that will match the surroundings in a relatively short amount of time. (I do realize that regardless of which species we choose, it'll take years)
2. Low maintenance. With two young children, an old house to fix up, and a big learning curve on all things gardening... well, simpler would be better.
3. Fall color would be nice. We recently moved to Ohio (zone 6a) and I am suddenly having a love affair with autumn leaves. Yes, I even enjoyed raking... although the charm of that may wear off eventually :) I'd love to have a beautiful shot of red/orange/yellow lighting up my front yard!
4. A generally hearty, healthy species of tree. Hopefully one with a root system that won't uproot the sidewalk/driveway and leave the yard gnarled and grassless.
Ok, does such a tree exist? Any help would be very, very appreciated! Thanks in advance...
Comentarios (27)
dancingal agradeció a blakrab Centex
tlbean2004
hace 9 añosThe Water oak if the fastest growing oak getting 3-4 feet a year.
It will have a rounded canopy but it will get large. Mine is 60 feet tall by 60 feet wide.
The down side is it is not very long lived. MAybe 80-100 years.
Also the Black Cherry tree is another very fast grower that has beautiful fall color and wildlife will eat the tart cherries.
dancingal agradeció a tlbean2004tlbean2004
hace 9 años
Here is a pic of my Water Oak. It is planted about 20ft from my house in the backyard.
dancingal agradeció a tlbean2004ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
hace 9 añosstay away from anything that CLAIMS to be fast growing ... fast to grow.. fast to disease.. fast to decline.. in tree year terms ...
i prefer oak ... once they get going.... they can do 3 to 5 feet per year.. which i darn fast enough.. for a tree that can live 100 years ...
in 2000 i got 6 to 8 foot bare root oaks.. at the peeps at they link in mansfield OH .. i drove 3.5 hours one way to get them ... they are now going on 20 to 35 feet tall ... and they are local grown ...
link
i would plant them 20 to 30 feet from the house... and they were planted according to the link below ... pay attention to such .... especially if you have that famous OH clay ....
by the time it destroys the lawn or sidewalks.. you will be dead ...take that out of your equation.. if you go with oak ...
and you might consider 2 ... rather than one ... to build shade faster ... and do note... shading the lawn ... creates cool air for the house.. it is not wise.. to plant them so close.. that they will eventually overhang the house ... that is what insulation is for ...
congrats on getting out of the city ... you will live longer ...
kenPS: north OH is vastly different than S OH .... i am guessing either greater columbus or cinci????? am i close ... and those are much different than toledo .... we dont need more specificity than that ... red or scarlet oak for fall colordancingal agradeció a ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5wisconsitom
hace 9 añosÚltima modificación: hace 9 añosLots of ways to go here-some of the suggestions which have already come in are great. For very fast growth, the Freeman maple cultivars, such items as 'Autumn Blaze' are good trees, albeit hardly low-maintenance. The problem with these is that they grow so fast, and with so many narrow crotch angles (prone to splitting out later) that unless you have the services of a competent arborist, to train them properly when they're young, they will develop much poor structure. I still like them, despite these drawbacks, but where I live and work, we have highly-skilled arborists that keep them growing with good form. They do feature very nice red fall color.
Oaks are not as slow-growing as some sources suggest. And what's more, they rarely need the sort of corrective pruning of my 'Autumn Blaze' example above. Just a gradual raising up (removal) of lower branches as they grow, so you can walk under them, etc. is about all they ever need. I'm partial to swamp white oak, and no, it doesn't have to be in a swamp, but there are many fine oaks to choose from. Many oaks have a somewhat more muted fall coloration, but once you get it, it is very beautiful. Swamp white falls into this category.
You're going to be buried with ideas, so I'm going to leave it there. I do commend you for wanting to do this, and for knowing it's a shade tree you're after. Lots of peeps are far more clueless!
+oM
dancingal agradeció a wisconsitomhamburglar1
hace 9 añosÚltima modificación: hace 9 añosOne suggestion to simplify things for you... Go visit a couple local garden centers with good tree inventories. Most start receiving new trees in April. Develop a list from what is available and then frame the discussion with those. Or if you will work with a landscape contractor, they can give you a list from their go-to nursery. As it stands with this thread, you will get suggestions for trees that will not be readily available to you.
dancingal agradeció a hamburglar1drrich2
hace 9 añosAbout how tall and how wide should this tree be? Do you like broad, rounded canopies or narrow (e.g.: fastigiate or columnar) canopies? Don't know what grows well in your area. Pin Oak has a rep. for sending limbs down toward the ground, so wouldn't plant that. Shumard Oak gets huge. Some oaks hold their dead leaves in winter & some don't. Some have better Fall color than others.
My 'Wildfire' Blackgum seems to grow much faster than I'd read Blackgums do; I'm in southwestern KY, Zone 6B, though.
If you like Sweet Gum, there's a 'Rotundiloba' cultivar that shouldn't give you spiky ball problems.
Planted a Lacebark (e.g.: Chinese) Elm in our backyard; peeling bark & can beautiful. I've seen a couple of nice ones at Nashville Zoo. Good-sized, but not a huge tree. Leaves are pretty tiny, so shouldn't make too bad a mess.
Richard.
dancingal agradeció a drrich2wisconsitom
hace 9 añosAbove suggestion is a good one. Decide on basic parameters first-ultimate size of tree, growth form, ie rounded, narrow, etc. Then narrow down based on your answers to those questions. All too often, people get excited about a certain flower, or the way some species' bark looks, when what matters most of all are those factors mentioned above.
+oM
dancingal agradeció a wisconsitomToronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
hace 9 añosIf the pyramidal shape works for you, Metaseaquoia is as fast as anything and long lived. It gets a peachy fall color. I bet you'll want to limb it up for the more formal look of a shade tree. it is going to be narrower than the scarlet oak someone listed above but probably grow faster.
dancingal agradeció a Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louisdrrich2
hace 9 añosToronado3800, glad you posted that photo. It makes an important point. Aesthetically speaking, a massive tree can visually overwhelm a small to mid-size house, such as a single story, in the eye of the beholder. I hadn't thought about it much till I read about it. This may not matter to some people. For some folks, an enormous shade tree aside or before a modest single family 1-story home is no problem. But here, imagine the metasequoia moved to right in front of that home, where the smaller tree now is.
Is that a look you like? If so, no problem. Where I work, I can see a massive sugar maple tree, for example. Sugar maple grows slower but gets larger than red maple. While reading about the size difference online might not seem like it's a big deal, get a load of a big sugar maple in person, and you can see it matters.
Sugar maple, Shumard, pin, burr and white oak, metasequoia, tulip poplar (at least in height), and of course sycamore, there are some enormous tree choices out there, depending on where you live.dancingal agradeció a drrich2Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
hace 9 añosTulip popular Liriondren tipfera (spelling) is a neat choice is you have the room. My neighbor even has one with good yelllw fall color.
Definately is a choice drrich. I had some white ash planted too close to my home. the one a little further from my house is fine though.dancingal agradeció a Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
PROBower & Branch
hace 9 añosI like the Japanese Zelkova as a decent option for a relatively fast growing shade tree. It's not native, but it's disease resistant, hearty, and will provide good shade. It's similar to Elm in a lot of ways, but you don't have to worry about Dutch Elm disease. I rather like the vase shaped branching structure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelkova_serrata
dancingal agradeció a Bower & Branchhairmetal4ever
hace 9 añosÚltima modificación: hace 9 añosSugar Maple (Acer saccharum)-somewhat slower growing, but, like oaks, not as slow as people think. Excellent fall color, common and native in Ohio. The only caveat here would be to keep those trees out of areas that are near pavement, road salt run off, or excessively hot or dry parts of the yard. Also, avoid lower, swampy/poorly drained areas. Otherwise would fit the bill. The cultivars 'Legacy', 'Commemoration', 'Fall Fiesta', as well as 'Green Mountain' and 'Bonfire' are generally faster growing than average for a sugar maple, and a bit more heat and drought tolerant.
Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea) is also a great choice-usually has very good fall color, and is pretty fast growing (faster than sugar maple). Avoid excessively wet areas.
dancingal agradeció a hairmetal4everwisconsitom
hace 9 añosWe've made a lot of great suggestions here, boys and girls. Wonder if dancingal is still with us, lol!
+oM
dancingal agradeció a wisconsitomliamkelly Zone 6b Rhode Island / 5b Massachusetts
hace 9 añosI second the tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), they'll grow tall fast and still maintain a good quality, disease-resistant wood. They also have a beautifully straight trunk, and even when planted in the open air, they have a very elegant "field form" - as opposed to "timber form". Plus, the flowers are beautiful. Many houses where I live have old tulip poplars in their front yards.
dancingal agradeció a liamkelly Zone 6b Rhode Island / 5b Massachusettshamburglar1
hace 9 añosI love tuliptrees as well. There are a bunch in our neighborhood in the Cleveland SE suburbs, both natural and planted. I planted one a couple years ago but the deer rutted it to smithereens. The open-grown ones here do not have good central leaders and tend to get curvy or lop-sided, compared to the arrow-straight ones that start in wooded/natural areas. Was thinking of trying again with one of the cultivars (like Emerald City) to improve the likelihood of a tidy form. It's an ideal backyard tree IMO if your yard is not super dry.
dancingal agradeció a hamburglar1- dancingal agradeció a User
rgodman
hace 8 añosÚltima modificación: hace 8 añosAfter growing many types of Oaks I can tell you the fastest growing oak I have ever seen is the Sawtooth Oak. I planted a water oak, northern red oak, nuttall oak, sawtooth oak, and live oak. Of all these the sawtooth destroyed all the others. After 7-8 years it is a 40' X 40' tree (from 5-6'). My only complaint is the holding of dead leaves all winter and into the spring which does not make for a pretty fall/winter look, but the structure is outstanding. Next to that the Nuttall oak has been outstanding, and would be my choice. In the same time it is about 35' X 35', with incredible trunk caliper and structure. Those 2 would always be my go to trees for a great tree, and very fast growth. As others have said most "fast" growing tress are weak, I would go oak. Another option would be a more rare tree. I have an American Elm (Valley Forge) coming in a few days to plant. Solid fast growth, outstanding "classic" tree that are oh so rare now. This elm is highly resistant to dutch elm disease (the most resistant actually), you have to be careful what you get. I can give you contact info for the pretty much the only one I know that handles, grows, and promotes this tree if you have any interest email me... godmanstudios@gmail.com
dancingal agradeció a rgodmandancingal
Autor originalhace 8 añosThank you for all the suggestions! After spending endless hours researching different options, we have decided on a tulip tree! While oaks seem to be the most popular suggestion, there are already at least a dozen oak trees in our neighbors' yards so we opted to add a bit of biological diversity and go with something different. It is a native species in our area, and once the tree begins flowering it will provide nectar for honeybees, hummingbirds and butterflies, as well as seeds for the many squirrels and cardinals in our neighborhood. Plus, I love the bright yellow fall foliage! The tree should be delivered within the next couple of weeks, so I will try to upload a photo once we've gotten it planted. Any planting tips would be welcome! Thanks again for sharing your collective wisdom :)
- dancingal agradeció a wisconsitom
rgodman
hace 8 añosVery common here, and a good tree. I have seen 1 example here in my area that has to be over 100 years old. The trunk rivals some of the best oaks I have seen. Usually has to be about 5 years old before it will start to flower. They can get huge, one of the tallest deciduos trees in North America if my memory serves me right.
dancingal agradeció a rgodmanrgodman
hace 8 añosThe tape drop of the great tuliptree was 191.9 feet!"
A New Record Confirmed
"This is the first tuliptree ever accurately measured to exceed 190 feet (57.9 m) and it now stands as the tallest native broadleaf tree known in all of temperate North America- surpassing a black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) in Olympic National Park by over 10 feet (3 m)!"
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
hace 8 añosSomeone here has some good pre prepared planting instructions...Ken maybe?
Generally dig the hole wider than necessary
only deep enout to get 80% of the rootball in there
remove any burlap or whatever
plant and water
sure I forgot something Someone else will add in
dancingal agradeció a Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louiscakbu z9 CA
hace 8 añosMy go-to tree for shade, good growth, no pests or diseases is a fruitless mulberry. Unless you want fruit (tiny) that drops for two months in the spring and requires either constant raking or tracking the squished fruit on the bottom of your shoes, go for fruitless. The leaves turn yellow in the fall and you will have plenty of raking or blowing to keep you busy!
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hamburglar1