Help me pick new trees

In My Humble Opinion
1

Our old Bradford Pear trees have got to go (not that I ever liked them anyway - they were here when we moved in).

They were damaged pretty badly in an ice storm a few years ago. One was taken down at the time, leaving three others. Every time we have a good storm now, several branches come down. The husband has told me this summer he’s getting rid of them, and he wants to know what I want as replacements.

I dunno. The current trees are about 15-20 feet from the street, along the front of the yard. We could set the new ones back a bit more, but I don’t want trees that are going to end up being very tall - I’d say 30 feet is about my limit on that.

We live in central NC, so they have to be able to live with the conditions here - hot and humid in the summer, and sometimes quite dry. Below freezing in the winter - sometimes down to the teens, but rarely lower than that.

These trees will be in full sun.

And I don’t want trees that are going to make an enormous mess with seeds or nuts.

I’ve been thinking about red maples; we did have a lovely one in Virginia that stayed nice and small, but was very pretty. Any other trees I should be thinking about?

2

I’m just popping in to say that the best resource I’ve seen for information about trees is the National Arbor Day Foundation, and if you send them $10 to join they send you free baby trees, guaranteed to grow.

Just FYI. Our city officials use them constantly for information and cheap trees.

~Tasha

3

[QUOTE=tashabot]
I’m just popping in to say that the best resource I’ve seen for information about trees is the National Arbor Day Foundation, and if you send them $10 to join they send you free baby trees, guaranteed to grow.

Just FYI. Our city officials use them constantly for information and cheap trees.

~Tasha
[/QUOTE]

Hm - naturally we are on the border of zones 7 and 8 - I wonder which one is the best one to pick …

I’ll be going to a local nursery to get our trees - I’ve seen the ones you can get free/cheap from the Foundation, and they are dinky. I’d like to start with something that is a little bigger - we’ve not had much luck with little baby trees.

4

I’m a fan of the Sweet Olive tree. Doesn’t get very big, but the aroma is magnificent!

5

[QUOTE=feppytweed]
I’m a fan of the Sweet Olive tree. Doesn’t get very big, but the aroma is magnificent!
[/QUOTE]

I just looked those up - it does sound like they smell great! But alas, they aren’t hardy enough for our area.

6

Pink Dogwood! They are in bloom here and I just love them.

Berries, but I haven’t seen them make a mess and they are attractive to birds.

7

[QUOTE=Lisa Ann]
Pink Dogwood! They are in bloom here and I just love them.

Berries, but I haven’t seen them make a mess and they are attractive to birds.
[/QUOTE]

I agree they are beautiful, but there’s already lots and lots of them around. We also have redbuds, so I’m not keen on having more. I also doubt they’d grow well where we are going to plant these new trees - they are really forest trees and do better in partial sun.

Now that I’ve had a chance to look more at the Arbor Day site, here are some things that sounded interesting:

Lacebark Elm
Goldenraintree
Washington Hawthorn
Japanese Red Maple
Smoketree

Anyone heard of/have any of these?

Or, I suppose I could put in some big lilacs - those would smell good too and I know some varieties can get fairly large.

8

I’m very partial to flowering trees. I’m thinking about buying some soon. Right now the only one I have is a tabebuia, which are great in Florida, but not hardy in most of the continental US, I think.

9

It’s funny you’ve posted this - I’m researching trees right now because my Leyland cypress decided to take a dirt nap in the windstorm the other day. My homeowners’ association has come out quite publicly against Bradfords, and indeed when hurricane Isabel came through in 03, the 4 trees lost on our street included 2 Bradfords and 2 Leylands.

My personal preference would be to go for something at least somewhat native to the area. We’ll be putting in either a redbud (you’ve said you don’t need more of those) or one I’d never heard of before, a serviceberry. Those look neat - small trees or large shrubs, they have OK flowers, they look attractive year-round, and the fruits are edible (if you can get to them before the birds do, that is). Both are native to North America.

I’ve also sort of fantasized about a sourwood but I think that may be a tad too large for where we need to plant. I think that’s also native to NA.

You didn’t say what size tree you’re looking for, but here is our HOA’s list of recommended smaller trees.

10

And on preview, you did say what size tree you’re looking for :smack:

Any of the ones on that link would be worth considering - I believe they were specifically recommended because of hardiness, appearance, and size (nobody in our development has a large yard).

11

My vote is for the Japanese Red Maple; they’re very pretty trees with a considerably wide zone range. What’s really neat is watching the leaves change color as they mature.

12

Why the 30 foot limit on height? Your red maple back in Virginia was probably taller than that. Did you mean the Crimson King maple, with the red leaves all the time? The red maple turns bright red only in the fall, and it’s a strong, robust tree.

I’d recommend the tulip poplar (white poplar) to your attention, but it will eventually grow past 30 feet. Don’t confuse it with the Lombardy poplar, which grows fast but only lasts 15 years. The tulip poplar has large cream-colored flowers in late spring. It has a symmetric shape. The sound of its big leaves in a summer wind is a pleasure to the ears.

13

If you choose a tree that doesn’t make seeds or fruit, you’re asking for a male tree. That might seem like it’s less messy, but a male tree spews pollen. Every spring, you’ll bring misery to folks with allergies and asthma.

14

I love my smoketree (sp. Cotinus). When it’s in bloom and I’m outside, people always stop and ask what it is because it’s so striking. I can’t remember the cultivar, but it’s one of the bronze/purple ones. I’m in Zone 5-6.

It’s really more of a shrub than a tree – i.e., it won’t necessarily develop a strong, central trunk unless you prune it to encourage that kind of growth. It’s kind of sprawly and open – just about the exact opposite of a Bradford pear.

It’s very hardy – and I’ve gotten several “babies” from it when the branches that touched the ground rooted. I just cut through the branch they’d rooted from, dug them up, replanted, and watched them thrive.

Just a note on Japanese maples – they need to be kind of protected. They don’t do well in full blazing sun. Mine is completely shaded in the afternoon and it’s done really well.

15

[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
It’s funny you’ve posted this - I’m researching trees right now because my Leyland cypress decided to take a dirt nap in the windstorm the other day. My homeowners’ association has come out quite publicly against Bradfords, and indeed when hurricane Isabel came through in 03, the 4 trees lost on our street included 2 Bradfords and 2 Leylands.

My personal preference would be to go for something at least somewhat native to the area. We’ll be putting in either a redbud (you’ve said you don’t need more of those) or one I’d never heard of before, a serviceberry. Those look neat - small trees or large shrubs, they have OK flowers, they look attractive year-round, and the fruits are edible (if you can get to them before the birds do, that is). Both are native to North America.

I’ve also sort of fantasized about a sourwood but I think that may be a tad too large for where we need to plant. I think that’s also native to NA.

You didn’t say what size tree you’re looking for, but here is our HOA’s list of recommended smaller trees.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the list - the info there is helpful!

Yeah, the Bradfords and the Leyland cypresses seem to be real popular with developers, I guess since they grow fast. But they’re not strong plants and are subject to damage and disease. So far the cypresses that were planted between our yard and the back neighbor’s have withstood the weather, but they are getting huge and if one of them gets diseased we’ll probably have to take it out before it takes out the house or the fence.

My parents have a serviceberry, but I’ve never liked it. It just looks sort of … unhealthy all the time, though I don’t think there’s actually anything wrong with it. It will stay small, though. I like the look of the sourwood, but I am afraid it will need too much moisture - it can get really dry during the summer where we are.

16

Amelanchier laevis is good - fairly compact, comparable hardiness to a pear tree, lovely(but short-lived) flowers, fantastic autumn colour. It produces berries (edible to humans - they taste like raspberries), but the birds will eat them all.

Not necessarily - for example, many of the ornamental flowering varieties of Prunus (cherry) don’t set fruit at all, or do so very rarely and sparsely.

17

[QUOTE=AskNott]
Why the 30 foot limit on height? Your red maple back in Virginia was probably taller than that.
[/QUOTE]

No, the maple we had was a Japanese red maple - it was actually a specimen plant that was in our front garden. Very slow-growing and wouldn’t get over 15 feet.

The height limit is due where we are going to put the trees. I don’t want anything that is going to get so large that it presents a threat to the house or ends up blocking the street if it comes down. We’re out in a semi-rural area and this is important.

[QUOTE=AskNott]
I’d recommend the tulip poplar (white poplar) to your attention, but it will eventually grow past 30 feet. Don’t confuse it with the Lombardy poplar, which grows fast but only lasts 15 years. The tulip poplar has large cream-colored flowers in late spring. It has a symmetric shape. The sound of its big leaves in a summer wind is a pleasure to the ears.
[/QUOTE]

Poplars get waaaaaaaaaay over 30 feet. And I think you are thinking about the yellow poplar (aka tuliptree). White poplars have catkins instead of those big flowers. They are pretty, but they aren’t easy to find.

[QUOTE=AskNott]
If you choose a tree that doesn’t make seeds or fruit, you’re asking for a male tree. That might seem like it’s less messy, but a male tree spews pollen. Every spring, you’ll bring misery to folks with allergies and asthma.
[/QUOTE]

I have allergies myself, so I am aware of the issues there and frankly my four or five trees are going to add very little to the already existing situation - we live next to a state park chock-full of native allergens. I don’t mind seeds or fruit, as long as I’m not constantly having to clean up after the things - that’s why the words ‘enormous mess’ were in my OP. Hard nuts become projectiles when mowing the lawn and aren’t good for the mower blades, so I’d rather avoid having to deal with that if at all possible.

freckafree, thanks for the info on the smoketree. Do you have a photo of yours? And yes, I am worried about the sun issue with the Japanese red maple - the one we had in Virginia didn’t get full sun all day, but even so during the hottest days of summer it would actually turn this weird orangey color - making me wonder if it was stressed.

We have a river birch in our back yard - I do like that tree a lot, but I’m not sure about having it in the front. Not sure why.

18

*Acer palmatum * might work. Japanese maple.

Have you considered any kind of bamboo? You want to make sure you get a kind of clumping bamboo (Fargesia robusta e.g.), not running bamboo.

Here’s an example of what a large clump can become.

19

[QUOTE=romansperson]
My parents have a serviceberry, but I’ve never liked it…
[/QUOTE]
Oops… I didn’t see this/remember that Serviceberry is a common name for Amelanchier. Still think they’re worth a try though and a nursery-grown specimen from a decent cultivar shouldn’t look unhealthy.

20

[QUOTE=Mangetout]
Oops… I didn’t see this/remember that Serviceberry is a common name for Amelanchier. Still think they’re worth a try though and a nursery-grown specimen from a decent cultivar shouldn’t look unhealthy.
[/QUOTE]

Looking at info on this tree a little more, I think the problem is that they are described as an understory tree - so they don’t like full sun. My parents’ tree is in full sun, so I bet that’s the problem.

And Trunk, I just want a few trees, not a jungle! :stuck_out_tongue:

Bamboo scares the crap out of me - I considered it briefly as something to plant along our fence line to soften up the long hard line it presents from the street, but most varieties that would grow in our area have the potential to be invasive (our area is, weirdly, too hot and humid for the variety you mentioned), so I thought I’d stay away from it.

That brings up another thought, though - maybe pampas grass would work. I know for a fact it loves heat and full sun, and it would grow quite well here, though it is not native.