Help picking out tree species.

We just put in a loop driveway and want to let our kids plant a tree that will be there for when they have kids. We are looking for a tree that will get very tall and spread out and offer good shade. Not close to any building or house so don't need to worry about it hitting anything in the event it would fall or break. We also don't want to get a tree that is messy. Leaves are fine but don't want to have to deal with any other type of mess. Neighbor suggested maple but I'm not sure which type. Any other suggestions for a tall growing family tree?
a230328.jpg
 
I would plant oak. Otherwise cottonwood if you are not concerned about a messy tree. Many people don't like cottonwoods but I'm rather fond of them, hardy and self pruning. Never had a cottonwood blight lol
 
In north Alabama that would be a great location for a pin oak. Fast growing when young, long lifed, strong, beautiful cone shape, few acorns, beautiful fall color. Drawback is they hold their dried leaves all winter, however that does provide for less leaves to rake.
 
To get what your wanting, I'd say to go with an Oak, except for the fact they also drop acorns along with the leaves.

That aside, regardless of the type planted, unless your in it for the long haul, your going to need to get someone to transplant a good sized tree to start with. I say this because we planted a Oak for my God Daughters first birthday. It took it nearly 18 years to even be tall enough to walk under, and large enough to offer any shade. Dad planted two Magnolia trees in the front yard of their house when they built it in '90, and after 26 years they aren't anywhere as large as you'd think they ought to be.
 
I agree with the pin oak, or even a beech. Beautiful in the open when they achieve their symmetrical shape. Leaves stay late and just seem to disappear in spring
 
I would suggest a newer variety of lacebark elm like allee, bosque, or emerald flair. These are very good long term shade trees.
As far as oaks go a willow oak would work well. Try to find them in containers, because they don't transplant well as field grown. White oaks are very colorful in the fall, but slower growing.

As far as red maples look up Redpointe.
Nathan
 
Buckeye? Your state tree I believe. American Beech is a great tree, but I don't know if the roots could handle the traffic. White oak is a good, long lived specimen tree.
 
My opinion is to plant a sugar maple,( hard maple) they grow a lot faster than an oak, live a long time, and in fall they have very colorful leaves, at least they do well in my area.
 
This Crimson King was planted 29 years ago. It was 1" in diameter when planted and is not full leafed out in the picture. It meets all your requirements. FYI, there is no such thing as a totally "non-messy" tree.
a230331.jpg
 
Pete,

I love pin oaks especially because they don't drop their leaves in the fall. Of course, the leaves are brown, but I think it is really attractive during the winter to have leaves on the tree, even though they are brown.

Good choice.

Tom in TN
 
We planted several pin oaks about 6 years or so ago, and most are 20 feet tall or more now, and nearing a foot in diameter. I am pleasantly surprised as we built the house in 2003, and planted some trees, and hit a dry spell and lost them, these were replanted, and looking for something to provide shade as fast as possible yet did not want a maple, but like oaks. These fill the bill nicely, and we can enjoy them now. Only downside is the limbs tend to grow downward, so you have to keep the lower limbs trimmed back to mow and allow sun to the grassy areas, but worth the effort. I live on a southerly slope, which needs some shade or it is a very hot slope in July and August without.
 
All good sugestions below, I would suggest talking to your county AG agent. At least over in Indiana the county agents are tied with an ag college and you can do as he/she suggests or Not. Free Info either way. best of luck, joe
 
How about a fruit or nut tree ? Grandpa is long gone but we think of him when we pick apples and pecans . There is a Pecan tree in Dallas Texas that was planted during the civil war . It produces a large crop every year . They can live 300 years . Prime crops are from 50 - 225 years .
 
JohnDeereJimOhio- I would like to suggest a pecan tree. Varieties are available for your growing zone. Big tree with large canopy plus you get to eat the pecans.
 
If it where me I would plant a walnut or a White oak. The walnut will give you things to eat for decade and the oak well it will get very very big. Tornado of 2003 took out a white oak so big 2 6 foot tall men could not hold hands are it
 
I liked the looks of Sycamore trees in a timber I guess because they always stood out. Liked the color of their bark. Don't know how they would grow if nothing else was around them. They get big.
 
One of my sisters is looking for a weeping willow that in time would fill a good part of that circle and be a nice thing to sit under on a nice hot summer day while drinking a tall glass of icy lemonade.

I know some folks, elderly folks that planted a couple hundred acres of black walnut back about Depression time, decades before I was born. They're well adult and paying for their retirement. When I look back at all of the things that I should have done but didn't, it shows me that life isn't perfect, which kind of makes it more interesting.

Good luck. I vote for a Norwegian spuce which means that you'll have to bury a conduit to it for electric for Christmas lights. I just cut down about a 30' cedar (our old Christmas tree) a couple of weeks ago and planted the 7' spruce in its place. The dead circle it left is about half as round as your circle and now my electric outlets are pretty far away, but the spruce will grow in time. And one more thing before I forget...Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Mark
 
How about an evergreen like a Leyland Cypress? Fifteen years ago my sister and her husband gave to my wife and me a six foot tall potted Leyland Cypress tree for Christmas and we used it as our decoration tree in the house that Christmas Season. After New Years, we transplanted it in the yard and now it is about 40 feet tall and 30+ feet wide to the branch tips at the base. And it is still shaped like a Christmas tree!
Or how about a fig bush? Delicious sweet fruit in the summertime!

Scott
 

Oh my Gosh NOT a Pin-Oak...they drop dead limbs steady once they reach maturity and are useless for firewood..

Ron..
 
Until They start giving off cotton! We had 8 of them in our front yard, last year they started shedding cotton, I cut them all down and planted spruce, that's the most dependable tree in our area.
 
Just today I took down, piece by piece, a giant 100+ year old black maple tree in our yard. I remember the tree being maybe 8-10 inches in diameter at the trunk. Today the stump left is over 4 feet in diameter. It has been an outstanding shade tree, but was in the process of slowly dying. I am going to have two well-established pin oaks placed on either side of, and equidistant from the stump. I'll grind the old stump out this weekend.
 
My vote would be for the sugar maple. They form a nice canopy for shade, they do not sag down so far that you cannot get under them, and you can even tap them for syrup in the spring.
Oak would be a good second choice.
Whatever you do, don't plant a swamp maple or silver maple. They are dirty trees, and make millions of seeds that go everywhere.
Buckeyes, chestnut, and walnut all make good shade trees, but they will leave a mess aside from leaves. English walnut might be a good choice as well.
 
I'd also favor a sugar maple since it is a clean tree. Not the fastest growing tree but will be fun to climb, tap and is beautiful in shape and fall color to look at. American beech or a copper beech are beautiful and not too messy. Someone suggested a Norway spruce and those are great too. They grow huge (in a hudred years!) and are strong, with a nice shape. Some pine cones every two yesrs or so. Don't go with a weeping willow as they are dirty -- constantly dropping leaves and whips and is a weak tree. We have a huge one (4' diameter) only about 60 years old and it gives great shade but it is a pain. We've had it cut back twice to no branch smaller than 10" in diameter. Grows like a weed. I have three pin oaks but always picking up branches and having to trim the lower branches that droop down so it's not recommended. Last fall the ground under ours was almost covered solid with acorns.
Plant something and enjoy it!
 
Google Royal Empress trees. I planted several around the house. I love them. They grow 10-12 feet a year but are a hard tree. It doesn't seem possible, but I have had storms take out lots of trees here but they are always standing. They have large leaves and are drought tolerant. The one on the corner of the house is three years old - it is as tall as the peak on the two story farmhouse. If they grow funny and you don't like the way they look you just cut them off and make them start over. I have two I made start over last summer. They are taller than I am at 6'4".

Apparently they plant one (in China) when a girl is born. They cut it down when she marries and make her hope chest out of it. Supposedly they can be harvested as adults seven times before they won't come back.
 
Liberty Elm, not affected by Dutch Elm Disease & will spread out to cover the whole circle.
 
I would like to nominate the Ginkgo tree. Look them up if you aren't familiar with them. One of the oldest trees in the world. A clean and unique tree. In the Fall they will often lose most of their leaves in a day.
 
We had a huge old Sunburst Locust tree - it was beautiful (but got struck by lightening). We never had to rake around it, as the leaves are very tiny... almost like a "sensitive plant" in their structure. In spring, the leaves pop out golden and then turn to green. Then periodically during the summer, they get a "burst" of new leaves that are golden, compared to the older and darker green leaves (hence the name Sunburst Locust). It had a nice wide and dense canopy... we often sat under that old shade tree to pass the time with company.

BUT if interested in those, you have to make sure you get a "THORNLESS" variety. Also ask about seed pods on the tree... our old one never had them. We planted 3 young ones... and one of them had a couple huge seed pods on it last year. (So I think the kind we have now, are going to be a mess in the long run.)

Here's a pic of a young tree from online. Our lower branches were high enough that you could easily walk underneath them.
a230362.jpg" width="650"
 
Pecan, if it will grow there. Next, white oak. Also consider hickory; beautiful golden color in the fall. All of these grow kinda slow, though.
 
The Sunburst locust or shade master locust are nice trees and you don't have rake leaves because they are so small they dry up. The Shade master grow a lot taller than the Sunburst. If you go Maple go sugar or hard maple they with stand wind and ice better than soft maple. I have red, white, and pin oak 3 different honey locust, black walnut, Kentucky coffee tree, sycamore, sassafras, and a crimson maple and sugar maple. along with 35 pines. As they get older they all drop branches and some a little more than others. We just lost a purple ash tree to the ash bore. The sugar maples have the nicest color in the fall.
a230364.jpg
 
I have two in my yard and they grow fast but tend to be a dirty tree ( drops small branches and shed bark).
 
I have a red oak and white oak that were about and inch in diameter when planted in mid 80s and today they are 35 and 40 foot tall. If you want oaks to grow they like sour ground.
 
I'll cast a vote for hard maple. Long lived casts a lot of shade. Holds up well to heavy winds. Do NOT plant soft maple. Grows faster, but doesn't live anywhere near as long and does not hold up to adverse weather as well.
 
A spot like you have would be ideal for a White Oak. Plenty of room for it to put limbs all around and give it a great shape as seen in this picture from internet. White Oak has the strongest limbs and branches to resist wind and freezing rain ice accumulation breakage. Maples here break easily from ice accumulation. So do poplars. A solitary beech will grow into a beautiful shape but they also damage easily with ice accumulation. DO NOT get a Willow Oak. They are a useless invasive species that are getting spread everywhere around here from birds scattering pea sized acorns.
a230391.jpg
 
A White Beech tree has a nice bark for carving everyones initials in. There is one in my old town that has my name and still reads 1967. All trees leave some mess to clean sooner or later. The Maples with multiple bases seem to split and half the tree falls. I have planted Willows but they shed a lot of small branches at times. I would not use a Tulip [ poplar] or cottonwood. Can't stand Cottonwood fuzz.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top