Good Front Range Trees (Denver, Aspen: houses, neighborhood, live)

[denver_hacker]

Heya,

The want/need thread has a mini-thread about Ash trees, which I thought was pretty interesting.

We have a big Ash in our front yard - love it. Nice shade and it drops its leaves in a few days in the fall. There were several Aspens in the front as well, which we pulled out a while back. I'm still dealing with the runners from those Any suggestions? Should we have poisoned the stumps at some point?

Our old house had a huge Silver Maple - hated it. That maple dropped a big branch on our front porch roof, it rolled off an completed obliterated the porch's wooden steps. It also dropped a big branch in the street, luckily no one was parked under it at that point. Any snow or wind storm would cause me to stress about that tree. It gave the house great shade, so we were reluctant to get rid of it.

Between both houses, we've planted a crabapple, a redbud, a Japanese Maple, and ornamental pears. The Redbud seems to be having trouble, I've had to take off several big branches. The others are all doing quite well. The Maple had a whole bunch of cocoons on it last Spring and through most of the Summer, which I was hoping to see open, but never did

I'm curious to see what other folks have done in terms of trees around here.

FYI, here's a guide to suggested trees:

Greenprint Denver » Recommended Trees (http://www.greenprintdenver.org/trees/recommended-trees/ - broken link)

[Moonwalkr]

We have some sort of ornamental Peach tree, it's full of vibrant red leaves now.

[Davros]

I'd say Ash or Red Oak/Shumard's Oak are my favorites. The Hackberry is another good one, but sometimes you can get these annoying little aphids with those.

Black locusts are very popular in Denver, but they can shed a lot of stuff onto your things. The leaves are hard to sweep. Attractive tree, however.

I would stay away from planting new Silver Maples or Cottonwoods. They tend to have a lot of problems. Aspens, as you know, tend to get sick. Overall Crabapples are nice in the spring but a major pain in the fall.

Spruces do well, but I don't like them. Too thorny.

[Mike from back east]

We have lots of Autumn Blaze Maples (http://www.wimbishtreefarm.com/autumn%20blaze%20maple%20map2.jpg - broken link) here, great looking in the Fall.

[Katarina Witt]

We have had good luck with our silver maples. I know people call them "trash trees", and they are a bit weak, but properly placed if a branch does break it won't hit your house.

One of ours did split during a Sept. snowstorm when the leaves were still in full force. DH roped it together and the rope grew into the tree. They grow fast; that is why we got them. We also have several Ash trees.

[formercalifornian]

I love the Blue Spruces in our backyard. They are up on top of a retaining wall and provide a really nice privacy screen between us and our rear neighbors. They also attract a local barn owl, who sometimes graces us with his presence for a few days at a time in the fall. They're very well established, and require little care other than spraying them for thrips in the spring.

I've heard that Paper Birch is a good alternative to Aspen in the front range (similar look and size). Stay away from the Russian Olive, because it's invasive, drops twigs all over the place, and doesn't have a particularly nice growing habit. As someone else mentioned, Cottonwoods are prone to problems in the backyard environment, plus they can get so huge as to endanger the house underneath if they lose a limb in a storm. And, don't even get me started about the seeds!

Trees that seem to do well in our neighborhood include Maple, Ash, Honey Locust, and Birch. One of our neighbors has a Plum tree that bears bushels of plump, purple fruit every fall. Another neighbor has a very productive Apple tree in her backyard. There's also a tree in the park down the street from my house that has really unusual leaves and the most amazing scent in the early spring. I wish I could identify it, but it's still a mystery!