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So many of these trees enjoyed periods of popularity in suburbia, including Bradford pears, leyland Cypress and Ash. One common characteristics is that they are fast growing. This produces weak growth as well as invasive roots.
Memorize this list but know this is not a complete list. Why Mimosa is not on there baffles me.
In general, this is good information, but there are always exceptions. The back half-acre of my yard is about 25 feet lower than the main yard and tends to stay wet. I planted a couple small willows that grew into beautiful trees within a couple years. The hungry roots gorged on the wet soil and turned a mud pit into a nice lawn. Eight years later, the trees are 30 feet tall and gorgeous. They will probably stay that way for at least another 10 years. The insects (good and bad) also love the willow trees and the birds love the insects. The birds also love the two mulberry trees I have planted on the back edge of my property. Another tree I personally would add to the "bad" list would be Sweetgum. It seems like I'm always raking up huge quantities of "gumballs," picking up old limbs, and the pollen tassels are huge and fill my gutters. Like they say; a weed is any plant you don't want.
of course the sweetgum should be #1. I broke my ankle and took a nasty fall tripping on one hidden in the lawn and we don't have one in our yard. a bird must have brought it over. How I hate SweetGum trees.
I would add a Persimmon tree to the list. The branches break off regularly and it will drop fruit in the fall attracting a lot of critters from deer, raccoon and opposums to wasps and bees.
Leyland Cypress is a biggie. In addition to the listed reasons, it is a short lived tree. Usually dies within five or ten years of planting.
I would also add Monterey Pine, unless you live within five miles of the Pacific Ocean. Fast growing, but usually dies within 20 years if planted inland.
--not officially a 'tree' but they will get enormous--
The Red Tip Photinia. (Fraser's photinia)
Hideous, disease ridden, ungainly, ugly overplanted bush.
(whoever Fraser was, he should be charged with crimes against shrubbery)
This bush should be banned from the nursery trade.
Actually I think it is at least in Georgia. I started my career in landscape design in the 70's when photinia was all the rage. In the Atlanta area they were so over planted. Didn't take long for them to turn really ugly and die leaving gaping holes in landscapes. I doubt you could even find them in any nursery in the Atlanta area and that is a good thing.
A Mimosa tree is considered pretty by some and it certainly is hardy but it a nuisance tree taking over valuable space from more worthy trees. We've had the Mimosa argument here on this forum before. It certainly does have its champions but it is a huge trash tree with so many negatives which way outweigh it's so called attractiveness.
So many of these trees enjoyed periods of popularity in suburbia, including Bradford pears, leyland Cypress and Ash. One common characteristics is that they are fast growing. This produces weak growth as well as invasive roots.
Memorize this list but know this is not a complete list. Why Mimosa is not on there baffles me.
Based on the place I'm living now, I'd say Redwoods. I live in a small complex surrounded by over a dozen Giant Coast Redwood trees. The owners have had to replace all the sidewalks with elevated board walks because the roots had destroyed the concrete. The roots have also totally destroyed the irrigation system. They also are damaging the foundations, and clogging the sewers, and are pushing against a retaining wall that is endanger of collapsing onto neighboring properties.
Apparently there used to be many other types of trees on the grounds as well. But they have all died, are dying, or will eventually die, because the Redwoods block all the sunlight. The trees drop so many needles so fast, that they have to pay gardeners to come on a weekly basis to clean up the yard. The neighbors also complain about the mess the trees cause to their property. During storms, large branches beak off and cause damage to the roofs. I have been told that sometime in the past, two of the trees blew over in a storm, and crushed all the cars in the parking lot.
Best part, the trees are only 35 years old. Some of them are up to 10 feet in diameter and over a 100 feet high, and they are not even mature yet. Makes me happy I don't own the property.
Chinese Tallow is a terribly invasive weed here in the South.
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