Best trees to shade house in Plano (Houston, Dallas: 2013, to live in)

[TXNGL]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

You all are lucky with elms and oaks. Some fool planted a sweet gum tree in my yard a long time ago. It's a decent shade tree and probably about 50 feet tall and is not too bad about dropping branches, but drops hundreds of giant spiky balls in the autumn. I'd feel bad cutting it down and losing the shade, but I curse it every autumn when I step on one of those monstrous thorny seed balls.

I basically have to vacuum my yard to get rid of the seeds it drops.

I also have a sweet gum and dread the seeds, but it's a pretty tree with some color in the fall. I didn't plant it. It's huge. An arborist told me it's one of the biggest he's seen in my area. I like the tree, but sweet gums, like so many other trees, are better suited further east, so it's not very happy right now and is dropping leaves.

[Lakewooder]

I like sweetgums myself, love the fall color. I've planted four at various properties over the years and one is doing very well while another died (renter did not water, how shocking - but I thought it was established) and two are kind of blah. The one which is doing the best (planted mid 1980s) is oddly enough now under the canopy of a neighbor's live oak planted in 1936.

In the 80s Highland Park went on a big reforestation kick and planted a lot of these. You can see them along Mockingbird.

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

We live in an apartment at the moment, but we had a sycamore that we planted next to our house where we moved from that also dropped pods very similar to what the sweetgums do. A big pain! But we were 1st-time home owners at the time... And it was very sensitive to lack of rainfall, even in SC.

But I do agree about sweetgums regarding shade and fall color.

[happycrow]

Native trees are clearly the way to go if you've got space.

But IF (and this is huge for some people and irrelevant for others), you live right on the edge of your lot like I do on one side, but are getting creamed by full sun, and don't have space to plant a full tree without wrecking your foundation, you can also get very good results by planting bamboo, IF you're willing to learn how it lives and grows and works. It's actually easier (much easier) to control than rogue cedar elms or crape myrtles (against both of which I fight a constant running battle), but it requires a little bit of mental readjustment, and throws DENSE shade. The "clumping" varieties, and Arrow Bamboo are both particularly easy to control and reasonably drought-tolerant once established.

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

You need to search for Neil Sperry on FaceBook. He is the Garden Guru of Texas and many people, me included, swear by his advice. He has Notes near the top of the page that include best trees for TX.

Is he responsible for the way most Texas lawns look? If so, I wouldn't hire him. Compared to what I've seen in other states, I think Texas is poorly landscaped.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Is he responsible for the way most Texas lawns look? If so, I wouldn't hire him. Compared to what I've seen in other states, I think Texas is poorly landscaped.

No! He writes about which plants do well here, how to treat pests, etc. How you lay out your design is NOT his concern.

[sossie]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Is he responsible for the way most Texas lawns look? If so, I wouldn't hire him. Compared to what I've seen in other states, I think Texas is poorly landscaped.

Wow-what a statement-perhaps you should find out about Mr Sperry before making such assumptions...better still call into his radio show and voice your concerns...

[PlanoGirl]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Is he responsible for the way most Texas lawns look? If so, I wouldn't hire him. Compared to what I've seen in other states, I think Texas is poorly landscaped.

lol...last time I checked no one "landscapes" a state. You might landscape your yard, or a commercial property or a government property...and with what is up to the individual property owner. People like Neil Sperry, Howard Garrett, etc do a great service advising those of us in the great state of Texas to what plants do well in our challenging climate, and how to handle problems and issues with our landscaping should they arise. They don't actually dictate what goes in the ground....lol! (Well, not completely true...Neil is on the board of the Crepe Myrtle Trails Foundation here in Mckinnney..so I guess he is partially responsible for the gorgeous flowering median plantings we have along many thoroughfare in my area )

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by PlanoGirl

lol...last time I checked no one "landscapes" a state. You might landscape your yard, or a commercial property or a government property...and with what is up to the individual property owner. People like Neil Sperry, Howard Garrett, etc do a great service advising those of us in the great state of Texas to what plants do well in our challenging climate, and how to handle problems and issues with our landscaping should they arise. They don't actually dictate what goes in the ground....lol! (Well, not completely true...Neil is on the board of the Crepe Myrtle Trails Foundation here in Mckinnney..so I guess he is partially responsible for the gorgeous flowering median plantings we have along many thoroughfare in my area )

Well, I didn't literally mean that one person oversees the way the entire state looks (lol), but, in general, I've just noticed that Texas lawns and public spaces aren't as clever as I've seen elsewhere.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Well, I didn't literally mean that one person oversees the way the entire state looks (lol), but, in general, I've just noticed that Texas lawns and public spaces aren't as clever as I've seen elsewhere.

Elsewhere doesn't deal with our climate - extreme heat and lengthy droughts. We plant for our climate.