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1. A full tree of nothing but vibrant color at some point of the year. (want that stunning effect)
2. Color lasting as long as possible
3. Should be a tree and eventually look like a lollipop shape (as opposed to a big bush plant)
Any other option on that list? I see it contains Crape Myrtle; the color looks fine but the tree seems a bit small... Size aside, how long is Crape Myrtle's flowering window?
I would suggest a maple tree, jacaranda (fast growing too), sumac (needs maintenance because it spreads), black or sweet gum, beech, flowering pear (it blooms beautifully too), trumpet tree...
Don't get Chinese flame tree. My city (in Orange County) planted them liberally all over, and they do well in this climate and are reasonably attractive. The bees love the yellow flowers. BUT, they make pink seed pods with multiple seeds that blow all over when it's windy, and the seeds sprout like crazy. Every year we get little trees coming up all over our backyard for months. When my kids were little, I used to give them 1 cent for every one they pulled out, and they would each make a couple of bucks. And if you miss one seedling and it gets too big, it's very difficult to root out. I would just steer clear. It is a tree to admire far away from your own yard.......
Wow. Thanks for posting that information. Good to know and I'll scratch that off my list of plants to try. That reminds me of the hundreds of maple seedlings that come up in the lawn and flower beds here. I wonder if the Chinese Flame tree sets seedlings so easily in a climate colder than California's.
I would suggest a maple tree, jacaranda (fast growing too), sumac (needs maintenance because it spreads), black or sweet gum, beech, flowering pear (it blooms beautifully too), trumpet tree...
Google them to see images. Gorgeous!!!
Jacaranda is indeed gorgeous but so so so messy. They are always dropping something--leaves, seed pods, and worst of all sticky flowers. There are lots of older neighborhoods in Orange County that are lined with jacarandas. Everyone likes to drive by and see all the purple flowers in bloom, but most of us are happy that the mess is on someone else's property and not our own.
Never, never, never park your car under a flowering jacaranda. You will be sorry, unless you wanted to get your car repainted anyway.
That's a fairly extensive list. Who will be responsible for costs and duty of tree pruning and maintenance, and for cleaning up all seasonal litter that gets dropped by the trees? Some of the trees on the list are beautiful year round but are very messy litterbugs. Also who is responsible for costs of repairs to damaged sidewalks or streets due to root damages and upheavals? Also, are there power lines near the sidewalk strip where you would be planting trees that would need to be considered?
I already have a fondness for ginkgos having grown them before. So I like your first choice of ginkgos best of all regardless of how long they keep their yellow leaves each year and if it was up to me that's what I'd do for practical reasons. They exhibit some unusual behaviours at times but they are just all round attractive, pleasant and friendly trees to be around, easy to grow and not a lot of work.
Other alternative choices for favourites I'd make from that list, in order of preference, would be:
Silk Tree - https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/147 (Beautiful, beautiful! I had a silk tree once before a long time ago and it was delightful but it died one winter after surviving 5 years in a pot and it was my own fault for not putting it into the ground right away when I first got it.)
Our current trees are never maintained, that I know of. There have grown to 3rd floor height and reaching into our roof top garden and dropping all kind of debris there. Which is one of the reasons I want to replace those trees. I would think if there is any need, it would be the city's job. There may be an ordinance that prevents people from trimming the city's trees. I know we had that incident in SF where homeowner trimmed the tree too much and was fined.
City is sending a person over to scout out the site and take care of any requirement (powerline, "well" size, etc). We should be all good 'cause we have much bigger trees now and they are no problem. It's just a matter of deciding the trees now.
I am planting on 3 sides of a city block (our building occopy the entire block). One side has 6 trees; the other two sides each has 3 trees.
We currently have a large ginkgo in our front yard. By far, it's my favorite tree on our property. Like others have said, the foliage is gorgeous - a very vibrant yellow, but it usually will drop its leaves within 48 hours once it starts to turn. Here in New England, if we have a hard freeze before the leaves turn color, they will usually also just drop so there have been a few years where we haven't been able to enjoy any color, but this past fall we were lucky and got the full vibrant yellow before they started to fall off.
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