Areas of South Katy with tall pine trees?

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

Yeah Katy is where the prairies start. Pines are more native to E. Tx.

Northern Houston is at the edge of the Piney Woods of SouthEast Texas.

I've personally seen large groves of naturally growing pine trees as far south as Clear Lake, granted they aren't as tall as the pines in far North/Northwest Houston. More like Jersey Village height pines.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by tstone

Developers put those down here, too. About 80% of them are big stick branches with green puffs on the ends with dead, scraggly wood in between. Good for logs, terrible ornamental value. Every year a number of them on the main streets die and get removed. There is a small pine forest on the east fringe (bayou side) of the area, but judging by the diameter of the trunks, they were planted and spread themselves out ~20 years ago.

South of I-10, Southern or Texas Live Oaks seem to look the best. Water Oaks are also good but suck the water out of the grass. Sweetgums are also nice if you don't step on the seeds barefooted. Pecan & crape myrtle seem to require some care to get established. You can take your chance with citrus; along the coast they actually survived last winter and came back this year with a vengeance.

Those Sweetgums are a nuisance here in East Texas. Our next door neighbor has one that's a good 80-100 feet tall that every fall drops those spikey balls.

[cyfairre]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Those Sweetgums are a nuisance here in East Texas. Our next door neighbor has one that's a good 80-100 feet tall that every fall drops those spikey balls.

We have a love / hate relationship with a large sweet gum in our front yard. It is beautiful especially when the leaves change color in the Fall. But those balls in the winter are horrible. Then it drops some other junk in the spring that turns our driveway black.

In regards to pine trees, their needles are a nightmare for gutters. We have a lot of pines in our backyard and our gutters are usually clogged within a month of cleaning them out.

With that being said, I prefer mature pine trees versus cutting them down, planting new oaks, and waiting 10+ years for them to get a decent size.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by descovy

Well Kelliwood, Green Trails, the areas around Northlake/Southlake Village would be about it for south Katy. As far as trees go, these are the more established neighborhoods, so their trees have grown.

But if what you've seen in Kelliwood won't do, well I don't know what to tell you. The topography of Katy is different than that of The Woodlands. These pines you see are man-planted, not part of the natural topography. To ask them to be as tall and dense as The Woodlands is akin to asking for sugar sand beaches in the mountains of Montana. Katy is, was, and always will be prairie... tall pines just don't come naturally to the area. Whatever someone planted in their front yard 20 years ago, you can see, but that's about it!

Good luck!

'Not putting down your post, descovy, but it is the other way around, the trees were natural. I remember when they started building the Woodlands, that was the purpose as well as the selling point, the "Livable Forest".

Once you passed Canino Road back in the 80s, (I arrived in 1980), it was nothing but pine forests all the way North.

As for Katy, the area known as Cinco Ranch was more Oaks than pines, but it was also once just pine trees. Rice farming in the 1800s took out most of the piney woods in the Katy area. Cinco Ranch was actually five different ranches before being purchased in the early 1900s. Even the big oaks you see in Katy proper were only planted in the 1900s. The entire area of Katy was just rice and cotton fields at one time. If you've ever seen historic photos of Katy when the storm of 1900 hit, you can not see trees at all.

Anyway, you have to go further North, or South West of Katy to get the pine tree forests.

[descovy]

??? I think that's what I said... that piney trees ARE natural in the north (such as The Woodlands) but not indigionous to the Katy area. Now mind you, I wasn't here to see Katy in the 1800s before rice farming... BUT having toured much South and West of Katy, I haven't seen tall pine trees. And as you say... NO trees in the photos of Katy prior to the 1900 hurricane. I think we actually agree there...

Lots of old graceful live oaks (the canopies in Richmond,) and pecan trees yes... but super tall pines, no not here.
West of Katy... plenty of rural area... Brookshire, Sealy, Bellville, Columbus, no piney forrest. Southwest of Katy... Sugar Land, Rosenburg, Wharton, El Campo, trees yes, tall piney forrest no...

Can you find treed areas in Katy? Yes. But the OP was commenting that the "pines" in Kelliwood weren't nearly tall enough for him. That he was looking for "The Woodlands" in Katy. Well sorry, there is no such thing. (at least not today) He can move to The Woodlands and enjoy his tall pines after his hour long commute to the westside, OR he can move to the Westside and maybe enjoy some tree-shaded neighborhoods in the Katy area and live with the fact that they aren't TALL PINES.

Either way, I think we can both agree on this... let's hope we never get the request for the South Katy neighborhood with rolling hills (just like home) haha!

[Ashlynn_Joy]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

'Not putting down your post, descovy, but it is the other way around, the trees were natural. I remember when they started building the Woodlands, that was the purpose as well as the selling point, the "Livable Forest".

Once you passed Canino Road back in the 80s, (I arrived in 1980), it was nothing but pine forests all the way North.

As for Katy, the area known as Cinco Ranch was more Oaks than pines, but it was also once just pine trees. Rice farming in the 1800s took out most of the piney woods in the Katy area. Cinco Ranch was actually five different ranches before being purchased in the early 1900s. Even the big oaks you see in Katy proper were only planted in the 1900s. The entire area of Katy was just rice and cotton fields at one time. If you've ever seen historic photos of Katy when the storm of 1900 hit, you can not see trees at all.

Anyway, you have to go further North, or South West of Katy to get the pine tree forests.

That is interesting to note. I love the topography of North Houston. I was just talking to a friend about this. What a shame that the Piney Woods that extended into parts of Katy are now gone.

[Txgal33]

Centerpoint just cut down our Sweetgum tree. It was 80% dead. Oldest was able to collect the balls though for a school project.

[Texas User]

We need man made mountains.