Trees that do well in Huntsville/Madison

[catfishin2000]

Originally Posted by Southlander

Do you trim the various branches? That's the problem with a Bradford Pear - no central trunk to the top and it's all branches, which are weak and tend to split away from the tree when stressed by wind.
I hate willow oaks. We had two big ones in our front yard. It's impossible to rake up the leaves, and talk about sucking up water! Nothing grew under them.

Willow Oaks thrive in bottom land. Sucking up water is a good thing sometimes.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by FTG-05

Bradford Pears.

Until the first wind storm.

Not only that, the tree is relatively expensive.

Mine kept splitting branches off with only moderate wind so I finally just cut it down. Now if I could convince my wife to remove our two darn magnolia trees ... they have to be the nastiest tree ever conceived ... leathery leaves that are huge, then get crisp after they fall. You'd have to rake them every day to keep the ground even fairly clean.

My favorite is the sugar maple. It grows well (and grows fairly fast here, so you'd never actually be able to tap it and make maple syrup ... or at least I think so), it's a beautiful gold, red, and orange in the fall, doesn't have surface roots and is shaped beautifully. Will have to keep it pruned for a while to get the best shape. They either grow natively here, or someone planted a bunch 200 years ago ... there are some huge ones in the northern part of Madison county.

For evergreen, white pines are nice, and even Colorado Blue Spruce will grow here as a specimen tree. For shrubbery, I like yew plants ... beautiful, soft, so they don't stick you when trimming like holly does.

Some trivia ... did you know that Eastern, or Canadian, Hemlock trees grow in Alabama (Dismals), as well as beech trees? Those are some that most don't expect to find in the state. Dismals is a good place to visit in the summer ... about 15 degrees cooler than the normal highs of near 90 in the northern part of the state. It's near Phil Campbell.

[BamaDave]

October Glory and Autumn Blaze Maples are both hybrids between Sugar and Silver Maples (if I recall correctly) that were selected for outstanding fall color and tolerance for hot summer weather. They thrive in Northern Alabama and are pretty common commercial landscape trees.

UAH has an excellent website with information about many different trees growing on the campus, both deciduous ones and conifers: https://www.uah.edu/facilities-and-o...rees/deciduous

[FTG-05]

Originally Posted by djmaxwell

I wish. My ten year old Bradford Pear has been extremely resistant to falling down.

That's about when they start falling apart.

[y8tiger]

Originally Posted by FTG-05

Bradford Pears.

Until the first wind storm.

All the trees that came down around Monrovia during the last storm reminded me of this post.

A large Leyland Cypress toppled next to the Monrovia VFD.

I know Pine Trees are infamous for toppling during Storms, but I thought Leyland Cypress trees made good wind breaks?

[Suesbal]

Figs.

[cooldiver]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

My favorite is the sugar maple. It grows well (and grows fairly fast here, so you'd never actually be able to tap it and make maple syrup ... or at least I think so), it's a beautiful gold, red, and orange in the fall, doesn't have surface roots and is shaped beautifully. Will have to keep it pruned for a while to get the best shape. They either grow natively here, or someone planted a bunch 200 years ago ... there are some huge ones in the northern part of Madison county.

I have multiple sugar maple trees that I planted 25-30 years ago. They have thrived, but I have found that the fallen leaves are horrible. Almost as bad the the magnolia.


They remain intact through the winter after they fall and they don't disintegrate like silver or red maple leaves.


I'd vote for red maples. Also very pretty and leaves are much more manageable.