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I recommend you look into an American Elm tree. Home Depot was selling a new variety resistant to Dutch Elm disease. It's a beautiful tree, grows VERY fast (up to 3 feet per year), and can get up to 100 feet tall. https://www-1.ibm.com/collaboration/...61913E09954F76
These trees were very common in urban areas before Dutch Elm disease nearly wiped them out.
I am up in PA and recentley (before we found out we would be moving to NC) we had looked into planting some trees for the same purpose (shade). We consulted with a local nursery. For light shade they recommended a locust tree and for heavier shade they recommended a red maple. We were trying to get shade as quickly as possible and these were recommended because they are supposed to grow more quickly than average. The red maple has green leaves turning bright red in fall. The locust doesn't have a typical leaf per se. Not sure how to describe it but I liked the idea of not having a million leaves to rake up in the fall.
Someone mentioned the crepe myrtle. I think it's considered a shrub but they can grow fairly large and many look like trees to me. They are very pretty in summer and they come in varying colors.
Good luck - let us know what you decide to do!
I know a number of people have recommended a bradford pear, but they have very weak limbs. I would try and find a tree native to NC like a river oak or hickory, but that's me.
I agree that the bradford pear is not a good choice. They have a lollipop shape, and therefore do not provide much shade when they are young. By the time they get big enough to provide shade, the limbs start breaking off, and most people have them cut down. North Person St. in Raleigh was lined with them, and the city cut them all down rather than deal with their issues as they got older. Yet some people still plant them because they like the lollipop shape. The flowers are pretty but have a peculiar smell.
Dogwoods are technically shrubs. They grow fairly slowly, and do prefer to be in at least partial shade. They will bloom heavily in full sun, but they will always look stressed.
Redbuds are also shrubs, but grow faster than dogwoods and are more tolerant of full sun. But they don't live as long.
Crepe myrtles are also shrubs, and will take a long time to provide much shade.
I agree with mfrank2109 that natives will do best. It is not so easy to find a hickory or river oak, but it can be done. I don't know how fast they grow, however.
The tulip poplar is a wonderful fast-growing native tree. I bought one for fifteen bucks maybe eight years ago and now it is taller than my house. They can eventually grow over 100 feet and live a long time.
I got a company called "Native Elements" in Raleigh to plant a large scarlet oak. They planted it with a bobcat, and it is gorgeous, with scarlet leaves in the fall.
I would be careful about the elm. A friend of mine lined his driveway with them. They were supposed to be disease-resistant, but were not. They look half dead.
People used to love to plant pecan trees around here, for the wonderful nuts. But during hurricane Fran, most of them fell down, often landing on the house next door. They evidently have a weak root system.
Willow oaks are beautiful, grow very large quickly. Durham has hundreds of them that were planted in the 1920s, esp. in the Forest Hills and Trinity Park neighborhoods. Unfortunately they don't live as long as most oaks. Charlotte's premier neighborhood Myers Park was planted almost exclusively in willow oaks. Then most of them died and the neighborhood now gets a lot of sun. But a willow oak will live longer than most of us on this forum.
Sycamores are another beautiful large native, with their distinctive camouflage bark. Their drawback is that they are always dropping something: branches, big tough leaves, or pieces of bark.
While pines have their drawbacks, nothing says "North Carolina" like a lovely grove of pines with azaleas or rhododendrons under it. These bushes love to be under pine trees. They love the dappled shade and the acidity of the decomposed pine straw.
Red maples and sugar maples are also good shade trees, and beautiful in the fall, but they are so common I don't think I'll plant any more of them.
My favorite native is the white oak, which grows to be the largest tree in this area. It is the king of trees here, and the symbol of the city of Raleigh. Unfortunately it grows slowly and is hard to propagate, so most nurseries don't stock it. I dug one up from the land of some friends that live in the country, and it will be a magnificent specimen . . . long after I am dead!
Shade trees should be deciduous, to let sunlight through in the winter. Also, keep in mind that tree prices go up exponentially with size: an 8" caliper (diameter) tree costs way more than twice a 4" tree.
Some follow-up suggestions: Bradford pears seem to last about 10-15 years. They don't get much above 30' or so, and unless you're trying, you won't get usable pears out of them. Instead, it'll drop some immature fruit, which might attract unwanted friends. Generally, fruit trees are pretty but short, slower growing, and quite messy; it's also hard to get edible fruit off most of them. Tulip poplars also drop their flowers, which are pretty but a bit messy. And speaking of tree droppings, pine needles will acidify the ground and kill grass if they're not swept up.
Pecans grow fast in full sun, and will make your yard very popular with squirrels.
Honey locusts do drop leaves -- they turn a golden color -- but the light leaves don't seem to require much raking. Their canopies have a nice translucence, which makes them quite popular as street trees worldwide.
Magnolias have that wonderful Southern charm, amazing scent, and grow pretty quickly once established. However, their deep shade and constant leaf drop (do those leaves ever decompose?) will kill most anything underneath them.
I'd avoid a pine: an accident waiting to happen. (Most of the pines in our yard have fallen or might.) I'd consider a red maple for quick shade and a member of the white oak family (which contains many species besides White Oak) for a stately, but slower growing tree.
When you are looking up at the shade, don't forget to look down at what the roots are doing.
Invasive roots may compromise a septic system.
Aggressive surface roots may make it impossible to grow anything under the tree.
Driveways and cement slabs can be damaged by large roots, although it usually takes time.
I saw a small brick rancher in Durham with a 50 year old sycamore in the front yard. The huge surface roots had heaved the brick veneer at one corner of the house.
I agree with Mr. Brown on selecting native species. It can be very costly to try to force a non-native tree to grow here.
That said, I do like the Dawn Redwood, and it can reach 150 feet more quickly than some other trees.
How much is "exhorbitant" as in having a big tree moved to the yard?
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