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I am looking for some nice trees for shade to plant in my back yard. Do you have any suggestions? What is your favorite tree?

Look for the ones that do not easily shed off the leaves and also have a fast maturity rate because I assume you do not want to wait for three decades for your shade to develop.

I personally like spruce trees. Like the previous poster said, you need something that won't shed as much etc. Spruce are so beautiful and they get HUGE, which is perfect for shade

How fast do Spruce grow? I do not want to wait 50 years to get good shade like with my Willow Tree so I would love to have some usable shade in like max 5 years.

Check around in your area to see what species do well... :smile:KennyV

monica123 said:

I am looking for some nice trees for shade to plant in my back yard. Do you have any suggestions? What is your favorite tree?

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I love sugar maples, scarlet maples, and sycamores. They are reasonably fast growing, quite hardy, and retain leaves well.

DO NOT plant SILVER maples if you have a lot of wind, they grow much faster than the other types but are often called "soft maple" because they fracture easily.

Trouble with growing trees is the lawn will suffer and it will be bare around the tree.

What the previous poster has said is true but you will need trees anyway. I am also of the view that the particular climatic conditions of the place you reside in might help in choosing the type of trees to grow.

All I know about Spruce trees is that you should avoid planting them near tall trees.

monica123 said:

How fast do Spruce grow? I do not want to wait 50 years to get good shade like with my Willow Tree so I would love to have some usable shade in like max 5 years.

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5 years? But you live in Canada, trees don't grow fast in Canada. My neighbor has a sycamore that is growing very quickly, it's been in the ground about 7 years and it's around 25-30 feet with a 20 foot drip line but we have a 9 month growing season here. I would consider a tree like that a medium size shade tree.
Your going to have to be patient. A tree that grows that fast is going to be non native and probably prone to disease or droping limbs, or fall on your car, or worse your house.

Where I live is very windy on a regular basis, so trees that are not hardy would not work in my yard. I have some Ash and Alder in my yard already and some Spruce, but they have been here for years as well.

lizard said:

Trouble with growing trees is the lawn will suffer and it will be bare around the tree.

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I'm sorry, I respectfully disagree with that statement. We have spruce, sugar maples, box elders, silver maples, redbud, sycamore, scarlet maple, Japanese maple, black walnut, catalpa, apples, peaches, nectarines, and nowhere around any of them is the ground bare...and I do NOT use fertilizer or water any of my lawn....why would trees cause the ground to be bare?

JDgreen said:

I'm sorry, I respectfully disagree with that statement. We have spruce, sugar maples, box elders, silver maples, redbud, sycamore, scarlet maple, Japanese maple, black walnut, catalpa, apples, peaches, nectarines, and nowhere around any of them is the ground bare...and I do NOT use fertilizer or water any of my lawn....why would trees cause the ground to be bare?

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Because of the shade, some grasses need full sun, I have oaks with a dripline 50 feet in diameter. The limbs are but 6-10 feet above the ground. This grass will get very little sun so I have to plant a different grass under those trees. If the trees you listed are relatively small, the shaded area will also be small and move around the tree as the day lengthens, providing enough sun for your grass.

JDgreen said:

I'm sorry, I respectfully disagree with that statement. We have spruce, sugar maples, box elders, silver maples, redbud, sycamore, scarlet maple, Japanese maple, black walnut, catalpa, apples, peaches, nectarines, and nowhere around any of them is the ground bare...and I do NOT use fertilizer or water any of my lawn....why would trees cause the ground to be bare?

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You do not use fertiliser or water on youre lawn?....are you losing it!

RobertBrown said:

Because of the shade, some grasses need full sun, I have oaks with a dripline 50 feet in diameter. The limbs are but 6-10 feet above the ground. This grass will get very little sun so I have to plant a different grass under those trees. If the trees you listed are relatively small, the shaded area will also be small and move around the tree as the day lengthens, providing enough sun for your grass.

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One of our largest black walnuts is close to 60 feet tall, the trunk is huge, I estimate the age at at least 70 years...we have many trees 20 to 30 years old that have limbs close to the ground (6-7 feet) but still no problem getting grass to grow under anything.

Lizard...can you afford to fertilize and water a 5 acre area of yard? I sure can't. Don't give a bleep if it's bare, full of weeds, or perfect grass. I can drive anything on it, who cares if it doesn't look like an ad for TrueGreen? :biggrin:

Well thats good in your country......but they are a fire and insurance hazard......so you will pay a mighty premium to have this Shade.

Did i miss something? How did we go from trees for shade to fire insurance? Anyway, thanks for all the comments. I will ask people around me as well and see what they suggest.

monica123 said:

Did i miss something? How did we go from trees for shade to fire insurance? .

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The question you started this post with is geographically specific. This forum has members living all over the world, Trees mean different things in different places as climate and topography dictate different challenges regarding same. Aparently Australia, at least where Lizard lives, is a dry climate. Living in those conditions means being very aware of forest fires as they are obviously a threat there, but not where you live.
A "Tree" to someone living in an arid location means something completely different to someone living in a tropical location.

I now how relevant patience now is and especially the fact that almost if not everything relies on it. On second thought, does that mean any fast maturing trees will possibly not be the best for shade?

RobertBrown said:

The question you started this post with is geographically specific. This forum has members living all over the world, Trees mean different things in different places as climate and topography dictate different challenges regarding same. Aparently Australia, at least where Lizard lives, is a dry climate. Living in those conditions means being very aware of forest fires as they are obviously a threat there, but not where you live.
A "Tree" to someone living in an arid location means something completely different to someone living in a tropical location.

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That is really true; in fact conclusively answers the question. I tend to also think the diversifying of a particular post helps inject life which is not a bad thing after all.

We have a Pecan tree I planted around 25 years ago, very good shade! :smile: Until this summer, it started to split at a 3-way crotch about 7' off the ground. :frown: I chained it together for the rest of the summer as it shades the west end of the house. So now I'm in the process of removing it, cut as much as I can reach with a pole saw (chainsaw). Anything from 1-1/2" up goes for firewood, less than that gets shredded for mulch. Going to rest a few days before cutting the rest of it. Probably finish it next week. Another problem with it, the squirrels have eaten the bark off several limbs, even girdling some! :thumbdown:

Thinking of replacing it with a Carpathian Walnut. ~~ grnspot1110

touree said:

That is really true; in fact conclusively answers the question. I tend to also think the diversifying of a particular post helps inject life which is not a bad thing after all.

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Thats the reason a forum like this is most always going to be interesting... folks from all over the world see it and can comment as to what is working, or not in their part of it..:thumbsup::thumbsup:
:smile:KennyV

Yes, it is a very diverse group of people from all walks of life and places. It is nice to get other opinions on the subjects.

"I love sugar maples, scarlet maples, and sycamores. "

Sugar Maples and Scarlet Maples are beautiful trees but slow growers. My step-father told me I would be an old man when they got big enough for shade and he was right. As for Sycamores, they should never be allowed to be planted in residential areas, parks maybe. They do grow fast, are one of the dirtiest trees there is, constantly dropping twigs, huge leaves the drop of a long period, chunks of bark flak offand the roots pop up out of the ground. Got two of them next to me that the owner wants to have taken out and I have offered to help pay the expense. All trees have some sort of draw back. The hybrid (thornless) Locus trees have small leaves that "melt" away, grow fast BUT are susceptible to bag worms.

Either trees are decease/pest susceptible, have roots that pop WAY up out of the ground, grow too slowly, are brittle and break off (Bradford Pear), drop nuisance balls, (Sweet Gum) which have great shape and are colorful, or some other problem. Ash Bores for instance.

Might be better to just put up a big tent.

Walt Conner

People the world over look at it from different perspectives allowing them relate to it. What are the gains for or against using fertilizer? I am thinking organ9ic manure would be better.

I see you are from Canada----I live in the Northern Rockies of the US. Maples are a good choice. There is a Rocky Mountain Maple which is native. If you live in eastern Canada, sugar Maples are all over the east. Heck, it just occurs to me-----there's a maple leaf on the Canadian flag!!

Here in Manila, I am living in a place with no yard at all... :biggrin: that is why I extremely felt envy with parents and in-laws who have big yards in their respective places. However, I am planning to have some potted plants in front of my house and looking for a tree that's leafy and grows just right.

Green Girl said:

I see you are from Canada----I live in the Northern Rockies of the US. Maples are a good choice. There is a Rocky Mountain Maple which is native. If you live in eastern Canada, sugar Maples are all over the east. Heck, it just occurs to me-----there's a maple leaf on the Canadian flag!!

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Yes, there is a maple leaf on our flag. I would love some sugar maples, that way they could be dual purpose, shade and maple syrup, I must look into that more.