Trees are a long-term addition to a landscape. Spring is prime time to set them in the ground. Trees can be ordered from catalogs or online—or walk into any home improvement store or nursery and there are many from which to choose.
Here are some thoughts to guide the selection:
• Mature size. Consider size at maturity, both height and canopy spread. Many a landscaping woe occurs because a too-large tree has been placed in a too-small space. A tree in a 3-gallon pot looks small when brought home, but that tree will grow to its full potential. Look around at some of the landscapes where a large tree is continually pruned back because it has outgrown its spot. Avoid this dilemma by choosing a small tree for a small space.
• Positioning the tree. Trees should be placed 15 feet from the home to allow for the canopy to fully develop without running into walls. Avoid planting too near sidewalks, driveways and patios where roots may lift up the concrete, pavement or bricks.
• Look up. What is overhead? Power lines overhead spell doom when the tree gets large and limbs become entangled in the lines. Ice formed in the winter months cause limbs to sag and fall on power lines. During the last ice blast, many power lines were snapped because of this and caused needless power outages.
• Deciduous or evergreen. Both deciduous and evergreens have pluses and minuses.
Deciduous trees are often planted near homes to provide shade in the summer, reducing heat load during the hottest months of the year. Deciduous trees drop their leaves when dormant, allowing sun to heat the house during the coldest months of the year. The downside to these trees are that leaves are dropped; however, there are benefits and disadvantages here also—leaves can be mulched to provide a free source of organic matter, but these same leaves need to be raked and can be a nuisance.
Evergreens provide year-round greenery. Pines dropping their needles can be a nuisance, but as with leaves of deciduous trees this can be both a benefit or a disadvantage—the disadvantage is that they can be a fire hazard when allowed to pile up next to a structure, while the advantage is that the needles make fantastic mulch and a source of organic matter.
Ellen Peffley Harp, a retired professor of horticulture at Texas Tech University, writes about gardening for several Texas newspapers.
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