Hey all,
Thanks for your input on my redbud post awhile back! Gonna let him get bushy, and now I’m considering what to plant as the overstory/shade tree for the front
Key Details: South facing house, lawn gets full sun. Blue line is the water line, milkweed by the sidewalk disguises the access, and there is a Bradford pear stump covered by flowers closer to the house sidewalk so I can’t plant within that root radius
There’s actually a depression at circle #2. I don’t think there are utilities there, and I’ll obviously call 811 to re-mark before digging. It’s kind of a pain mowing that spot anyway so why not dig it out more and put a tree in?
Silver maple in the street median looked a bit sickly last year but seems to be doing better this year. I didn’t plant it— previous owners or the city maybe, but in time it will probably outgrow its space
I’m leaning towards Sycamore because they’re fast growing, native, and the Bradford pear was our only shade so trying to get that back in a reasonable amount of time. I’ve heard they’re messy, but would it be worse then the gumballs and pine cones I already deal with?
I know they grow tall and wide af and these spots are ~40 feet from the house and a couple feet below grade, so I’m thinking with adequate care and pruning, it would be manageable
by SippinOnHatorade
15 Comments
You’ve shown the water line, but what about gas, electric, and sewer?
[Have you seen an old growth American sycamore tree.](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/platanus/occidentalis/). They can get massive under ideal conditions.
Personally I’d go 2. With that being said, Sycamore may not be the move.
Love sycamores !
You may want to pick a tree that doesn’t get massive and drop 500lb limbs for fun with that location.
Fast growing and messy. Lots of limbs to clean up on a regular basis.
plant a douglas fir. they make better christmas trees, so you can decorate it every year
Love sycamores as much as they love dropping branches. Which is to say a lot
The fear of sycamore branches is deeply overstated. By the time it has giant branches, most of us here will of died from old age. A lot of quick growing species drop a lot of limbs. I have a 30ish dbh red oak and a sugar maple of similar size and picking up branches is an almost daily maintenance thing for me.
There may be better native trees for your situation. I love sycamores and they’re tough trees but it’s gonna get huge. Not sure you’re location but maybe a slower growing tree like black gum may be better for your yard
plant a tree in both spots. make yard a forest
I have two 30 year old sycamores in my front yard. And don’t get me wrong, I love them. Beautiful shade trees and they are easily bigger than our 3 story home. But damn they make a mess. The leaves alone during fall completely cover my entire yard. Initially I think you’d be ok but it doesn’t seem like you’d have enough room for a mature sycamore. But you wouldn’t have to worry about that for 20+ years I guess.
I have a 200+ year old Sycamore at the bottom of my property and it’s massive. The roots are several hundred feet wide and it rains sticks and bark throughout the year as it grows. Your call but it would likely be too much for your space.
Love ’em so much, but they belong by the water. It’s like when people plant bald cypress as a landscape tree… just makes me sad. Let her go home to the swamp she deserves better than this McDonalds parking lot
I’d consider willow oak, pin oak or red oak for spot 2 if native to your area… slower growing but worth it. Black cherry is messy with the berries but if you don’t mind that it’s lovely and you’ll get all kinds of birds munching on the caterpillars. Same with blackgum, bonus is tons and tons and tons of pollinators on the flowers. You could stick a serviceberry in there if you don’t mind a smaller tree. arborists pls roast me if these are bad choices
I had a sycamore behind my previous house that someone else planted 5 years prior to us moving in, planted about 8 feet from the back of our house. Over the next 25 years I watched that beast destroy a concrete patio, disrupt water flow off my roof, shed limbs like fleas off a street cur, drop leaves that took 3-5 passes to break down and the roots eventually started to cause the brick to fail on the back wall of the house. If I knew then what I know now, I would have cut that thing down and planted something else much farther from my house. Sycamore trees need lots of room for the root system and room for their canopy to spread out. They look good on a large estate at the back of a property line.