I live in Cedar Falls. I planted a Northern Red Oak, Hackberry, Swamp White Oak and Blackgum. The Iowa DRN does not suggest planting maples. 1/3 of all trees in Iowa are maple trees. If a bug gets into the state that can ruin Maples there will be a lot of trees to remove.
Shade Tree Recommendation
- Thread starter BillBrasky4Cy
- Start date
You may have Peyronie's Disease. Better go to the Dr and get your angle figured out.
So if Beech trees only grow along the Mississippi River valley (Minnesota River valley?) my next thought would be a Dutch Elm Disease resistant American Elm variety (New Harmony, Prairie Expedition or St Croix variety). But here is a link to landscaper that does work in the Twin Cities and there recommendations:
6 Unique, Large Shade Trees for Your Minnesota Yard (kglandscape.com)
6 Unique, Large Shade Trees for Your Minnesota Yard (kglandscape.com)
He asked where a beach would grow in the Twin Cities I figured you had to have water to have a beach never said anything about a tree
My neighbor had a pretty big one along our fence line, like other have posted, a unique tree, it came down in the Derecho. Cons: big "bean pod" looking seeds (10-12"), roots were pretty shallow, killed the grass around it. Nonetheless, I miss that tree.
I do see some of its offspring in one of my other neighbor's backyard, he never mows...
Anyone have a Planetree? They have really interesting bark that would kind of make them stand out.
Seed pods in the spring are pretty large and messy though.
www.arborday.org
Seed pods in the spring are pretty large and messy though.
Tree Guide
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I helped my dad plant both a Red Oak that has done outstanding and grown fast- for an oak, and a Swamp White Oak. The Swamp White Oak has grown much slower.
I only live a couple of blocks from the Mississippi. Does that count?
Ash trees grow fast, don't require much upkeep and have a full canopy. Obviously, the EAB has decimated the ash trees recently, but we were able to save ours with some treatment. It is still thriving because we got it early. The blue ash would be an option to consider since it is a little more resistant to the EAB and is a very good shade tree.
If you go with an ash or maple, just be sure it's around 20 feet from your house as the roots are invasive and could eventually give you foundation issues if planted much closer. We actually paid to have our neighbor's maple tree taken down because 1) a huge branch was overhanging our bedroom and 2) the roots were brushing up against our foundation. She wasn't going to do anything about it outside of the very minimal letter of the law, and we finally decided to pay for the removal for piece of mind.
If you go with an ash or maple, just be sure it's around 20 feet from your house as the roots are invasive and could eventually give you foundation issues if planted much closer. We actually paid to have our neighbor's maple tree taken down because 1) a huge branch was overhanging our bedroom and 2) the roots were brushing up against our foundation. She wasn't going to do anything about it outside of the very minimal letter of the law, and we finally decided to pay for the removal for piece of mind.
Oaks are slower, but if you plant the right flavor for your location, they do really well. e.g. some like high dry soil, others wet and low, etc etc. The location should almost pick your tree for you.
I had a Red Maple and Sweetgum planted in our backyard 20 years ago. Both were varieties that I was told would produce minimal seed pods. Both still have some pods. The Maple is a beautiful red in the fall and the Sweetgum is a dark burgundy. I like the shape of the Maple better. We bought bigger trees from a tree farm and they planted them with a Vermeer Tree Spade. I'm glad we spent the extra money and got bigger trees. Both our trees are huge now.
I can't speak to a Northern Catalpa specifically, but I know Catalpas drop big pods and are generally a "dirty tree" as they drop lots on the ground. May want to look into this.
They also love my damn raspberry bushes. I tried a couple of tactics against them last year with some sprays and when I came back they were fornicating all over the leaves. The sprays did nothing. I was appalled and impressed.
Not mentioned so far but a sleeper good tree we've planted was a Kentucky Coffee Tree. You'll want to go with a seedless variety but otherwise it has a reasonable growth rate for hardwood and a nice elm like canopy that while shady, allows enough light to not choke out a lawn.
It is a late bloomer though, leaves come out in the spring a bit later than most other trees.
It is a late bloomer though, leaves come out in the spring a bit later than most other trees.
Grow fast, look great, super soft and breaky. I do love them though.
Basswood, hackberry, autumn blaze maples, elm's that are resistant to dutch elm disease, oak, an ash tree that you are committed to treating for EAB every year, the variety of sycamore that doesn't get fungal infections in the summer, and black cherry. Pretty much in that order of preference.
Basswood and hackberry are relatively fast growers, stronger than silver maple and autumn blaze, and don't currently have a disease or bug that is killing all of them. Hackberry doesn't spread out like elm, so you might need to plant 2 or 3 to get the shade you would have gotten from one elm.
See also, https://store.extension.iastate.edu/Product/14438
H
Part of my job requires troubleshooting trees, I can firmly place Autumn Blaze maples as one of my most common calls for problems. The bark is very thin, and a lot of the problems trace back to planting too deep, buying ones with circling/girdling roots, hitting them with lawnmowers/trimmers, and improper mulching. The margin for error is much smaller than other trees.
Basswoods have Japanese beetle issues but their main enemy (aside from storms) is linden borers. The American ones can handle them but foreign little leaf ones not so much, kinda opposite from ash trees.
Only other recommendation I would give you is check for compaction or if your soil had a higher pH (>7.0) the pin oaks and birches REALLY don't like those situations.
Basswoods have Japanese beetle issues but their main enemy (aside from storms) is linden borers. The American ones can handle them but foreign little leaf ones not so much, kinda opposite from ash trees.
Only other recommendation I would give you is check for compaction or if your soil had a higher pH (>7.0) the pin oaks and birches REALLY don't like those situations.