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Landscape Design

Trees placement advice

10 years ago

Hi folks,

Need some help deciding where and what trees to plant in my front yard. I feel a redbud would go nicely on the left but I would like also to get some shade at the driveway. House is facing East.
My concerns are that the tree must not block the house from the street, it should be a small-medium tree to scale with the house and proximity to driveway, and must not
drop fruits.
Any ideas?

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Comments (4)

missingtheobvious
10 years ago
Hello, kjeliaz. What time of day do you want the driveway shaded? Which part of the driveway is it most important to shade?

it should be a small-medium tree to scale with the house and proximity to driveway -- I'm sorry, but I don't understand what "and proximity to driveway" means in this context.

Can you give us some idea of where you live, and/or your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone, so we can recommend trees that will survive in your climate? If you're not sure what your zone is, you can enter your zipcode at the upper left here:
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
PRO
Yardvaark
10 years ago
Rather than looking only at trees, I suggest you need a complete landscape implementation, as the foundation planting seems unfriendly, oppressive and wounded.

As far as the trees go, you might use smaller trees near the house and larger trees at the street. The picture is a little too close-up and we can't grasp the overall lay of land, but your red arrows seem too close to the house to me. Definitely, the one on the right is too close to the drive.

To avoid blocking the view of the house, remove lower limbs from the trees as they grow. You should be able to see the house from below the canopy. It is easy enough to do on a routine basis while limbs are small.
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I have no experience with guava or starfruit, but citrus can perform surprisingly well in partial shade. I'm sure full sun is better (especially for getting a young tree established), but I have three citrus trees that get maybe three or four hours of direct sun at best. The rest of the day is dappled or deep shade, and I get more citrus than my family could ever eat from Thanksgiving until early January. I planted a Red Rhode Valencia in March in a partially-shady spot. It hasn't put out any vegetative flushes yet, but I hope the roots are growing good.
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Both you and your neighbor have exactly the same need for a tree that frames the houses. Whoever installs it first pretty much gets to control what and where it is. It should not be too much in front of the house, because the goal is not to block the view to the house. If you drew lines extending the face of the house to the lot line and one from the house corner to the lot line at a diagonal, the tree could go anywhere in that zone over to just your side of the lot line. The larger the tree is, the farther from the house you'd want it. A tree that reached 30' would be fine, but it would be OK if it got taller, too. You'd just keep limbs trimmed to well clear the house and roof. You also have a need for a street tree that could be an even larger species. It could go anywhere in the right half of the parkway. Undoubtedly, you have similar needs at the left side of the house.
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I do not care for the maple being placed almost directly in line with the dogwood, or slightly inward. (The pink lines represent a mature width of the dogwood.) I think this would be improved by moving it outward, if possible. (We don't know where lot lines are.) Alternatively it could be placed in the central zone (orange oval) but that would be somewhat less desirable IMO. Anywhere you place it though, you'd want to grow it so the canopy is high and the view beyond it is maintained. I'm not showing it, but I'd move the spruce a little farther left if you could. (The yellow lines suggest a funneling effect that you are creating with these trees. Accentuating that somewhat would be helpful.) (PS, before you upload the picture, delete white space. Otherwise the picture turns out smaller.)
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kjeliaz
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the replies.
missingtheobvious: I am in zone 7a. "proximity to driveway" - I meant that the roots could be a problem if too close to driveway. I need the shade to protect the cars from the south. That would be left-hand side on the picture.
Yardvaark: Thanks for noticing the foundation plants. I am in the process of redesigning these. Any suggestions are appreciated.
I have overhead power lines on my side of the street and large trees will be a problem. Besides, I do not want to wait too long for them to mature in height. In addition the whole front yard is not that big about 50x40.
Will a small/medium tree give enough shade on the driveway given the afternoon sun is high during the summer?
May be a tree that is more of a columnar shape? That way it will also not block too much the house.
PRO
Yardvaark
10 years ago
It's asking too much for people to understand that this, that or the other exists (power lines, small yard size, etc.) if it/they is/are outside of the picture's boundary. Those things could so easily be shown ... just back up a little more to take the picture so that these elements ARE SHOWN.

"May be a tree that is more of a columnar shape? That way it will also not block too much the house." While such trees usually make good "punctuation" in the landscape, usually you are trying to achieve other goals for which canopy trees do a better job. What's wrong with removing lower limbs to "not block too much of the house"? It's the normal, conventional way to maintain a view when trees would otherwise be in one's way.

The shade a tree gives depends a great deal on what species it is and therefore, the form it has.

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