Hello fellow Ohio gardener! I have some ideas for you, including a sketch I did using Microsoft Paint. To start with, I have a house with an essentially identical color scheme so I have some experience working with this particular color palette. I think you should strongly consider playing with the cranberry-ish shutters and, by extension, try to maximize your use of red-purple-pink plants (foliage and flowers). I cannot figure out how to include an image with this follow-up message so I went ahead and created a new post back on the Landscape Design gallery frontpage. I hope you enjoy some of the ideas!

greetings to you too.. and welcome to GW ... where are you ... big city.. soil type... and ... hmmm... that ought to get us going... i like oak .... but i wonder about the rest of her list .... and BTW.. how old are you.. maple roots arent going to be an issue for 20 to 30 years... is that really a reason not to placate wifey ???? .. [i mean really.. she could kill you in your sleep in that time frame.. and still have time to plant her maple.. you better think that part out .. lol ..] do you have any plans to garden under the trees.. other than lawn????? ken

Bridget, I don't know where are you located? but the best bet is to go to any botanical place around your area and see if you like the landscape, size, colors, etc. You also have to decide what you want your landscape to do for you, beauty, easy care, food? then you can narrow down your choices. When there is an abundance of fruit is fine as long as the trees are easy to care for and easy to save the harvest or give them away. Unfortunately, citrus are hard and expensive to take care for these days and loquats are just not prime fruit, one is plenty! We have a service that do all the things like lawn, pest control, etc. They also provide service for taking care of fruit trees but for that, they are very expensive! but at least they are experts and let us know if there are problems and what we ourselves can do about that. The orange groves around my house are heavily using every spray available, they are commercial and having harvests is very important to them. Taking any mature tree out is also a hard job to do, we just had to take out a nectarine in the front yard that just died this season, it is next to my neighbors shrubs that were loaded with some kind of insects and disease last season, we asked our service to spray for that, the problem went away and I thought that was the reason for the tree to die. When we took it out this week, we found out that it died because it was not draining. Same thing was going to happen to the fig that I told you about it that was in the pot, at least I saved that one. You have a long road ahead, either keeping the trees and taking care of them or replace them, make a plan....and keep us posted on what you decide to do. As a consolation, we are always changing something too.:) Silvia

Another maple would fit the bill. Silver maples grow the fastest of any maples but you eventually pay a price for that with weak wood that breaks in storms (although that is many years down the road). A red maple grows very fast but usually has a better branching structure and somewhat stronger wood that holds up better in storms. They also have fantastic fall color. Freeman maples are a cross between red and silver maples and have a growth rate in between. I have one planted in my front yard. It's a variety called Autumn Blaze that is available just about anywhere including Lowe's and Home Depot. To get some idea of it's growth rate, here is a picture of it when it was planted in 2002 and pics from summer and fall from 2009. It is significantly larger now than in 2009. Red maples (e.g. Red Sunset, October Glory) won't grow quite this fast but they won't be too far behind. 2002 2009 2009 Fall Color href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v298/Tree_Oracle/Landscaping/?action=view&current=Autumn-Blaze.jpg" target="_blank"> I would also consider a Pin Oak. They grow very fast although very vertical for the first few years and they have fantastic fall color. Red Oaks grow rather quickly, too. A London Planetree will give the growth that you are looking for. They don't have too much in the way of fall color but their exfoliating bark is exceptional. The leaves are more of an olive green but how green the leaves of this species are depends on which cultivar that you buy. I would also consider a birch tree. They grow exceptionally fast and their bark is stunning. They aren't as long-lived as the other trees that I've mentioned, though and you may have to plant more than one for the same amount of shade coverage as a maple or oak. One other choice to consider is a Japanese zelkova. They are in the elm family and consequently look like the American Elm but they are highly resistant to Dutch Elm Disease. The fastest growing cultivar of this species is called Green Vase which has a beautiful bronzy orange fall color. I have two zelkova cultivars in my front yard called Village Green that also have good fall color. They wouldn't tell you this on the Tree Forum but if you want a super fast growing tree, a Weeping Willow or a Bradford pear would give you very quick growth. However, both trees are extremely weak wooded and they will eventually drop branches including in some cases major branches. Weeping Willows are also notorious for their aggressive root system which will seek out water anywhere including septic drain fields and sewer pipes (if they can find a crack in which to get a foothold). I'm not suggesting that you plant these especially next to your house. I just wanted to throw out that information. Just drop me an email if you want to know more about a particular tree that you may be considering.