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Need help with selecting a tree

11 years ago

Hello fellow gardeners,

I need your advice on selecting a tree to plant close to my house to provide afternoon shade. I am looking for a tree that will be kind to the foundation of my house (concrete slab foundation), and that grows fairly quickly. It will be about 4-5 feet from the house.

I live in North Texas area and the planting location receives full sun. Any wisdom and/or resources are welcome!

~Baaska

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Comments (2)

scotjute Z8
11 years ago
I have only seen Eastern Red Cedar, Italian Cypress, and Arizona Cypress planted that close to a house and not cause problems. Both ERC and AC will tend to lean slightly away from the house to catch the sun and as their growth does not concentrate in large heavy limbs, they can be pruned at any time if needed (up to about 50-60 yrs). I am more comfortable with ERC for this than AC as I have seen it more often.
There are a lot of example of Italian Cypress this close to bldg. with no apparent problems, but they would create less shade than either of the other two.
Have seen Bald Cypress at 8-10' from house and no apparent problems. They will often give more shade than the others mentioned.
Personally I would not recommend planting a tree within 4-5' of a house. Good luck.
mackel_in_dfw
11 years ago
My experience with italian cypress is that it's only reliable if irrigated in hot summers and are most beautiful in the ritzy Keller and Southlake areas just north of here where a rare (for DFW) acidic seam of red, sandy soil runs. It is not a recomended tree except by landscapers in this part of the world, it's a disease magnet that doesn't fit into the fung shuei... It's a mediterranean plant which the mediterranean area is buffered in temperature by a large mass of water though it's droughty in the summers there. I don't know if it's crazy or not but I have a shantung maple five feet from the foundation. The land slopes down heavily away from the house where it's planted. It ain't too late for me to cut it and I've been told that it has a very different root system than western maples. I've seen photos of one hundred year old shantung maples with no visible surface roots. Mine seem to go deep I have three. They must becuase you don't have to water this tree once it's established, here. All of the foundational trees I plant must be able to survive a summer with complete water restriction laws in effect. When I do water around the house it's to keep the moisture even to keep stabile our cement foundation built on solid DFW clay. I see live oaks less than six foot away from the mansions in ritzy, eithty-year old Highland Park as well- all the time. Under our tiny house, I calculate the weight of our foundaton exceeds one million pounds.

Mackel
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