These trees can get 40-50' across, so the most important thing is to plant them so that they have enough room and not run into the house or require constant trimming. The closer the tree is to the house, the more shade it will cast on the house. Given that, you might need to put it 20-30' from the house.

Dig the new holes first, as it will be easier. Do a search on this forum for planting trees, or 'how to plant a tree', how to transplant a tree or 'moving a tree', and you should get lots of recent posts. If you keep the trees well watered - do a search for that too, - then they should be fine. And finally, do mulch them.

The trees will grow to somewhere between 35' and 50' tall, and up to 35' wide, but will take a number of years - better than 30 yrs. - to get there. You will have to decide if you want - and have room to grow - 2 specimen treees, where the 2 trees grow as far apart as possible, and the crowns can grow to their fullest extent, or if you want the crowns to be able to grow into each other. If the latter, do you want the crowns to only just touch, or do you want the two trees to grow close to one another, so the crowns act as one tree, fairly soon? If the first, then you need to plant the trunks at least 60' apart, as the maximum width (70') might not happen, and won't for a long time, anyway. I'm not sure you have enough room for that scenario. You then have to decide if you want to have 2 trees that just happened to grow into each other, which means you plant them as far apart as you can manage, given the constraints of your yard. Your other option is to plant the trees about 20' apart, so the crowns grow into each other fairly soon and you end up with a single mass of crown. The last will give you a block of shade, the other growing-together option will let you have shade over more of the house at one time. If you have trouble visualizing it, think about the shade cast by 2 ballons, lit from one side, casting shadows on a wall, and what happens if you move the ballons closer together or farther apart.

Whatever you do, you want to plant the trees at least 15', maybe better 25', from the house. You will be longer getting a lot of shade from them at the further distance, but you will have fewer problems with branches against the house and roof. You will probably have to limb them up as they grow, anyway, so you can walk and mow under them. And you may have to limb up the side next to the house, to avoid problems with rubbing, etc..

And remember, you can plant one tree closer to the house, and one further away, unless you really want symmetry.

If you have help, and a good imagination, then you can take a broom, or as large an object as you can - hang a sheet over it - and have your helper move about the lawn, holding a "tree", so you can squint at it, and imagine what it would look like, bigger and green, in this pace or that.

Arborday.org has some neat planting videos that might be helpful for you. We just planted a 12' Sunset Red Maple this spring and if you'd like some detailed instructions on how we planted it let me know. I did it from square one with digging the hole, removing the sod, making the pefect much ring etc, planting the tree etc. It was quite a job (more than I ever thought to do it right). But fun in retrospect!

Thanks for the input guys. I'm thinking that about 25'- 30' from the house, and 10'- 15' from the driveway should be good. I'm not 100% sure thats far enough from the driveway, so I may plant a little further away. I'm going to some more searching for info on the root systems of these trees, and what the chances are, of them tearing up the driveway. I've read alot about planting trees the last couple of days, like dig a hole 2-3 times larger than the root ball, not to bury the trunk flair, and keep it sufficiently watered. But I ran into differing opinions on fertilizing. So I'm a little confused on that issue. But again thanks for the replies, I do appreciate it. Bill

In general, don't fertilize. If your soil is KNOWN to be low in phosphates, you could add a little of a high phosphate fertilizer, but as a rule, most fertilizers are an added stressor to an already stressed tree. You want the tree to mostly grow roots for the first year so it can then support a good canopy of leaves and branches. Most fertilizers will push leaf growth, so you don't want to use them. As well, many chemical fertilizers are pretty strong, and can "burn" the new roots.

Oh yeah - in my final sentence in my last post - it should be "...look like, bigger and green, in this PLACE or that." Hope you weren't too confused for too long.