So sorry to hear about you losing all those trees. If you have a lot of acreage, you might consider http://www.forestry.state.ar.us/seedlingsales_new.htm for next year. I know sycamores and tulip trees are fast growers but you're going to have to wait for a GardenWeb expert to provide more detailed info.

Here's another option: http://www.arborday.org/trees/index.cfm

I have no experience with them but it might be worth a look to compare growth rates of the trees you're interested in.

With that now-blank slate, I'd also be including bur oak, overcup oak, pecan, and shagbark hickory in your list. First three will be pretty fast-growing.

Dawn Redwood grows fast. Prefers a moist spot, more conical shape, great for withstanding wind.

Cheers to Eddie for pointing out the cheapest reliable place to get native trees being your state.

arktrees, what kind of lots are we repopulating here? Small subdivision lots, open farmland, city dwellings? Been my understanding Arkansas is a great place to plant trees as far as number of possibilities.

if bald cypress will grow well there, they are about as wind firm a tree that I can think of. i saw them on your list.

the red maple and the loblolly pine may grow fast, but the maple would probably throw branches down in a big thunderstorm and the loblolly is tornado/downburst/ice storm bait. (my opinion) I love the red maple and put one in my yard, but it's waaay out at the edge of my property. I didn't plant any pines, probably from my childhood memories of them creaking and snapping during the rare heavy ice events we have in the south.

if conditions are right, bald cypress grow rather quickly

Space is not so much of a problem. Sorry I failed to include that in my original post. They live next door to one another, and between them, I think they have something like 3.5 acres, but much of it will not factor as it is in various states (garden, overgrown, fenced for other purposes etc). There is flexiablity. It's a rural area, but allot less so than when I grew up. It is my intent to have a few slower growing trees as well as those that grow more quickly. The faster ones are to nearer to the homes for shade, but not all of them are going on the sunny side as well. i.e. if Loblolly Pine ends up in the mix, it with be on the NE side of one of them where the short-needle pine was located. I had already planted a ginkgo for them a couple years ago, it is one that survived due to being small. Also I'm sure the soil is acidic.

Toronado, yes the climate is good, they can just get on the dry side during the summer, and very hot some years. Think they had 20+ 100 degree days last year. I'm trying to make the plantings as low maintenance as possible after they first year or two. Examples of trees that I see fairly commonly there are Red Oak, Shumard Oak, Post Oak, Black Oak, Southern Red Oak, Sycamore, Black Locust, Hackberrry, Sugar Berry, Silver Maple, Red Maple, Short-Needle Pine, an occasional planted spruce, planted Sugar Maples etc. There are many others. Most will survive just fine there with care for a few years. Some of the Sugar Maples are pretty large. It isn't a dry climate, just is dry and hot at times.

Hogmanay, thanks for bald cypress. There is one located nearby that I actually planted in the 80's. It's done well, and is probable close 50' now.

Lucky_P, I've been reading your stuff on Oaks. I had thought about Burr,and Swamp White Oak as well, but not so much the Over-Cup. And I certainly could see planting a hickory or two somewhere it can be left alone to do it's thing.

At current time I've acquired a very nice 6-7' Northern Red Oak I found locally, that I've potted up into a root-pruning pot (yes I cut circling roots). I also found a nice Nuttall about 2' that the nursery had gotten as a bare-root this spring. Going to pot it us the same as the NRO after it's has some time to generate more new roots. And I also already had several small White Oaks that I got in March as bare-root trees. One or two of those is likely to fine a home there further away where they don't have to provide shade quickly.

Thanks for your help everyone,
Arktrees

Anybody have any experience with Compton�s Oak Quercus x comptoniae. This looks like it might be a good fit for the circumstances.

Arktrees

A lot of people in Arkansas raise tomatoes in their gardens and grow azaleas in their yards, so be mindful fo the impact of jug lone if you plant black walnet near where they may garden or flower beds.

I've read Shumard oaks often retain their leaves quite awhile in winter; I like that, and so do some other people, but not everyone does.

I wonder how ginkgo stacks up against oak in terms of wood hardness and durability in storms. I've read on this forum it may take 2 - 3 years to settle in, this is a moderate grower.

Richard.

I'd like help with selection of family members. Although since most of them are dead now, I guess it's a bit late for that.

I think I read that in the Great Gale in Britain there were no losses of ginkgo trees.

Richard,
Thanks for the reminder on the Black Walnut. I knew about that, but it had not crossed my mind to take that into consideration. Seems to be that I'm gravitating toward allot of Oaks, which is odd considering that I've always liked maples. However oaks are pretty prominent natively in the area, and seem the best adapted.

Thanks again,
Arktrees

I've been doing the same thing for several years for my mom. Shantung maples, Japanese maples, Dawn Redwood, Bald & Montezuma cypresses to name a few. It used to be full of pine trees but borers killed most of them plus a few lightening strike. Interestingly, we never lost a single large tree due to hurricanes but I've seen the kind of damages by huge pine trees and oak trees falling directly on the houses on that street.

After Hurricane Ike, the surrounding area is a lot more open and sadly now it feels a lot hotter due to lack of shade.