A red maple (preferably from your region, not with origins much farther south) is a popular, fairly fast-growing tree with (often) good fall color.

Sugar maple grow larger but not as fast & aren't as flood tolerant, if the area is prone to such. The fall presentation on large ones can be glorious.

Silver maple is faster growing than either, weak-wooded & prone to dropping limbs and thus a potential hazard near a house, and shouldn't be near a septic tank, and can raise side-walks and some produce annoying surface roots, but in some situations they can do well (not close to homes or structures; fast growing eventually big shade tree needed).

Maples tend to produce dense, fibrous, shallow root systems so if you're keen to plant under them, think again.

Northern Red Oak is fairly fast growing. From what I understand oaks don't have quite as much of the dense, fibrous mat root system that some maples do.

From what I've read online & in books (e.g.: Native Trees for North American Landscapes), red & silver maples can live to around 150 years, sugar maples to 200 years, and some oaks can hit 400 years - Shumard oaks can clear 450 years of age. I can't personally vouch for those numbers, but if you highly value legacy trees, oaks have an edge on maples.

Sycamore trees grow fast & get VERY tall. They also have huge leaves with some sort of fuzz, can aggravate some peoples' allergies and can be messy.

All the above are trees rated to below zone 5. Whether they prosper well in southeastern Ontario specially or would work in your yard, I don't know. See if any are growing in your area.

In the meantime, we need to know:

1.) How big a lot?

2.) How close to your house or other major structures?

3.) Anywhere near a street, sidewalk or septic tank. If so, how close?

4.) What is the shortest, and what is the tallest, the tree can be? That alone could separate out red maple vs. sycamore.

5.) Are you okay with deciduous trees that let the warming sun shine through in winter, or do you want big evergreens that provide a windbreak?

6.) Are you bent on planting perennials or annuals under the tree, or will you let it alone?

7.) Is fall display a big deal? I don't recall what sycamore looks like in fall, for example. I don't remember it being impressive, though.

Richard.

Autumn Blaze Maples are another tree that is worth looking into. They are very popular in Wisconsin, and grow very well here. They are fairly hardy and I suspect could grow north of WI.

Jamie

thank you Richard and Jamie for your posts.
We have a two acre lot. We have planted a variety of trees, serviceberrys, crimson king maples, pacific sunset maple, blue spruces, pines, weeping willow, locusts, magnolias, fruit trees last fall. We do however have two spots we are looking to fill still, with something fast growing. We have been in this home one year, and we find when the sun comes around on the west side, even though the house is north/south situated, the house gets very warm even with the shutters closed with the sun.

The septic tank and house would be at least 50 feet away. There is no sidewalk or other structures. Trees can be any size, I would think the bigger the better to help with the sun. I dont want to plant anything underneath but I would not like the roots to be a hindrance when cutting the grass around the tree. I would like a deciduous tree, as I would welcome the sunshine in the winter, but there would not be much issue there as the sun doesnt come around that far in the winter. A fall display would be nice. Thanks

One thing I forgot I would like something hardy, as we do have quite high winds at times, as it is near water, and these trees would have no protection. Thanks again.

Look around for some mature London Planetrees and/or Sycamores and see if they suit your fancy. Sometimes the latter is prone to anthracnose and now would be the time to see if that is a problem in your area. You'll probably have an easier time finding the london planetrees anyway. As they enter maturity, they drop strips of bark during the growing season and sometimes people object to the litter. They are long lived for such rapid growers. Fun to watch them grow. If you're thinking of planting now, during the summer, that isn't normally advised.

nature Hills nursery lists that a Dawn Redwood tree does well in zones as cold as 4.

I planted a Dawn Redwood tree in the mid Spring of 2008. It did not seem to grow much that first year of `08, but by 09 that tree had grown enough to need some early on corrective pruning.

The by last fall of 09 the tree that I had first plant as an about 2.5 feet tall whip was well structured with a nice main leader trunk and good strong lateral branches growing out all along that trunk. Even though I had not done the kind of pruning needed to create a raised conopy tree.

Then to my amazement, all this Spring, once the tree broke its winter dormancy and leafed out again, wow! has it been growing.

Just since April of this year that tree has grown 5 feet taller. And now that we are near the beginning of Summer that taller growth is filling in nearly as well as the old growth branched beneath.

This is the fasted growing tree I have ever planted. It is now 8 feet tall and continuing to grow. It took two years to get it roots established well enough, but once that happened, it is growing nearly twice as fast as my thuja 'Green Giants' have grown.

In fact my Dawn Redwood's trunk is becoming strong enough that I think this fall when it goes dormant, I will be able to prune away the lower 1/3 of the trees lateral branched and should end up will a very nice in appearance tree structure.

So it should be, for you, worth it to take a look at the Dawn redwoods and seeing if you can plant an arrangement of Dawn Redwoods in a manner where they can cast shade in the spring, summer and eary fall onto your house similar to the way a tall building situated there could.

Then in the Winter, when you desire for as much sun's warm as possible to reach the house, this Dawn Redwood would drop it's leaves and allow for such sun exposure.

After you have gotten enough green leafed trees growing and find that you desire to add a few flowering trees, you could also consider planting the slower growing Sourwood trees that are rated to survive well in zones 5, and maybe even consider planting some of the more hardy cultivars of Stewartia trees

musicalperson, Thanks for your suggestion, but I looked up info on the London Plantree, from what I read it requires a lot of water. I would like something less dependant on water.
Katrina-thanks also, the redwood does sound like a very interesting tree and wow the growth is definately fast , but the soil we have is clay and sounds like this tree needs better soil that what we have.

Let us step back a moment, and any decent tree that is not weak-wooded and fast dying will not start to provide noticeable shade benefits for at least 7-10 years. So superfast! growing for quick benefits is a trait that you cannot obtain, as there is no such plant.

I like drrich's list.

Perhaps the Quercus muehlenbergii are very tolerant of conditions once established, as is Q. shumardii and when it finally gets going, Q. macrocarpa.

Gymnocladus dioecious 'Espresso' is very tolerant and has nice-smelling flowers and can have a moderate growth rate if happy.

Planetrees do not require a lot of water. They do get anthracnose, are ~messy and their leaf hairs are an irritant, but wonderfully tolerant and very aesthetically pleasing, esp in winter (no fall color).

Dan

thank you all, we have decided either on a maple or oak as suggestion, depending on what is available at our nurserie in the fall.

Just be sure not to get a Norway Maple or Autumn Blaze. Red maples and sugar maples are better.

the oak trees will be wonderful as long as your west yard is at least 30 feet or more wide and does not have sidewalks running past that will eventually be under the Oak's canopy and becoming filled with dropped acorns and the shreds of the tree's springtime pollen producing elements.

Also consider that the Shumard oak trees are good growers even in clay soil, but with your harder and longer winters that oak should grow much more slowly than they do in my bordering zone 6/7. The good thing about that though is the promise with a slower growing rate, the branches and tunks should develop more strength and in the winter months should have more resistance to thick Ice coating caused damage.

slower growth benefits also should be true, for at least some extent, with the maple trees from which you might desire to choose.

muscialperson/katrina, Thank you again for the additional information.

musicalperson, just curious what is the reason not to be the Autumn Blaze, I read good things about it. Not good things about the Norway Maple for sure.

Autumn Blaze would probably be OK for your conditions, but it is over-planted and is susceptible to frost cracking as well as some minor foliage problems (leaf galls, tar spot). If you decide to go with a maple, look for one of the other "freemanii" maples (Autumn Fantasy, Celebration, Marmo, Saturn). Redpointe is a newer variety that seems to grow well here (listed as Acer rubrum, but could be considered a freemanii) and has red fall color. The Acer rubrum varieties (like Red Sunset, Autumn Flame, and October Glory) do not grow as fast as the freemanii's here in the north, and are often chlorotic on the higher pH clay soils. Sugar maple is also relatively slow growing.

Shumard Oak is not the best oak option for our zone and for higher pH soil, but Bur, Swamp White, Chinkapin, and probably Red Oak would be OK. Oaks generally take longer to establish than the maples, but can grow reasonably fast once established.

Another option would be one of the disease resistant elm hybrids like Accolade or Triumph (there are also a few resistant American elms available). They'll definitely tolerate your conditions and grow as fast or faster than the freemanii maples or oaks.

arbourdave thanks for the tips. I am really liking the Autumn Fantasy, hope it is available here in the fall.

abordave beat me to the punch RE autmun blaze maples. Ordinarily, I would say to plant red maple instead even if it's not as fast growing. The october glory cultivar, specifically, I argue is faster growing but the problems that folks sometimes have is their soil pH is too high for red maples (as mentioned) and the frost cracking is a hee-uge problem with those. The fall color lasts longer on red maple too. Autumn blaze is certainly better than nothing though. Why not do a soil test and see what the pH is of your soil?