Hi Sara,

Great choice! This from Guy Sternberg's NATIVE TREES FOR NORTH AMERICAN LANDSCAPES (highly recommended book, btw): "Once established, Kentucky coffeetree is bothered little by heat, cold, road salt, insects, disease, or drought. Though it is rather slow growing, it is not strong wooded; and yet its branching is so course that it escapes damage from ice accumulation because the ice has so little surface area to cling to. It likes full sun and is more tolerant of alkaline soils than many trees, though less tolerant of acidic ones."

Mine is actually growing in acidic soil and seems to be doing OK. You must be patient for about the first five years with this tree, as it looks a bit like a coat rack when young. Once established, it will grow fairly rapidly, with 2' or more per year not unusual. About the only negative I can think of is that fall color is rather blah. Otherwise, just a great native tree.

Bob

Not familiar with the K. coffee tree, but would say the bur oak is probably the best of the 3 oaks you've mentioned. They have been known to have as much growth underground as above and are a tree known to grow in the open plains with high winds. They also grow the furthest up north, reaching into Z2. Whatever you choose don't let the limbs grow over the house.

KTC is similar to Catalpa -- wood strength is only so-so, but branching is so coarse that wind/ice have little to push against, so they don't incur much damage.

"...as it looks a bit like a coat rack when young. Once established, it will grow fairly rapidly, with 2' or more per year not unusual. About the only negative I can think of is that fall color is rather blah. ..."

lol I've resigned to thinking it's a little awkward for a few years...
But the fall color-- wierd! I've seen such mixed reviews. I'll have to try to get to the nursery at just the right time to hopefully see the fall color of what they've actually got.

"...Whatever you choose don't let the limbs grow over the house..."

Are there really any trees with a tall, spreading crown, that people could be relatively comfortable with over their homes? I love the old elms, I'd ideally want something that I can let branch right over my house, but I've given up on that. IF there is something that's relatively safe, that's what I'd want!

After watching ice and wind storms take down plenty of silver maples and evergreens in my neighborhood, I made it a priority to plant trees that would better withstand all that mother nature would throw at it. I chose a Ginkgo and KCT. According to the link below, they are breakage resistant due to their coarse branching habit. As a bonus, both of these trees will just about grow in any condition except wet soil and are pretty much have absolutely no disease or pest problems.

Here is a link that might be useful: Trees and Ice Storms

I have several Kentucky Coffeetrees. During the growing season some of the new growth and 1-2 year old branches gets torn off during windy days. The large bipinnate leaves really catch the wind, and the smaller branches just can't take the twisting and swaying. Fortunately the damage has not been severe enough to ruin the shape of the trees. No problems with ice or snow damage either.
I have never seen a healthy Bur oak get damaged by wind, ice or snow. I have no experience with Chinkapin or Shumard oaks.

30 year old Shumard oaks, if throughout their lifetime are planted in USDA zone 7a or so, if fairly well watered, and suffering through only a few years of drought, They will have grown too fast for the branches to withstand extended days of light rain while the ambient air temps range from 28-34 degrees F. In such cases these 30 year old Shumards experience such thick layers of ice building up and coating thatthe added weight will cause a high percentage of limb breakage. Even so, the limbs tend to hang down, but most of the broken ones do not fall completely off.

In such cases the Shumards need to have all the dead and broken branches pruned out. Any remaining branches which may be thin and long, may then sag even though they are not broken or damaged.

Younger than 25 year old Shumards growing in the same conditons, usually can withstand such ice coating weather much better, and often never even show any damage at all.

Even so, I would never plant a Shumard oak any closer than 30 feet away from a single or double story house. And in those situations the tree would need to be kept limbed up to 1/3 of the Shumard's overall height. That is aleast until the lowest branches are 12 to 18 feet above the ground.

I really appreciate everyone's help! Thank you.
I purchased a Kentucky Coffee Tree today, they'll put it in my yard in about two weeks. I really see what you guys meant about them having a few "ugly duckling" years. lol It's about 8ish feet tall-- kind of a structure only a mother could love at this point, but I think I love it already.

If anyone is in Omaha, I have to say to go talk to Pete at Mulhall's. I was so happy with the help I got from him, I plan on using his expertise anytime the need arises.