I went to the Central Velley last summer for the first time (Fresno area) and I too was blown away by the incredible Crape's growing all over the place. The entire region is irrigated, even the strip of land between the local interstate lanes! It was all very lush and yards were filled with everything from palms to paper birch trees! Yes..paper birch in Fresno. But, in those areas that no longer received irrigation...forget about it...not a green thing in sight...totally dead. I guess unlimited sun + unlimited irrigation + great soil = grow anything you want.

I am also looking for a small shade tree to use near a pool. I want it to shade the house, not the pool. I am looking for something that gets about 15-20 feet tall and maybe the same width, no thorns & very little to no litter. Multi-trunked with bright green leaves but not super dense would be nice. I already get plenty of junk blown into the pool...don't need more. I've checked out the above links and didn't find anything that I like. Any ideas?

Okay - I have looked thru books and on the internet, and have asked at several places that sell plants, but now I'm REALLY confused about the tree. I would like something that would give us some shade. Palms aren't really my thing. My yard has bright sunshine beating down on it. I just put a new sprinkler system in. I love pinks and reds. I stay away from yellows. Hope this is enough info.

Davemartin88 Â I too was faced with the dilemma of having 2 different approaches recommended to handle all the leaves that I will be fighting this fall. Below is a picture of our newly completed poolÂas you can see there will be lots of leaves! The approach that made the most sense to me was to include a negative edge in the pool design. This negative edge is 16 feet wide and basically a big skimmer for the pool when the negative edge pump is on. Since we opened the pool 2 weeks ago most of the leaves and other surface debris has end up in the negative edge pit rather than the skimmer basket or filter pump. The negative edge pit is 16 feet long by 3 feet wide by 3 feet deep (picture below) and easy enough to hand skim and pick up leaves from the bottom. I plan to build a leaf net this fall to cover this 16x3 pit to let water through but catch the leaves for even easier leaf removal. I also have a floor cleaning system in the main pool which does a good job with smaller debris and the small amount of leaves so far, but I can see this system struggling with any large volume of leaves that IÂll certainly have later this year. Hope this helps.