Don't plant any oaks!!!!! I have a HUGE oak tree and in the fall not only do I have lots of leaves to rake but huge acorns. So many acorns that it's hard to walk out there without nearly busting my a**. I try to rake them up but it's difficult at best.

Wouldn't do no pines either.... pine cones! Something else to keep picked up out of the yard. Bradford Pears are pretty shaped little trees, but I hear they are are short lived & don't withstand strong storms due to a shallow root system.

I'd probably go with a maple of some sort. Beautiful fall foiliage and they grow fairly quick. They'll provide plenty of shade, too!

Nancy

I don't believe there is a big tree that won't create root competition, unless it's something like a hickory that has a deep tap root. Plants like that are very hard to find in the nursery trade because they are difficult to transplant.

Sawtooth oaks do not compete with turf. They are small oak and fast growing. Beautiful trees but difficult to find. Think Johnston County Master Gardeners are offering them in this year's tree sale.

You will have to alter the type of grass you grow once whatever kinda tree you plant gets big enough to make shade. You can't expect the same type of grass to thrive in full blazing sun AND full shade after the trees mature. After the trees get big enough to kill off the grass underneath them, replant a shade mix grass blend that compliments your existing lawn. Sometimes you can even find complete blends where they have shade growing grass seed blended with full sun grass seed. You sow it all. The types best suiting for the different areas thrive and your lawn looks happy.

Sawtooth oaks may end up being another one of those trees on the invasive list. The two best qualities of the sawtooth oak are that it is tough (celebrating students nearly tore down the young sawtooths on the NCSU campus near the brickyard when celebrating winning the national basketball champsionship, and they survived) and that turkey like the acorns. Native oaks are much more beautiful. White oak is my favorite, scarlet oak my second favorite. Two of the most beautiful individual trees in Johnston County is a Southern Red Oak, Quercus falcata, and a Blackgum, Nyssa sylvatica that I drive by every day. It's important when planting these big trees to space them for their mature size. In the meantime for more shade you can plant trees that are smaller and would eventually do well where they would get some (not deep) shade: redbud, witchhazel, silverbell, fringetree, American holly, ironwood, Japanese snowbell, Henry anisetree.