Start your search with hurricane friendly trees . That will limit the choices a bit .
This link : http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg249 is a great resource for trees in general and also has some good recommendations .

Tipuana Tipu or Jacaranda - both lovely and neither should be a problem for your driveway or your neighbor's property. IMHO, I would stay away from palms - I just don't think they would be able to replace the 'presence' of your lost Live Oak.

Kate

Be cautious about cabbage palms (if you were leaning that way). I like them but just read that they are dying due to a disease not yet identified. UF says they are hampered by lack of funds to do more research.

Can you grow mahagonies up there? We have two out front. They're in between the sidewalk and the street _ a swale that's about 10 feet deep (so technically they belong to the city.) They're more upright than oaks, but with time, they get large and look pretty stately. They're used a lot here in street plantings because they don't tear up sidewalks or streets.

Susannah

Visit the Arbor day foundation website. They have good info, will answer questions, sell trees cheap and offer 10 free trees with a new membership (membership is $10). There is no way I could fit 10 trees on my lot but am splitting them up and giving many away.. Just an idea to consider.

I ordered a Hydrangea shrub and pee gee hydrangea with my order for 2.79 each.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arbor Day Foundation

Your neighbor would have done more for the value of their home by letting you keeping the tree, what a loss. Based on your parameters, it doesn't sound like there is sufficient room for anything but a palm, and Foxtail would be a good choice, very wind resistent. Might consider 1 or 2 little gem magnolias.

What would happen with you and your neighbors if you planted another live oak? It will take years and years for it to become anything like the one you had to cut down, but someday it will. And by then the neighbors might have moved....

I've always felt that every Floridian with a speck of propety should plant one _ it's an almost moral responsibility for me, they're so beautiful, and native, and don't come down in hurricanes, and the native wildlife love them.... I could go on, but you are clearly mourning yours.
And just think, someone planted yours a few generations ago. Wouldn't it be nice to do that for someone a few generations from now?
We have one, a small one, probably a volunteer in a decade-ago hedge. But I like it and my neighbors that share its meager shade like it. And 30 years from now, when it's a wonderful stately tree, who knows if I'll be here or they will? So I'm happy to dream of the tree it will become and the people who will enjoy it if I'm not still living here then.

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions. Please keep them coming.

Yes, I am deeply mourning the loss of the tree. I fought to save it and lost! The facts were that the oak made my neighbor and her little daughter sick with allergies and that their current house remodel included destroying half its roots and removal of half the tree which would have rendered it unsafe and caused its slow, or not so slow, death!

For these reasons, as much as I love oaks, I can't plant another one. My neighbors love palms which is why the Foxtail with its instant height and canopy was my first thought. The lowest temperature on record for our city is 19 degrees in 1981. However I have no idea how low the temperature in our microclimate has fallen. I have read conflicting freeze temperatures for the Foxtail. Can anyone clarify? Also if it is fairly mature, say 18 feet or so, what is its likely life expectancy?

I am now investigating some of the other species kindly suggested by you fellow Florida gardeners. Can anyone suggest where I might purchase a Tipuana Tipu? Further ideas and suggestions would be very gratefully received.

I can sympathize with the allergies and you are a good neighbor to help them out. Whenever our live oaks were pollinating (is that a word?) my DH and I sneezed a lot. Both trees were close to the house and unavoidable outdoors.

I still love them though as did the birds and butterflies and they were great for shade.

Thinking of palms, have you thought of planting several palms that would create a shady area - placed as if they are umbrellas? (I will send you info on a south Pinellas location using that - the "Bradshaw Mansion" in Roser Park.)

Hi Sis,

So sorry to hear about the loss of your beautiful tree. Would something like a tall, clumping bamboo work? In two years you could have a tall, beautiful screen that could provide a lot of shade, depending what side of it you're on. Recently Tomcath showed some gorgeous pics of a clumping bamboo on his property line. I have oldhamii and love it. There are some that are sort of straight up and others that are more graceful and grow wider. If it is a long area, you could plant three clusters, one every fifteen or more feet. The nice thing about bamboo is that if you get a culm where you don't want it, you can just cut it off at the base. No problem.

Another tree you might consider is michaelia alba, although I don't know about the roots over time. Mine is two years old and about 15 or more feet and smells wonderful! It is a good screener as it is quite dense. I think it can get quite wide, though.

I will keep thinking.

Anna

I didn't suggest it earlier because folks have mixed emotions about bamboo, but it would serve your purpose in such a tight area. Scroll down to the pictures in this post to get a good idea of how it would fit in the area you're working with.

Tom