Welcome to NJ.

Although the kind of drive you describe is lovely, monoculture is an invitation to pests and diseases. A mix of trees with similar needs will go a long way to ensuring the health of all the plants in that border ... and minimizing the need for costly, time-consuming, and environmentally unfriendly spraying. It will also give you a longer season of interest, be that flowers, berries, autumn leaf color, or interesting bark; furthermore, the right selection can provide shelter and food for birds ... which can be a delight to the eyes and ears as well as scarfing up insects that might bother your lawn/garden, pets, and you!

Rutgers Cooperative Extension put out a good publication a while back entitled "50 Small Trees for the Home Landscape". It's a well-researched and nicely descriptive publication, though you'll have to do some further research for photos (I'd strongly recommend "in person" evaluation at an arboretum - Rutgers Gardens has a great one). If your local County Extension office can't provide you with a copy, e-mail me and I'll send you one.

I have my favorites, but your tastes and needs may differ. Trees are planted for the long haul - be careful in your selections as well as soil prep and planting, and you'll have created something beautiful for many years to come. And ... (I always say this) ... enjoy the process. Summer's too hot to be working much in the garden, but it's a great time to go visiting others! Fall will likely be a better time to plant the trees you've chosen, anyway.

Diane

I agree.

I also don't like the look of a row of the same tree. Another reason not to do that is if one tree dies, it's imposible to replace it so that it looks like the others.

I live very near you, in Princeton junction. I love my evergreen magnolia. It has shiny leaves and the under side of the leaves look like they have cinamin on them. Right now they are blooming and the flowers, though short lived, are very fragrant. They have an orange scent.

If we have a winter with several day of below freezing temperatures, which can happen every 20-30 years, then you can get some "die back" damage. I'll take my chances, it's worth it.You can come over to my garden to see what they look like after 15 years. Just PM me.

Thanks for the advice to both posters.
How tall are your Evergreen Magnolias?
Would you mix in maybe some Cherry trees with them?
I was also told of Dogwoods but have no idea if they are a local tree.
Thanks,

Ryan

Search 'magnolia grandiflora' for varieties of evergreen magnolia. Bracken's Brown Beauty is one cultivar that is hardy to USDA zone 5 and comes highly-recommended. It has the fuzzy brown indumentum on the underside of the rich green glossy leaves, does well in sun or light shade in varied soil conditions but prefers a slightly acidic, light, moist, well-drained soil. It can reach 30-50 feet in height and 15-30 feet in width. (Mine are currently about 5' high). I believe it is not considered a rapid growing tree.

Considering the preference for acid soil, I would choose companions with similar preferences. Eastern Redbud, Amelanchier (Serviceberry), as well as the Dogwood you mentioned, would be appropriate. Our native dogwood, cornus florida, is a lovely tree and I still prefer it to the oriental cornus kousa, which is resistant to the anthracnose that has been troubling our native variety - I just nurture the tree through it when it has a bad year. The kousa variety is also a lovely tree, though, providing bloom about a month later than the florida.

I don't know how much room you have, or the effect you're going for (natural or more cultivated/formal) but if you want understory shrubs in that area, pieris, azalea, leucothoe, rhododendron, clethra and many others would be very happy in such a location. Do you have deer in the area? That's a consideration in plant selection.

Aside from the one crabapple I have, I stay away from cherries, apples, etc., despite their beautiful flowering qualities, because they seem so much more susceptible to insects & diseases (tent caterpillars LOVE cherry trees).

Diane

Wow what great advice, I really appreciate it.
Our home sits 100 feet of the road and is nestled into a wooded backdrop. We have a 2 story large colonial with a paver driveway. We were going for a tree lined drive that flowers but that do not grow more than 15-20 feet.
We have an abundance of wildlife here from deer, racoons, and beavers to amazing birds such as humming birds, eagles, cardinals, and blue birds.

Around the trees we do not want landscaping since there is plenty in front of the house and around the sides.

This development used to be a tree farm and my lot backs to the Wetlands where we have river birch and beautul Poplar trees. I have also toyed with the idea of maybe some type of pine trees since there are several christmas trees growing on the lots around us.

Thanks-
Ryan

We used to have some type of weeping blue spruce, although they don't flower they won't ever lose their color; I don't think it did too well in the heat but we have another compact dwarf that's quite happy without any fuss.

A dogwood sounds like what you're looking for although I just discovered the beauty of a Weeping cherry. The shape of a dogwood is just as beautiful once it loses its leaves in winter.

We have the evergreen magnolias and although their flowers are gorgeous and their scent is heavenly, their leaves are just depressing since the bottom is death-brown.

Not much help, I suppose, but if you're new to the area it's always nice to have something that stays green in winter to mix with the ones that flower come spring. Good luck.

Just what does "death brown" mean? I have six cultivars of grandiflora (Edith Bogue, Victoria, Majestic Beauty, Little Gem, Bracken's Brown, and Green Giant)--none is "dead brown" on the underside, but a few (especially the Bracken's Brown) are fuzzy cinnamon and that adds to their beauty not subtracts.

What is the purpose of the trees? (Are you trying to block out a view or provide privacy? Do you want deciduous shade and thus lower temperatures?) How much sun do you get? (Many of the smaller trees are understory trees that prefer some shade) Why trees and not shrubs? (there are many more shrubs that I can recall which will grow upto 10-15 feet tall). Will the driveway be salted and plowed in the winter? Are you also interested in Fall color?

OK I have given you enough to think about