What kind of soil to you have--sandy loam or clay or rocky clay or pure sand or what? How tall do you want your "trees to be? Are you sure you don't want shrubs that close to the house. Finally, are you in zone 6 or zone 7?

There are plenty of good trees to plant in front of your house, but it would help to know what type soil you have. Also, is it a one-story or two-story house because I want to recommend trees that will stay the right size. You don't want to plant a tree that will get too tall and just overwhelm the house.

The key is to avoid trees like maples that are prone to having surface roots.

Dawn

We have clay soil. House basically 1 1/2 story. It has a bonus room on second floor. I dont want anything that is overly bushy that will block the sidewalk.

I would do a crape myrtle, and let it grow up in tree form.

Crape myrtles can take the heat of a western exposure, and their roots go mostly down.

Moni

Don't do it!

Don't do it!

Trees near a foundation are just asking for trouble. If their roots are near the surface they will raise the concrete and crack it. They can hide the presence of termites. Their roots can go down deep and compromise the walls of your basement (oh dear, there goes $25,000 - $35,000....hope you liked that tree to the tune of $35,000)

When the tree gets bigger (and they always do) their limbs will come crashing down in a windstorm or an icestorm and there goes a huge part of your roof (another $12,000, anybody?) Also, check your insurance policy very, very closely. The insurance usually won't cover damage from trees that are "too close" and the term "too close" is very flexible as far as insurance companies are concerned...

If you want to plant trees close to your house, make sure you have a good line of credit with your bank or credit cards for when the payment comes due. Then, later, when you want to sell the house be prepared to mark down the price by $30,000 or $50,000 because that's what it might cost to repair the damage a tree can cause your foundation, basement, or cracked walls. In addition, don't forget they can hide termite damage.....

Trees are a must-have in any yard, but keep them at arm's length from the house....

You can plant the right tree a reasonable distance from your home and not have to worry about damage. I've had 50' tall trees growing as close as 3' from the exterior wall/foundation of a house without causing damage although I prefer to keep them 4' to 5' away. If you have a full basement, you can protect it by putting in a fiberglass barrier material that will keep the root from growing towards the house. The only time we've had tree damage to our home was when the so-called "tree service" taking out a tree at our neighbor's home in Fort Worth dropped the tree on our house. : ) Even the great Texas gardening guru Neil Sperry, an accomplished horticulturalist, writer, talk show host and publisher, kept a pecan tree just 18" from his home when he built his home in Collin County a couple of decades ago and used it as an example of a tree that, when properly pruned and maintained, can grow very close to a house without damaging it. If you grow a tree very close to a house, though, you do need to keep an eye on its growth and keep it pruned away from the house so that its' limbs never rub against the house or "lay" on top of the roof.

I liked Moni's suggestion of a crape myrtle if you don't "have to" have an evergreen. Some of the taller crape myrtles would eventually get tall enough to even give you a reasonable amount of shade. If you want an evergreen that is strongly vertical and won't crowd the sidewalk, try something like one of the very upright junipers, perhaps "Skyrocket", which is shown in the picture linked below.

If you go with strongly vertical growth, you won't have issues with the plant spreading out too wide, but you'll also not have as much shade to help keep the house cooler.

You didn't say what size the bed is near the house, but if it is a fairly narrow bed, then I'd plant an oak tree--there are many lovely ones--farther from the the house and sidewalk--say 8 to 10 to 12' away to eventually provide shade. As the tree grows, you can prune away lower limbs that might grow low over the sidewalk.

I have oaks on all 4 sides of our house to eventually provide shade for our 2-story house, but none of them is in the beds closest to the house. Those beds have shrubs, although some of my shrubs--Southern Wax Myrtles--are 15' tall and pruned up tree form.

As long as you avoid trees like silver maples that have large surface roots, you shouldn't have issues with the sidewalk or foundation cracking.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Skyrocket Juniper