For the names of the maples you'd have to ask the nursery owner. But he may not know; so what you can also do is look at the growth habit of the tree and try to project out 20 years... and maples also lend themselves to pruning. If you want a high canopy, then all the branches you are looking at today will eventually be pruned off and a similar shape will be over your head. That is why to me the second maple/third picture looks more like what your property needs. But you could accommodate them both, or all three, if you manage them (once the other Bradford is gone, and honestly, it will likely be a lot cheaper to get rid of both at once - on the other hand, letting a new tree grow in for a few years first means you won't have to go through a moonscape phase). It actually looks like you might have a little new tree by the fence? Maples aren't always appreciative of being gardened under so if you want a flower bed I would be more inclined to remove your foundation hedge and corner pyramid evergreen, and make a nice garden there - those plantings weren't genius choices to start with and are getting past their best-before date. Removing that corner evergreen especially would open up your front door area nicely. Tree removal is always a good opportunity to rethink the whole property landscaping. If you do a plan view diagram and draw circles on it to represent the future canopies of your trees you may find it easier to think of options and placements. Consider sun direction and where you want shade. True you don't have a lot of room but there is scope for much better use of what you have. KarinL

Trees for lumbering (where a company would come in and take down a stand of them) are often densely grown and of a particular caliber and species. Open canopied trees are not valuable because of the knots the lateral branches cause. You can usually get a lumber harvester to look at your stand gratis and they can give you an offer for the lumber on the spot. Your stand doesn't really sound promising and three acres worth on a prospective building site might not interest anybody but it's worth a shot. You aren't out anything. Offering free wood on a cut your own basis is very risky because it's dangerous, dangerous work on big trees even for the experienced jack. That's why so many companies go out of business..........the workman's comp part of it. If a person comes on your land and gets injured or killed felling a tree, you better have a good lawyer and insurance. Having them saw up or split already felled tress is not quite the same issue. I know a gentleman, a professional jack who was killed during a clearing operation and my own g'son was injured just limbing up a tree when wooding out. We have acreage and do a lot of tree planting and upkeep, and have worked with a professional tree company for some major stuff and they can be hired out by the day. Still not cheap but not a grand a tree either. I guess you need to look at it from a lot of different perspectives and see what works. Just don't assume there is not liability because your trees aren't in an urban situation.

It sounds like you would want to call a "certtified arborist", usually they are more geared towards tree preservation than tree surgeons. You can find a directory of ISA certified arborists at treesaregood.com

Today, DGS2 arrived to finish...only he only had 20 minutes! He got the 2nd tree out to the curb (misses pick-up this AM but they'll get it Tues), the stand out and the lamp back on the table. LR table and furniture pulled out for tree removal, and putting it all in it's correct place in the basement, is for tomorrow after he gets off work. What is interesting, is that this boy (he's 16) has worked at a local small neighborhood hardware store now for nearly a year. I ADORES working there and they like him very much. Somehow, he can concentrate to build a huge Weber Grill or a Big Green Egg VERY quickly - and no, he never loses any of the parts. He can help customers find what they are looking for - he knows where EVERYTHING is in this small store with a 1/2 basement as well. He can find a duplicate for that one screw your are missing. He knows all about the differences in glues. He does not yet mix paint and doesn't really want to do so - that is pretty much left to one old guy who has been doing this for decades. It's an art... ADHD is a funny condition. They no know there are multiple varieties and it manifests itself in so many different ways. I would never have thought someone with it could easily and quickly build a huge grill.