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

Are you're sure it's not a Cleveland Pear rather than Bradford? It could be why it's so large and I believe they are hardier and live longer. Maybe calling in a professional arborist(?) that knows their trees and not just the neighborhood "tree murdered/hacker downer" to help you out! I'd hate to see a nice tree cut down because it's misidentified! Just the other day a neighbor house was just sold and the new owners come in and cut down a lovely Dogwood(boohoo!) that was the anchor plant for the landscaping...I'm sure because the crew of Illegals(and new owners) had no idea what it was so just cut it down thinking it was a tree growing too close to the house.

Jess, whichever tree guy you decide on (and ideally as part of the decision process), get references, follow up on them, and, if at all possible, go yourself to look at what the trees ended up looking like. Even jobs he/she did a few years ago could be valuable - it would give you a feel for what your tree could look like in a similar time frame. The initial cost of having work done is not always the ultimate cost..., both in money and in looks. And DO make sure they have at least 1 million dollars liability insurance and Workmans Comp. - just in case some one or some thing gets hurt or damaged. Another thing to factor in is what will be done with the cut-off branches, and how thoroughly the crew cleans up. They SHOULD take the branches away with them, whether as branches or chipped as mulch (if you can stockpile and age the wood chips, then you could keep them as a coarse mulch in about 6 months - fresh wood chips aren't a good mulch), and the job site SHOULD end up as clean as it was when they started. They should, if the tree is near the street or a structure, cover any cars or structures nearby with drop-clothes or tarps, to limit damage from wayward falling branches. Thinning such trees as flowering pears, which have a heavy leaf-load, can be a very good thing. If badly done, it can shorten the life of the tree by as much or more as the right job can lengthen it, so you do need to pick a good and careful tree service.

Well, I haven't ever computed mine on the lot lines. But just added up the size of the yards around the house and added them up. So mine is 8000 not counting house, drive way, and four sidewalks and two patios. I'd love to have a big tooth oak. I hear they are nice trees and have nice fall color. I planted two trees that were supposed to be shantung maples, but, they turned out to be mis-labled Norway maples and simply did not do well in my climate (plus their fall color was bad instead of the nice color I hear Shantungs generally have.) My three red oaks are all slightly different. I think one might be a Mexican or white oak, I just haven't ever been able to tell for sure. And, alas, with too much shade (go figure) I've killed 3 crepe myrtles. I really wanted a couple of those. Three lilacs are surviving but not flourishing for the same reason. They only get about a half day because I was finally able to get my Pin oak to take off. Also, in a few years I expect one of my burr oaks and one of my red oaks to conspire with a neighbors pecan tree to make my Cleveland pear to feel crowded. But, up here our trees generally grow smaller (even the "big" ones) and slower. So, its much different than in tree growing areas where many of the trees I have will get HUGE and do so fairly quickly. Our weather often thins out our trees for us.