You might want to do some research because i read somewhere on here that they have a big root system. But, i dont know if it is true or not.

Hi and thank you both for your responses. I appreciate them very much! I think we're going to go with some Blue Juniper conifers to go up next to the house. I think they would look nice up against our white siding, with blue shutters.

I don't think I need to worry about their root systems. At least I hope not.

Right against the house is usually quite dry, due to roof overhang. And don't forget Ken's admonitions of the necessity of getting behind the tree/bush to paint the house/wash the windows and of the fact that neither trees nor shrubs stop growing.

If it says 3 foot tall or less I don't mind having it just outside my gutter's overhang. Anything bigger and you better have a plan. It is POSSIBLE here to do it with these Japanese Maple sized fu fu trees. Trust me, I see hundreds planted amazingly near houses.

define with specificity what you mean by close ...

is your house modern or some old farmhouse ... roots are not an issue with the former ... but can be with the latter ,...

when you want to picture a potential problem.. just google up the most precise name you can find.. and look at the images page .. as below .. looks like the white standard can get rather large ... i did not hit the button for the dwarfs

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=Japanese+Lilac+Tree&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=7HdPVe7UEcqjsAWRsYGACQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=815&bih=745&dpr=0.9

I actually planted a blue point juniper about 8 feet from the back side of my house a few weeks ago.

Right up close to the house should not mean a foot from the house. Foundation plantings should never be closer than 3-4 feet from the house. You never want the grown shrubs/trees crowded up against the foundation or siding. You want air between them.

My grandmother-bless her soul-to date, the best gardener I ever knew, had a Jap. lilac right up against here house-I'd say maybe 5 ft. from foundation-with never a bit of issue other than a really attractive plant and composition. Hers was pre-'Ivory Silk' and was a multi-stemmed specimen. There's real concerns, and then there's items like this, never to be a problem.

+oM

We decided on going with a Redbud. We ordered it yesterday, and it'll be planted about 4 feet from the house.

You will never have any trouble for having done so. The caveats against planting too near the house are for large-growing types, not little redbuds and whatnot.

+oM

Thanks +om!

Ken, our house was built in 1939. Yes, it looks similar to a farmhouse. It's a large, 2 story house. The first floor of our house, and the small crawl space underneath is all cinder block. The 2nd floor is made of wood. It's all covered, like I said earlier, in white siding so no one can see the cinder block.

I will say having cinder block on the first floor is fantastic in the summer. We NEVER have to use air conditioning downstairs. It's always cool. In the winter, having cinder block, plus insulation, plus vinyl siding has reduced our energy costs dramatically.