Select A Shade Tree For Your Yard

Why not plant the best! The average person will likely a dozen or less trees. Many homeowners choose to buy a fast-growing tree. But, in the long run, in 25-30 years, you will likely pay the price for the fast growth. The speedy trees are generally weak-wooded and branches can break in ice and storms packing high winds. They become hazard trees. Don’t plant a fast growing tree within 50 feet of your home. Below ground their roots will grow into sewer and water lines. All trees listed are hardy in USDA hardiness zones 5-9.

Moderate growing trees (50 feet and higher):

Hybrid Freeman Maples (Acer freemanii)

Red Maple (Acer rubrum) 'Red Sunset', 'October Glory'

Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) 'Green Mountain'

Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra)

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) (select male clones only)

Thornless Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis)

Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioica) 'Espresso'

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) 'Happidaze', 'Slender Silhouette'

Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) 

Black gum, tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) 'Green Gable', 'Wildfire', 'Red Rage'

London Planetree (Platanus x acerfolia) 'Columbia' 

Shingle Oak (Quercus imbricaria)

Willow oak (Quercus phellos)

English Oak (Quercus robur)

American Elm (Ulmus americana) 'Washington', 'Princeton', 'Jefferson'

Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata) 'Murashino', 'Green Vase'

Medium Sized Shade Trees (35-50 feet) 

Trident maple (Acer buergerianum)

River birch (Betula nigra) -'Heritage', 'Duraheat' 

European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)

Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea)

Crape myrtle (tree forms) (Lagerstroemia x)*

Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)**

Live oak (Quercus virginiana)*

Japanese pagoda tree (Styphnolobium japonica)

Basswood, American linden (Tilia americana) 

Little leaf Linden (Tilia cordata) 

Lacebark elm (Ulmus parvifolia) 'Athena', 'Bosque', 'Allee'

*hardy in Southern U.S. (zones 7-10)

Editor's note: all ash species (Fraxinus spp.) have been delisted because of tree's susceptibility to Emerald Ash Borer.

Willow Oak - A Fine Street / Landscape Tree

Willow oak (Q. phellos)

Willow Oak (Quercus phellos) is medium to large, deciduous tree, part of the "red oak" group (USDA hardiness zones 5-9). It is distinguished for willow-like oak foliage. Growth rate following a 2 year establishment period is moderate (12-16 inches annually).

Willow oak grows 50-75 feet tall and 30-35 feet wide with a rounded top or canopy. Young trees tend to be pyramidal in form. Individual specimens may reach 90 or more feet under ideal site conditions. Its small ¼ – ½ inch nearly round acorns form almost every year, are not a major maintenance headache, and serve as an important food resource for wildlife.

Long stringy yellow-green long catkin flowers appear in April, a few days before leaves emerge. Unlobed 5-inch long leaves mimic those of willow trees (Salix spp.). Leaves are tipped with a single 1-inch wide bristle. Green summer leaf color turns an undistinguished yellow-brown or dull gold very late in autumn. A young tree has a smooth grayish bark which darkens and becomes furrowed with age.

Native to the Southeastern U.S., willow oak prefers a moist bottomland, organic-rich, well-drained soil. This landscape tree tolerates light shade, but performs best in full sun. Willow oak can handle a wide range of soils including clay. Once established, it copes with summer drought well. Foliage is tolerant of urban air pollution.

narrow leaves of Willow Oak

Willow oak demonstrates good disease and pest resistance and is a long-lived and low-maintenance tree. In a landscape willow oak fits into large sites, such as in public parks or along wide roadways and avenues with good soil mass for adequate moisture. The narrow leathery leaves abscise very late in the fall and make a great loose mulch scattered under other landscape plants.

Kingpin® - new selection of willow oak introduced by Bold Spring Nursery. It offers uniformity in street tree plantings along with these improved traits: darker leaf color, strong central leader (trunk). Kingpin is large 60 x 45 feet shade tree.