Filtered shade tree, near a patio suggestions

10 years ago

We're considering removing a Silver Maple in our backyard that was planted by the previous owner. It's about 30 ft tall and 24 ft from the back of the house and probably about 10 years old. It already has surface roots pretty bad and we'd like to put a concrete patio in that would extend out from the house to about 10 feet away from this Silver Maple. Which from what I've read shouldn't be anywhere near concrete or this close to the house.

What we like about the Silver - light shade, fast growing, spreading habit and yellow fall color (mostly shades of reds and purple fall color in the rest of the yard). What we don't like - helicoptors and seedlings everywhere and surface roots.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a shade tree with filtered shade so we can still have grass underneath & nearby plants, something that doesn't have surface root problems and grows fairly quickly with harder wood that holds up well to winds/storms?

These are trees that I thought might work: Thornless Honeylocust, Bald Cypress, Dawn Redwood and Yellowwood. Please experts, let me know if any of these are good options or if you have other suggestions.

We are in zone 6, Kansas City, MO in a subdivision with a good sized lot that's wide but fairly shallow and it's very windy and stormy in our area.

If this helps the trees that are close by include a Fireglow Japanese Maple (closest at 15 ft), a Wichita Blue Juniper, a Rose of Sharon tree form and a Slender Hinoki False Cypress. We also have a Bradford Pear but we'll have to remove that soon too. The Fireglow really lights up with the partial sun the Silver Maple provides so we'd really like to stay away from dense shade trees. The only other shade tree we have in the back yard is an Autumn Blaze Maple on the opposite side of the house, 100 plus ft away. I've included pictures. The biggest tree is the Silver. Thank you for any guidance!

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Comments (8)

ajMilo
Original Author
10 years ago
I guess I can only post 1 image at a time. So here's the middle of the yard.
ajMilo
Original Author
10 years ago
And the opposite side.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
get rid of both at the same time... pear and maple ...

the taxodium... BCypr is deciduous ... it will be bald all winter .. hence the name.. lol ...

i seem to recall.. honeylocust isnt much better than a maple ... but i dont have any direct experience with them .... maybe i am thinking of the other locusts.. with all its seedlings/surface roots.. etc ...

do not use anything that 'claims' to be fast growing.. they die fast ... and shop them out at 6 to 8 feet.. i wouldnt go much bigger ....

plan on fall or winter planting.. depending which is proper for your area....

dont let them take away the wood chips.. if you need mulch for the yard ... and best if they take them down in fall.. leafless.. and all the grinding chips will be wood.. rather than half green leaves ... all depends on when you want to pour the cement....

ken
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
10 years ago
My neighbor has a thornless locust of some kind. It is not huge yet but seems polite enough. He loves the small leaves. They mow into the grass with one easy pass in the fall.

Bald cypress and dawn redwood.....if surface roots are a huge concern I would favor Bald cypress. Both look fine limbed up and are decent for grass. They are not the widest spreading trees. I love them btw.

Check out nyssa sylvatica (probably called black gum or tupelo over there). It is a difficult transplant but has great fall color.

Pin oaks and grass... Ppl in St Louis love pin oaks. Roughly it seems if it is close enough to the house the branches will overhang the roof then eventually grass will have a problem. Out in the middle of the yard and limbed up grass will grow okish.
greenthumbzdude
10 years ago
American Elm 'Princeton' is a great, fast growing tree that gives dapped shade

Here is a link that might be useful: Botany Shop
ajMilo
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. I love Bald Cypress so I think I'm leaning towards that but I'll have to look into Black Gum and Princeton Elms and see if they're sold around here. I guess Princeton are resistant to dutch elm disease? Nevermind I see in your link it says they are.They both look like awesome trees.

I considered oak but I thought they were a denser shade. If there are any oak recommendations though let me know. We had 2 huge Pin Oaks growing up and I don't remember seeing any surface roots and one was very close to the driveway.

Ken, we will definitely be removing the Bradford Pear too. We've already removed one from the front yard. We had 2 Bradford Pears and a Silver Maple when we moved in. Lucky. We didn't know anything about trees then or what they were or we would have replaced them immediately.

This post was edited by ajMilo on Mon, Jul 1, 13 at 19:01
drrich2
10 years ago
If you look at Black Gum, consider a cultivar called 'Wildfire.' The new spring growth comes in reddish for awhile, and that's a nice added feature over the regular species.

Richard.
ajMilo
Original Author
10 years ago
Wow gorgeous! Thanks Richard!