hey ed

i would be more concerned about the power lines.. than the road.. which looks more like a driveway ...

unless you dont mind.. in a decade or two.. cutting out parts of the trees for line clearance ...

i see the line of trees back there [unless those are the lost ones???] ..... perfectly sited to the road and power lines .... why do you find the need to fill in the space???

if you insist.. then i would think shrubs would be better ...

ken

I knew the problem with that picture was it made the area look too good. I took that picture precisely because it was pretty, but other parts of the yard look more bare, including the part in front of the house. That's a mix of maple and (hidden behind the maples in this shot) Eastern Red Cedar that self-seeded along a fence line. When I was little there was a row of pine (Austrian? Japanese Black?) in front of them. Quite a few of the trees in the yard are getting long in the tooth...we lost a bunch of big limbs this year, and a few trees a couple years ago...I know another batch are going to go in a year or two. My thought was we'd plant a couple rows of trees to fill in the gap in front of the house, then thought of extending it beyond the house to provide "understudies" for those trees.

My reason for not planting the trees farther back was because I wanted to allow some space away from what's left of that row, and to continue a line of trees the neighbors (on the other side) started on their property. Neither row is a directly beneath the power line, but the front row I was thinking of is close.

The side I'm planting trees along is about 417 feet long.

Here is a link that might be useful: Split Limb Salvageable

Anyway, I didn't get answers to all my original questions. As a general rule, how many feet should you allow between Sassafras and the street? Blue Spruce?

Can I assume the pine and spruce that only have brown needles are dead and can be pulled out of the ground?

I figured the merging of this Forum with Houzz will add new people I can get answers from. So, Houzzers, would Sassafras be good for the front row (12 feet from the road) or the back row (30 feet)? If the front row, would it be better in front of the pines or the Black Walnut?

What about Washington Hawthorne...back row or front row?

Salt is used around here in the winter, but this particular street doesn't seem to be salted that aggressively. There is also salt spray propelled by hurricanes every few years. Sassafras and Blue Spruce are both listed as somewhat salt tolerant by some sources...part of why I chose them. I'm realizing the Blue Spruce are probably too big to go that close to the street, though. I'm debating trying a couple white pine in the back (30 foot from road) row, but the salt issue is having me hesitate.

Around here, white pine don't seem to have any salt problems as street trees. However, they have other issues which may not work well here. First, they are very subject to wind damage in an exposed location. Second, like almost all pines, they will lose their lower branches as they age.

the hawthorns would do well up front, under the power lines. We have them all over Rhode Island in city and village street locations, and the salt and compaction may limit their size but they are generally healthy and beautiful. From what I can see, you have an enormous lawn area and they will not have to contend with any compaction at all, and would do great.

That said, almost none of the thousands of trees in the city of Providence, or any other New England city, conform to the stringent tree siting requirements prevalent on the internet, and yet they all continue to thrive!

mad_gallica: White pine seem to be the only pines unbothered by disease around here, but I'm hesitant to plant them because of salt and wind issues.
Conor: Yeah, I'm of the opinion a lot of people get hysterical about planting trees too close to houses and roads. There are lots of bad things that can happen...but usually don't. Utility companies are a bit biased...they don't get the benefit of street trees, but have to deal with the problems if something goes wrong.
Would Sassafras or Witch Hazel work in the front row? That's kind of the core problem I'm trying to get answered. The front row is set back a few feet from the power lines. Also considering crab apple. Trying to go with more then one species.

Transplanting sassafras, um, well collecting enough root of sassafras in order to be able to transplant may be a bigger barrier than you think.

There is a Native Nursery vaguely around here, Garden in the Woods, that sells nice potted Sassafras. There is also a nursery online, Bluffvewnursery, that sells bareroot Sassafras, but I don't know what those specimens look like.