Yard tree planting recommendations

[redfin]

We built our house in an old horse pasture this year and just finished planting roughly 25k of our lawn two weeks ago. We live in central Pa and I'm looking for recommendations of shade trees to plant.

I have owned several homes but all the trees I have ever had were maples. The leaf cleanup in those homes were horrendous. I'm not sure what really qualifies as a nice yard tree. Fall cleanup is expected but the maples were bad.

I would rather have trees that don't branch out so low to the ground and ones that have a less dense canopy for some nice shade. What should we be looking at planting?

Thank you.

 

[Raintree]

amur maackia tree
Chinese cork oak
hackberry
katsura tree
black gum
parrotia

Your welcome.

 

[derwoodii]

Chinese elm Ulmus parvifolia neat tidy easy clean up small leaves or to form prune if required

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmus_parvifolia

 

[ATH]

Need to know more about your soils before making good recommendations...some of those listed can take variable soils. I like black gum, but they cannot take alkaline soil. Would a conifer work? White pine or bald cypress Norway spruce are all fast growing in the right site? They don't have large spreading crowns...so it depends on how much shade you expect.

 

[redfin]

Thanks for the advise so far, I will look into the suggestions. What regarding the soil are you needing the pH?

We have planted numerous conifers already and they are doing well, I'm mainly looking for some hardwoods that will eventually grow tall and provide (for lack of better terminogly) light shading. I like to see yard trees that give a bit of contrast with sun and shade through them, that's why I don't want a heavy canopy.

 

[ATH]

soil pH, texture (clay, sand, loam, slit), and moisture are all helpful. Is it on a slope? Top/middle/bottom if so? If it is a significant slope what is the aspect (which direction would a ball roll if you just dropped it - North, South, East, or West?)

 

[Bobosocky]

Black locust is tolerant of most all soil conditions, and is a very fast grower. The branches do have thorns, but I have heard of hybrid stock that doesn't have any.

It has compound leaves, but they are small.. they are a 'light shade' tree. In the spring the tree will be full of white blossoms.

In addition to being on of the fastest growing trees in NA, it is also one of the most dense woods, and it fixes nitrogen into the soil.

I wouldn't call them invasive, but you will see seedlings pop up over time.

 

[TechGuy]

I am not an expert but I have started using the local extensions and universities to determine which trees are native and use them if it meets my need. Your local beneficials will appreciate it and you will end up with a tree best suited for your local weather.

These are the best bests for dry sunny location with a large tree from http://www.iconservepa.org/plantsmart/plantsdatabase/index.htm

Below are the results for your native plant search based on the criteria you chose. The list includes the type of plant, common name and scientific name. Click on the "More..." link to get an individual description of each species.


TYPE COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME
Large Tree (50'+) Sugar maple Acer saccharum More...
Medium Tree (20'-50') Black-gum Nyssa sylvatica More...
Large Tree (50'+) Eastern white pine Pinus strobus More...
Large Tree (50'+) White oak Quercus alba More...
Medium Tree (20'-50') Sassafras Sassafras albidum More...

 

[Oldman47]

As ATH suggested, soil type can make a huge difference. Most pines and firs do not do well on clay soil but spruces grow just fine on them.
Look at growth habits too. Maples are prone to having their roots grow just under the soil surface so if you like a pretty lawn they can ruin your whole day. There are 6 inch diameter roots visible on my lawn under my maples and for a long way out from them.
Many trees have annoying habits of dropping their fruit on your lawn. Examples are Oaks dropping acorns, gum trees dropping those large seed pods, osage orange drop "hedge apples" that are about 3 inches in diameter, walnuts drop, you guessed it, walnuts, cottonwood releases cottony seeds in spring and any fruit tree will drop more fruit than you can ever use.
Other trees have their own issues like the odor of a ginko that your neighbors will complain about.

 

[redfin]

soil pH, texture (clay, sand, loam, slit), and moisture are all helpful. Is it on a slope? Top/middle/bottom if so? If it is a significant slope what is the aspect (which direction would a ball roll if you just dropped it - North, South, East, or West?)

Sorry for some reason I didn't get new response. We built our house in an old horse pasture. Heavy topsoil layer. It is a mild slope north/west. Mild being probably 1' per 100'.
This is out the side of our house with has the most elevation drop which isn't much. All the flags are where I have planted oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut and maple. I plan on keeping the heavy weeds clear around them until they get above the undergrowth.

 

[Oldman47]

Take a soil sample to your local Soil Conservation Service office and have it analyzed. If your property has not been written off as a housing tract type site, called orthents in a soil map, you can also get the soil map for your property in the same place. Between the two you will know what you are working with and that will help you make the right first choices.

 

[ATH]

You can also get a soil map online at web soil survey: http://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm

 

[Oldman47]

ATH, the soil types in my county are well described in the site that you referenced but my own soil which is 233B (Birkbeck), 322C (Russell) and 17 G (Keomah) are not shown there on any map. Although they do describe what my soils are good for they do not show what soils I have. That is where the soil maps from your county office come in handy. My particular soil types are a small percentage of the total soil types in the county, less than 10% each. The soil maps get right down and personal with not only what soil types are present on your property but where on your property each one is to be found. That is valuable information for planning a tree planting.

 

[ATH]

You might not have used the site correctly then...or your area has different information. The exact same information that is available in out local Soil Survey is available on Web Soils Survey.

*On the like I posted, click on the green circle "Start WSS"
*On the map use the tools (above the map) to zoom into your area.
*Click on the "AOI" rectangle above the map and outline your area with that rectangle. This will take several seconds.
*Click "Soil map" tab at the top left of the page and you will see the same thing as you see on the maps in a soil survey book.
*Click on the soil type name. On the right (over the map), if you click the up arrow by "Report" you will see where you can click the down arrow for "Description" and this is the same text that you would find in the Soil Survey.