Tree Advice....

[FiddleKat]

I posted another thread about us having to take down our sycamore trees. I have posted a picture of the row of our trees. The last one in the far background, I think you may see, is the first to come down tomorrow.
I'll try to post more pics. Honestly, I think a sycamore may have been too big of a tree to plant in this area. Former owner planted them.
My question now: what would you suggest to plant in replace. We would like something that would help block the view of the neighbors behind us. DH and I thought lilac but I also was thinking of maybe some type of dwarf flowering crabapple tree.

[FiddleKat]

Sorry, here's the row of trees, the first pic is the one that is dead

[Danaus29]

Holly and lilac and flowering crab. How big is the area in question?

I personally do not like the mono-culture plantings you see so often. Mix it up a little and have something nice to look at all year long.

[FiddleKat]

Not sure on the sq footage. I know its about twenty to twenty five feet from the back of the house to the fence. Our mobile is about 44 ft long.The pool deck is about another twenty five to thirty feet. the first tree is behind the storage shed and the last (5th) tree is just beyond our pool deck.
We are on a half acre of land. Don't know if this helps or not.

I forgot about Holly!! Yes, a mixture that gives us variety all year long would be nice!!

[Danaus29]

Plenty of room for a mix of shrubs and small trees. Enjoy your new landscaping!
Looks like removing them will open up a new future garden site too.
Just my opinion but trees that can grow to 3 foot diameter (diameter - across, not circumference - around) and over 150 feet tall should not be planted within 100 feet of a house. Sycamores are bad for losing large branches too. I hate to say it because I love sycamores but by removing these you will also be eliminating possible future insurance claims due to falling branches on neighboring homes.

[FiddleKat]

Originally Posted by Danaus29

Plenty of room for a mix of shrubs and small trees. Enjoy your new landscaping!
Looks like removing them will open up a new future garden site too.
Just my opinion but trees that can grow to 3 foot diameter (diameter - across, not circumference - around) and over 150 feet tall should not be planted within 100 feet of a house. Sycamores are bad for losing large branches too. I hate to say it because I love sycamores but by removing these you will also be eliminating possible future insurance claims due to falling branches on neighboring homes.

There isn't really any other houses close enough to us that would have been effected by falling branches. Except for our own, and the 35 yr old single wide behind us.
But yes losing them was rather sad. The tree guy did a great job cutting them down and got as close to the ground he could. As well as hauled off the remains. We'll definitly use him again for the next tree that needs to come down.

[Darren]

Do you need shade to help with cooling during the summer? Which direction does the wind blow? From behind the sycamores toward your house?

[Danaus29]

A 6 inch diameter branch is pretty hard on a mobile home.

I admit I am more than just a little paranoid about trees falling on houses. One barely missed my bedroom when I was 7 or 8.

[pattycake]

We had three of these trees that died mysteriously in 1998 when my father died. He had dug these trees and planted them for us in 1977 and they had grown to a magestic height. He died on Easter Sunday 1998 and these trees had been healthy in the past just died! We have planted several things in their place and nothing has thrived. We planted a blue spruce and a Lilac bush. Neither made it. This could just be a coincidence but I sometimes wonder as we have practically grown a woods here and have never had anything else die. I can't help but wonder if Daddy is trying to send me a message!

[NickieL]

I would plant semi-dwarf fruit trees.....shade, veiw blocakge, flowers AND food.

[Sawmill Jim]

Originally Posted by NickieL

I would plant semi-dwarf fruit trees.....shade, veiw blocakge, flowers AND food.

Me too if i'm going to look at it mow around it i want it to give me some food

[NickieL]

Originally Posted by Sawmill Jim

Me too if i'm going to look at it mow around it i want it to give me some food

Yup, plant something that is actually USEFULL and earns it's keep We ARE homesteaders after all.

[FiddleKat]

The shade would be nice...
however, since we do have the swimming pool, Im trying to keep in mind something that won't drop so many leaves into the pool. Im still trying to clean leaf debris out of now.

I was thinking of doing a flowering crabapple. My parents had one in the yard of the ole house I grew up in. And after 46 years our family no longer owns the house So I was thinking of planting one as a memory sort of tree. My mother had loved that tree, and since she is now gone.

We just installed a new heating/cooling system, heat pump and since they are so EXPENSIVE, I also don't want trees falling on the compressor outside. It's keeping the house wonderfully cool!!

We also have a set of glass sliders off the family room facing the backyard and in summer our family room can get warm as it heats up! Nice in winter though, I open up the blinds and let all the sunshine in and it warms the tile floor up and the room and helps heat the house.

[FiddleKat]

Since the tree by the pool has been cut down, I've noticed the stump is wet. You can almost see water seeping from it. I went out to the pool this morning and noticed it dropped about an inch of water.

I don't know if the root from the tree is starting to shrink, making the cut in the liner where the root was poking through now leak, or if the tree roots are in shock and are sucking water up like crazy from the pool.

[Danaus29]

Did the person who cut the trees treat the stump so it wouldn't grow back? If not you'll soon have dozens of little suckers coming up around that stump. And if he didn't treat it the stump being wet probably is the roots sucking up the water. It takes a long time for sycamore wood to dry out.