need a shade tree

19 years ago

I just created a flower bed near my house in Lumberton which is in Southeast NC. I created the bed because the area was previously mostly dirt where not much would grow because of the constant barrage of sunlight cast on the area for most of the day. Needless to say, the area gets very hot and dry.

With that said, I would like to put a shade tree in the middle of the bed to give some of the flowers that I will be planting a bit of a breather during the summer. The area is relatively close to the house. Does anyone have any recommendations?

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Comments (5)

bane1202
19 years ago
how close to the house are we talking?
dottie_in_charlotte
19 years ago
Would you consider building an arbor over the area instead of planting a tree. A tree will seriously compete for water and nutrients with any flowers/perennials.
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tamelask
19 years ago
not to mention an arbor or trellis is a whole lot faster and more controllable. a tree would take many years to be big enough to shade, unless you are willing to spend a lot of money upfront.

ironically, i'd kill for more sun; i wonder if maybe improving your soil would help a lot. there's a lot of things that will grow in full sun if they get a decent amount of water and are in good soil. and a smaller selection of things that can handle dry baking sun with poor dirt, too- sedums and succulents for instance.
twanzat
Original Author
19 years ago
I'm probably about 15-20 feet out from the house.

I do really need shade bad though. I'm talking major baking during the summer. I've amended the soil in this area, but the heat and humidity is just grueling. And it's all day, with no rest...sun just beating down on the earth.

I'm considering planting a crepe myrtle because they grow fast. I'm figuring on having to prune it back some when it gets really big. Does this sound logical?
Dibbit
19 years ago
Buy a crepe myrtle variety that will mature at the height you want. That way, you won't have to do any pruning, except for minor shaping of wayward or too long branches or taking out crossing branches.

There should be any number of perennial plants that would grow in full, all-day sun. Annuals are a bit more difficult, as they don't usually grow really good root systems. Can you run a hose out to the bed, having run a soaker house around as you planted things, so you could do a deep, slow watering twice a week (more if needed)? I assume you mulched it well?

Any tree you plant will also need to be watered at least once a week for the first year (every few days for the first few weeks, then cutting back to once a week if you don't get at least an inch of soaking rain), so if you had perennials planted, this would also help them establish themselves.

How tall a tree are you wanting? If you can give a maximum height and width, that will help us give suggestions.