Itzy,
I wouldn't plant that tree real close to my house like that.
If you could plant it further away from your porch, like 30 feet away from the porch, you had the room, then I would get that tree.
It is going to get really big, really fast.
It is a magnolia, it's in the family, and I don't know where those roots are going to spread, and you want it real close to the house.
I'm sure there are trees you can plant closer that you won't have to worry as much with the roots.

itzy bitzy, the tulip poplar has three flaws for your location.
1. it grows to 80 feet tall. To support that height, you have to figure its lateral roots are going to slam into your foundation area and suck moisture from your flower beds.
2. it leafs out rather early and continues to leaf out until Aug.
However, in the first hard heat of summer it sheds its earliest leaves and is messy.
3. a. flowers are usually only visible from above the tree
b. seeds are persistent,sharp and very pointy hazard to
barefooters (and pets), prolific and sprout everywhere.
There are lots of factors to think about when going outside the norm in choosing a decorative tree for landscaping.

Well, we don't know about the hybrid tree but the 'tulip tree', Liriodendron tulipifera is a native here. It is very common and one might be able to wait for one to pop up where they want it ;-). However, Dottie is wrong, they grow to 165 feet high! It would certainly provide some shade. They are very pretty with bright yellow leaves in early fall and fit in if you have a nice forest. Eight feet from a house, not so much.

Oh wow,glad I asked first before buying; never mind on the tulip poplar.Anybody has sugestions or better candidates?Thanks for the promptly answer you guys:)was going to order it tomorrow.

I know you would be pleased with either of the following as they can easily be controlled and shaped to specific 'tight' sites. Root growth is not excessive. Beautiful in bloom. Grow well in NC.

1. Pearl bush (Exochorda x macrantha). Clean, large bush/small tree.

2. American Snowbell such as (Styrax americus) and other named varieties in the same family. Nice smallish tree, some varieties very fragrant in bloom.

Both are worth searching for.

How sunny is the area?

Thanks Nandina:) will check them up! The area is full sun esh_ga.

I have experience with the hybrid poplar.

It grows very fast if you keep it watered, that wouldn't have been a problem this year! I had two at another house, twenty years ago, and I ran an underground pipe from my AC drain to them.

They grew about eight feet per year for the four years I lived there. It was almost instant shade.

I go past the old place every once in a while on my way to a friends house. The new owner doesn't live there anymore, it's abandoned. The trees are about 40 foot tall and scraggly looking now. But they have been neglected.

It has big leaves so it is easy to rake the leaves.

The downside. It will have large lateral roots which can damage foundations and cause problems with mowing around them.

You will have to trim the lower limbs often, they want to keep sprouting back.

This post was edited by wertach on Fri, Aug 23, 13 at 12:01

flowering Magnolia (deciduous)
thornless blak locust
larger/taller Japanese maple
Chinese elm
golden rain tree

How about a wax myrtle?
Beautiful and evergreen.
Native.