My maple tree, whose purpose in life was to shade my new sunroom, decided to start a slow death 6 months after the room was finished. We will be taking it down over the next month and I need a shade replacement.

The tree will be planted on the SW side of the sunroom which is on the west side of the house. The sunroom is on the 2nd level, where the previous deck is so lets so the roof is about 20 feet tall.

I have started the "earn your keep" criteria for new shrubs and trees and shade alone is not enough. So, candidates so far are pecan and ENGLISH walnut. I thought about an apple but it would be too messy eventually with fallen fruit and the subsequent yellow jackets. While I would like a fast growing tree, a strong safe tree is more important.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I would also love to hear suggestions on some shade plant ideas I could do until the tree-to-be-named-later gets big. Two I have considered are crape myrtle and hardy banana.

So thanks for reading and I look forward to your brainstorming.

Evelyn