I absolutely love my Green Ash Tree Fraxinus pennsylvanica for all of the reasons you have in your list. It is a fabulous tree.

Carol in Jacksonville

Confederate rose (Hibiscus mutabilis) is my 'instant shade' tree of choice - check it out.

Green Ash in September 2009:

Green Ash today. To give some perspective, the hanging baskets are above my head when I stand under the tree. I had to back all the way against the house to be able to get the whole tree in the photo:

Hah. Figures. I acquired a bare-root Green Ash sapling from the Tree Giveaway down in Tavares this past Arbor Day Weekend, but it didn't survive. I think one of my preferred nurseries nearby has them from time to time though, so I will have to check with them.

Red Maple was my first thought.

I've provided a link about wind resistence.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr010

Hi Tradition, I have two Red Maples and while they are really nice trees, the width of the canopy is less than half of the Green Ash. I would estimate that the Red Maples are only 1/4 the width of the Green Ash. In fact, I wrote a post awhile back (that I can't find) about my "sky pencils" (Red Maples), asking when they were going to gain some breadth? They still haven't. If you are looking to create shade (and I am 100% committed to shade gardening), even my Nathez Crape Myrtles have a broader canopy than my red maples.

Carol

This photo was taken in April 2012:

And this photo was taken in May 2013:

There are different varieties of "Red Maple" with different growth characteristics. Also, the species tends to be shorter and wider the farther south you go in Florida. I needed to shade a west-facing window at my old house in Boca Raton and a Red Maple was performing that job beautifully after only three growing seasons.

Also, keep in mind that many trees tend to show more apical dominance if there is competing shade nearby. If they are in full sun, they're less likely to grow straight up like a pencil, and will take advantage of the unrestricted light to grow a canopy sooner.

I must have an inferior model. These have been in full sun for years and years. :(

2009 when they were babies - they were sky pencils then, too:

You might consider either the sweet gum or the tulip poplar. Here's a link for information on the tulip poplar.

I have a sweet gum growing in my yard that has been very fast growing now that it is getting more water due to the flowerbed around it's base. The tree is much taller then it is wide and has a somewhat triangular shape. My parents had 3 gum trees in their yard although they did have to remove one after the top was broken off during the storms in 2004. The trees do drop a lot of seed pods called gum balls but that's something that I personally don't mind as I just add them to the flowerbeds mulch. They are pretty easy to plant under as their root system isn't as dense at soil level as it is on some other types of trees. An added bonus is that they are native to florida so handle our soil and weather well.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_litu.pdf

"A number of cultivars are listed. Due to graft-incompatibility problems which cause the tree to break apart, preference should be given to cultivars produced on their own roots. In the northern and southern end of the range, choose cultivars with regional adaptation. The cultivars are: `Armstrong' - upright growth habit, almost columnar, somewhat prone to splitting branches due to tight crotches, 50 feet tall; `Autumn Flame' - 45 feet tall, round, above average fall color; `Bowhall' - upright growth habit, branches form embedded bark, graft incompatibility on grafted trees; `Gerling' - densely branched, broadly pyramidal, about 35 feet tall when mature; `October Glory' - above average fall color, excellent tree, retains leaves late, 60 feet tall; `Red Sunset' - above average orange to red fall color, does well in the south in USDA hardiness zone 8, probably the best cultivar for the deep south, oval, 50 feet tall; `Scanlon' - upright growth habit; `Schlesinger' - good fall color, rapid growth rate; `Tilford' - globe-shaped crown. Variety drummondii suitable in USDA hardiness zone 8.

There is a recently introduced hybrid cross between Red and Silver Maple called Hybrid Maple (Acer x fremanii). Cultivars of this hybrid include `Armstrong' with a narrow columnar crown to 35 feet tall, `Autumn Blaze' with an oval crown to 50 feet tall, `Celebration' with a narrow upright crown and a strong central leader to 50 or 60 feet tall, `Celzam' with a narrow oval crown to 50 feet tall, and `Scarlet Sentenial' with great fall color, and oval crown to 40 feet tall. The culture of these trees is probably similar to Red Maple."

Here is a link that might be useful: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st041

And here's a fact sheet about the seet gum tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_list2.pdf

Well Carol, I'm no expert on maples, but it took my dad's a good 10 years to start rounding out, at which time he quickly realized he had his two planted too close to each other and had to remove one. This is up in South Carolina, mind you. It has been close to 20 years now that they were planted and he now is thinking of removing the second in favor of not having to rake all the leaves. He's much preferring the look and less maintenance of Sabals, even if it will be another 5 years before he has the 'hammock' trees he was shooting for 20 years ago.

I would also chime in that while red maples are great trees, they are not quick growing. It will be a long time (a decade or more) before you will get any decent size.

I would agree with the suggestion of karalynn , Sweet gum and tulip tree are both nice fast growing trees. As is green ash. All three of those trees do prefer a wetter location. They may survive periods of dryness, they will grow faster and be healthier in average to wetter soils

You are more than welcome to come dig up my 30 foot Camphor tree and relocate it to your property...

I promise it is fast growing and will give you so much shade you wont be able to grow anything else!

Brian, the downside to a camphor is that birds love their berries and will spread seedlings everywhere which is one of the reasons why it's on the list of invasives. That being said the upside is that camphor is a natural insect repellant, very fast growing, and in my opinion is a rather attractive tree.

My parents also have a tulip poplar and while it is a nice trees and the blooms are quite pretty it does have a denser root system at soil level. While sweet gums do like wetter soil all it needs is being water by an irrigation system twice a week after it's established and it will grow quite quickly. Just don't put your irrigation lines too close to it's roots, one of my parents gum trees snapped an irrigation pipe at the base of the tree and it was about a year before they realized what happened. After having large amounts of water pumped direectly at it's roots twice a week for that long that tree's trunk is nearly twice the diameter as the one that is growing at the edge of the irrigation.

When you come over this weekend you can see up close what some of the various trees look like and if any of them appeal to you. We don't have a green ash to show you though.

I know this is old thread, but have to chime in - Sycamore

Are you too few south for a tulip poplar? Love them!