Tom,

Welcome to Texas!

I don't think Red Rocket would provide much of shade. I have it and it doesn't seem to be much of fast grower. I have it in my backyard. I'm trying to think what won't get too wide for only 25 ft tall while providing shade.

Easiest thing is to grow a tree that would grow tall enough to eventually prune branches above roof level and provide a lot of shade. Rule of thumb is 2/3-3/4 of trunk should have branches. I'm thinking a bald cypress would be ideal but it depends on what kind of soil you have. Can you tell me more about the soil? There is a bald cypress called 'Nanjing Beauty' that is very fast grower (grows twice as fast as regular bald cypress, maybe more). Grows upright. I saw it at Dallas Arboretum and it looked good. You can get it online from Botany Garden Shop. No local nursery sells it.

Try a Lacey Oak. They get about 25 feet in the wild. They are a little slow but are very drought tolerant.

Lou,

The Nanjing Beauty at the Arboretum does not look to have a very good branch structure to me. The Taxodium mucronatum seems to have a better form to me.

You might want to check out some of the Texas Native Trees. There are lots of great native trees that can endure the Texas heat and droughts, . . .well to an extent!

dricha-

I had wondered about that as well. I am seeing two different variant of NBs right now. One has ascending branches like the one you saw at Dallas Arboretum by the cafe. One has 90* angle branches that you'd see on Botany Garden Shop. I got cheap liners from Botany Garden Shop and I have both variant. I emailed Creech about it and he doesn't seem to be all that concerned. I contacted the owner of Botany Garden Shop and he didn't provide much info. I'm not sure what's going on. A mix up when they gave Creech clones?

MC do not seem to have a good straight central leader like Bald Cypress though from what I've observed from the park (and at Zilker Park in Austin). Maybe it depends on which MC and where it came from. I collected seeds off MC at SFA arboretum and so far all seemed to have straight central leader. The ones from Madrone Nursery did not.

There's Lacey Oak a couple houses down the street barely grew for 2 or 3 years. Only five gallon sized tree but that is very slow growing tree!

Welcome to Texas! As a transplant myself (we've been here 12 years) I can tell you that Texas is a lot of fun, especially if you like to garden.
I'd like to make a few suggestions about trees that might fit your needs. Please research them before you make a decision.
Redbuds are lovely in the spring, get to be about 25' tall although they can spread to 20' wide. Their growth rate is moderate, and they tolerate a lot of soils and conditions.
Desert willow grows about 20' tall and 15' wide, and has lovely blossoms. As you guessed from "desert" it needs little in the way of extra attention. It can have an interesting (?) shape to the trunk--not necessarily straight.
Possumhaw Holly (deciduous) or Yaupon Holly (evergreen) both get about 15'-20' tall and have berries attractive to birds (if you get a female tree). The hollies may need a little training to become trees since they want to be shrubs with several trunks.
Wahtever tree you choose, you'll have to give it a little care for the first year or two. Deep watering, infrequently, is a key to having a deep-rooted tree that can go it alone when it doesn't rain very often.
Good luck with your landscaping, and don't hesitate to ask questions on this forum. There's a wealth of experience here at your disposal.

The first one that came to my mind is a type of sweetgum that I have in my yard....it does NOT produce the infamous balls and the leaves are rounded instead of star shaped. I can't remember where I got them but they are about the right shape and size that you are looking for. This one sustained a wee bit of damage from Hurricane Ike winds, thus looks a little unsymmetrical, but has pretty much recovered otherwise.

I really couldn't say if it would do well in your area but mine do well here!

Lynn

Thank you for all your suggestions. Lou, I really like the NB idea, I liked that tree from the first I saw it. Our soil is alkaline, lots of limestone around. Expansive clay I think its called. Someone mentioned a Desert Willow, and I worry about the roots too close to my foundation. I have been led to believe that the soil I have is already not good for my foundation, I don't want to plant anything that will make the potential problem worse. Lou, any idea on how tall the NB gets, it's rate of growth, and last, best sources to purchase them? Again, thanks all for your help.
Tom

{{gwi:484017}}

I think it was planted in 2002 at Dallas Aboretum as a small tree. That picture was taken in 2007 during December (never saw it during summer while it's fuller. Just too hot) about 20 feet tall? I'm sure it is 5-8 feet taller now. I talked to the director of Dallas Arboretum via emails and he said it grew very fast when given water and fertilizer. A NB was planted at my mom's house in Houston last fall as a small tree and so far, it grew 4 feet this year. Could have grown more if it had gotten normal amount of rainfall. I think it probably will reach 40-50 feet eventually depending on type of soil, how much space for roots to spread out, etc.

I have one in my front yard. The soil is mostly limestone rubbles (my house sits on top of solid limestone bedrock 4-6 feet deep) and it grew over 2 feet so far after planting it in March. I imagine with established root system next year, it'd grow even faster.

I purchased NB plants from Botany Shop Garden online. They were pretty small (6-18 inches depending on size of pots) so I grew them in the container till they reach desired size (4 feet) by fall. They do sell larger ones but I'm too cheap. I have some that I could sell to you in the fall when the root system is developed if you prefer that instead of ordering one from Botany Shop Garden online. It's the only place that sells it.

My neighbor has a japanese bluberry tree. It's still little, but it's doing great through the heat...just growing along. They're supposed to get 35' tall but only 25' wide, with a nice christmas-tree shape. The leaves remind me of a magnolia tree, and it gets blue berries (non-edible) in the spring. Found it at Barton Springs Nursery.

Tom, I don't think you would have to worry about the roots on the Desert Willow. It is not actually a willow. If you live anywhere near Frisco, you can see what this tree looks like at La Hacienda Restaurant on Preston Road. They have some in front of the restaurant along with some other native Texas plantings. It is a pretty tree, but from what I see doesn't fill in very much so it might not provide the shade you want. Marlingardener had some great suggestions. I agree the Redbuds are very nice looking trees. Good luck!