It seems that you like trees, or at least appreciate them. That's a good start and should lead you to want to learn more about them. You'll then feel confident with this newfound knowledge to go out and buy a tree. If you're like me, you'll be waylayed by some exotic beauty at the nursery and ignore your good sense. Don't be like me.

If you use "google" you find a long list of diseases that afflict any commonly cultivated tree. If you use google you will find an even longer list of diseases that afflict humans More diseases then google indicates afflict the octopus or antechinuse...even though humans live *MUCH* longer then those animals. Google has an "observational bias" towards things important to people, and is bad at indicating the seriousness of problems. So, if you use google and cross off your list every tree for which you can find that affects it, you will be left with only obscure trees.

On the other hand, choosing only "Tried and True" trees can backfire. Remember, ash American Elm, and American Chestnut all used to be "Tried and True" trees. Monoculture breeds epidemics.

Look for stories that talk about a plant being "wiped out" look for
maps of where the disease is listed. Look for old specimens of the tree
in your area.

How to choose a tree:

1.) Decide what you want.
HINT: It isn't necessarily all about aesthetics. A privacy screen? To attract birds? Edible fruits or nuts? Pollinator Value? Wildlife Value? Improve the energy efficiency of your house? Flowers? Fall Color? Shade? Winter Interest?

2.) Figure out what threats a tree in your spot will face. Wind, road salt, inundated soil in the Spring, pavement around it, compacted soil, Japanese Beetles?

3.) Use a "Tree Selector" Website. Use Three:
University of Illinois Extension (my favorite)

RI Native Plant Guide
Missouri Botanical Garden
Plants for a Future

Native Plant Database - Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

4.) Visit a local botanical garden and see what these trees look like in person.

5.) Always remember...deciduous trees to the South of your house, evergreens to the north and along your border with the nosiest neighbors ad neighbors with the ugliest yard.

6.) Always check your state's invasive species lists.

7.) Check the regional forum for your area for trees that do well in your area.

8.) Always remember...few trees ever stop growing. A small tree is either a really slow growing tree or a short lived one. A long lived tree is either huge or slow growing.

Ok edlincoln, one of your points piqued my curiosity. why evergreens to the north and deciduous to the south? I live on a small rise, just short of hill status, and the prevailing wind is from the west and south. Wanting a wind break and privacy from the uglier yards of the neighbors, all of the evergreens are going on the south fence and the leafy deciduous trees are going along the north fence where everyone drives up.

So your statement is opposite of what I have so far been doing, which makes me curious why you say that

Tom(7): Your comment illustrates the importance of knowing site conditions. However, in general cold winds tend to come from the North in the winter, so an evergreen wind break is useful. Deciduous trees to the south block the sun in the summer when it is too hot and lose their leaves in the winter when you want all the sun you can get. This of course assumes you don't live in Australia...

Yes, I treasure the winter sun. Tall evergreens to the north, tall deciduous to the south........if you can do it. The shorter the evergreens get, the more to the south you can plant them. I've been trying to that for over 35 years and I still have made mistrakes. Most trees grow faster than most people think they do.

Mike

I think if you're trying for protection from sun, you should be planting trees to the southwest/west. The hottest sun of the day is the late day summer sun. And for most of the summer, the sun is very and trees to the south, unless they're very large, won't shade the house. But that late sun, oh boy.

Ed touches on it, and I will elaborate-start by determining function. Is this to be a shade tree? Lower-growing ornamental? A conifer playing its part as a unit within a windbreak? There are other categories too but those give you some idea. Then, let's say you are looking for a shade tree for a given spot: Do you want a tree with a large, spreading crown? An upright oval? A tree that has strong horizontal elements in its branch structure? A narrow-crowned plant to fit within a certain area? And on and on. Notice, I haven't said anything about flower, leaf color, fall color, wildlife support, native versus non-native. First, think size, shape, and function. Then break it down from there. Obviously for you and many other cases, this process would be repeated across the property until you end up with good bones for your landscape. Trees and to a lesser but still considerable extant, shrubs, make up the skeleton of the landscape. All smaller elements depend on your first having sited these plants first.

I understand, and it makes sense, thank you edlincoln and Tom. In my particular case, the evergreens break up the summer wind and blocks off the junk yards nearby but are not for shade. That job goes to the globe willow off the back porch. The northern winds in winter are not nearly as intense as the 20 to 50 mph winds we get in summer.

Thank you for explaining it, and I'm glad my question was able to lend a bit in selecting a tree for the OP and not de-railing his topic

Wow, so many great bits of advice here - thanks so much!

So it sounds like I can somewhat ignore the problems that a tree *could* have, as long as I site it correctly (right plant, right place), and avoid any trees that already have a problem in my area (such as river birches, which apparently are being infested with something around here, ash trees, elms, etc.).

If that's the case, then I'll stop being so paranoid and go back to my original tree requirements:

1) grows in full sun
2) tolerates heavy clay
3) grows to about 20' x 20' fairly quickly - within ~10 years?
4) would not get bigger than 40' x 40' within ~30 years?
5) deciduous

This tree is for screening the view of our neighbor's house from our sunroom - 20' x 20' would pretty much block the view entirely. We don't want it too big, or else the branches might hit the house. We don't really care about screening in the winter, and we don't want an evergreen in this location anyway. The criteria above are most important - fall color, flowers, etc. are definitely secondary. Ideally this would be a tree that is not too difficult to find at a reasonable size (I'd rather not start with a 12" mail-order tree!)

A few I've been considering are:

• Black gum / tupelo
• Redbud
• Cherry
• Tea crab

Other suggestions? Feedback on how any of the above choices would work?

3) grows to about 20' x 20' fairly quickly - by ~10 years?
4) doesn't get much bigger than 30' x 30' (max 40' x 40'?) - by ~30 years?

==>>> heres how to read tree description ... a tree.. that grows 20 feet in 10 years... would grow 2 feet per year.. once established ... and thats rather aggressive in smallish trees ... in my MI.. neither redbud nor cherry are that aggressive ... if we are talking flowering cherry ...

and being a tree.. most will continue at that rate.. forever ... so in 20 years.. it will.. most likely be 40 by 40 ...

so then you start looking for trees that slow down in maturity ... as many smaller trees do.. but perhaps not the aggressive ones ...

you can also look for what is called short lived trees ....

i had a very old redbud when i bought this house.. i will guess about 25 years old.. it was about 20 by 20 ... and it was falling apart when i moved her.. and eventually i removed it ...

clay is not an issue.. its how you plant in clay.. and care for the transplant.. that is the issue.. it is well covered at the link below ..

large or huge transplants .. on some level are instant gratification ... in that they take such a great shock ... that they just seem to sit there for a number of years... doing nothing you can see ... like regrowing the 99% of the roots that were cut off in moving them ...

often a smaller tree ... say in the 3 to 4 foot range... will get moving to specs.. much faster ... we call it.. getting ESTABLISHED .....there are alternatives between lets say a 6 to 10 foot transplant.. and what you call a 12 inch mail order ...

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

After all that about not worrying about disease...I'd skip cherry if flowers aren't important to you. They are very short lived and prone to lots of diseases in North America. People put a lot of effort and money into keeping the alive because they are so pretty.

Apart from that, pretty decent choices. Not familiar with that particular variety of crabapple. Crab apples in general are prone to a number of diseases to...but this is where google doesn't clearly indicate the magnitude of problems. Crabapple usually live a decent lifespan anyway. For crabapple, those diseases are mostly sniffles. I understand some varieties of crabapple are among the few trees that actually do slow their growth rate when they reach a certain size.

Nyssa sylvatica is the longest lived and most trouble-free of your options. As a native loved by pollinators and birds, it is the most "Earth Friendly" option. The catch is, it's also the biggest and slowest growing. It won't get big fast, and will eventually get bigger then you like.

Redbud are pretty, but naturally short lived. Not prone to disease, just vulnerable to ice storms and die of old age young. (Beware forest pansy...it's a beautiful cultivar that doesn't survive zone 6 winters as well as the straight species). They are very pretty and unlikely to outgrow the spot. Also like clay.

Other potential options...Blue Beech (Carpinus caroliniana), American basswood (Tilia americana), Winter King Hawthorn (Crataegus viridis).

As Ken indicated...one reason people have been ignoring the size requirements is they may be physically impossible. Just about anything that reaches 20 by 20 in 10 years will be bigger then 40 by 40 in 30. You are going to have to decide whether you want a tree that will reach the desired size quickly or one that will take a long time to outgrow that size. Or one that will reach the desired size and dies. Or one that takes well to pruning. And FYI, don't assume taller trees are going to take up more space then smaller ones. Sometimes a tall tree will spread out branches so high they don't get in the way. If you are worried about branches hitting the house, you are worried about spread. Tall trees with narrow spread might be an option.

Thanks for all the feedback - I will check out some of these options (hadn't looked at the 3 mentioned here).

Anyone have thoughts on golden rain tree? It seems like it might meet most of my requirements in terms of size and growth rate, although it's not high on my list of favorite trees in general...

Golden Raintree is beautiful and pretty tough but considered an invasive species in parts of the country. Check your state's invasive species list. Out of curiosity, why isn't it on your list of favorites? What trees are?

There are some small to mid-size trees worth exploring. Syringa reticulata is disease resistant and stays reasonably small. It is a moderate grower and you'll see it advance early on. Fall color is marginal at best, but you don't indicate that as being important. Another possibility is Maackia amurensis. Very nice small to mid-sized tree with poor fall color. It's not fast, but not slow. Can I Get A...

I second some of Ed's suggestions.

Carpinus Carolinia (Native Flame) is available 5' tall from Forest Farm. Just bought one last year.

Winter King Hawthorn is a nice option that looks good year round.

A multi-stemmed Amelanchier x grandiflora may fill the space nicely.

Halesia carolina is another small one that might fit the bill.

Redbuds may be somewhat short lived, but I absolutely love them. I've plugged the Rising Sun version shamelessly on this board, but there are many nice redbud varieties.

A lot of the cool varieties of native trees are only available through mail-order, but if you can find one in the 3-6' range, it will hold up well and start growing pretty much out of the gate. Speed of growth should be low down on the list of criteria. The difference between the two extremes 10 years after planting will be 20' tall vs. 15' tall. The main thing is to plant a quality tree, and favor native over non-native if you can.

I was pleasantly surprised to see "Blue Beech" (Carpinus caroliniana) mentioned above. I planted one in my yard and love it! It just looks good all the time...........no showy flower display but no messy droppings. The leaves always look healthy and the bark/branch structure is interesting. I really like Nyssa too, good choice! I wonder if Magnolia virginiana (native Sweetbay Magnolia) would work well for you......beautiful small trees scattered with nice lemon scented flowers. Non-native but Japanese Snowbell may work well for you too. Nice flower display in spring and disease resistant.

eastern redbud, carolina silverbell

hamburglar1, woodnative, could some of you folks familiar with Blue Beech opine on my Tree for Embankment Over Marsh thread?

I'm a little confused - I didn't realize that "Blue Beech" was the same as "American Hornbeam". I had actually looked at this tree and liked it, but then immediately took it off my list when I read that it needed shade to part-shade. The location I need this tree in is full-on blasted sun from sunrise to sunset. So has anyone actually seen this tree grow successfully in full sun? Would it help that my location is right near a French drain, so it would probably get a little more moisture than usual?

This isn't an exact science. How tolerant of sun is "sun tolerant" is kind of like "How high is up". An exercise in line-drawing. Also, a number of trees that need shade in the south are pretty tolerant of full sun farther north. Note the University of Illinois said it tolerates full sun while the Missouri Botanical Garden says it needs shade.

To add confusion, there are a couple species wit the common name "Hornbeam".

If it's near a house, it would probably get some shade from the house, right?

Anyone in Zone 6 have an opinion on it's sun tolerance?

Hornbeam is fine in full sun. But it can handle some shade and wet feet.

Yes as hamburlar1 said they are fine in full sun, despite being seen in the wild as an understory tree, sometimes in very deep shade. I am in NJ and mine get full sun most of the day except very late in the afternoon. I have to see if I have a picture somewhere. Like I said it is not a tree that you say "Wow" too like a dogwood in full flower but it seems to just be nice looking all the time. In winter I like the look of the trunk (other common names are "musclewood and ironwood") and the fine smaller branches. It may require a little pruning when young if you want it to be single trunked or more traditional tree shaped. I left a couple of lower divisions.

Woodnative, that's a nice spot you've put together. My Chionanthus are still a few weeks away from flowering, but you've reminded me what I have to look forward to.

In these parts, Carpinus caroliniana is an understory tree with a strong preference for moist soils. They can handle more sun, but moist soil is a consistent. They will also look much different in full sun than in their natural shady conditions. Personally, I think they look better when grown in shade. The canopy is more open and with horizontal branching. I've got two growing here, both of which I've sited at the woodland edge. To get a real appreciation for this tree you need to venture into a moist woodland.