Thanks for input. It's not the prettiest, oak. Still contend I should keep it? Can see it on far right of this pic from google streetview.

http://i.imgur.com/p6yvutSh.jpg

You can also see the shade issue. Though, I could probably get my zoysia to grow under the oak if I sod it....its just nothing under it now...

elcid, between you and me, I'd lean toward removing it. However, a photo of the front of your house from farther away would be more helpful. I do understand your shade issue...we have it, too. Our oaks in front are to the left in the photo I posted. The previous owners planted various things below, including ferns and azaleas. One of my worries is root fungus/rot, as you can see in this pic I took not long after we moved in. A large section of an oak fell across our neighbor's driveway.

Keep the oak! and the pecan. I'd rip out the crepes except for the large one on the right. Make a bed around it & plant some color. The reason the cm's are bothering you is because if you keep them, there needs to be one more on the left & they need a bed around them to give them context. They look lost floating in the grass.

You should be able to grow grass. First you need to put down some decent top soil, then sod... then fertilize occasionally!

I would most definitely leave the myrtle. They are gorgeous trees if you care for them properly. If you are going to just chop the top off of them though take them down. It's horrible to see them that way. Your oak is growing with an obvious lean, where I would generally say never to take out an old growth tree unless it's unhealthy. I would remove this one. It could become a hazard and it is overtaking your yard. If you decide to remove it the time to do it is now. You want to do it before it gets any larger or it will cost a fortune. When or if you do look into selling it for firewood to a dealer in the area. There's no reason not to make a few dollars from it.

Thanks for all of the input!

Another problem with the CM's is the closer they get the oak, the smaller they are, so they aren't very uniform.

I can likely get the oak removed by the Department of Transportation as it's within highway right of way and a safety hazard.

I'll try to post a few more pics later, thanks everyone...really helpful!

For those in the remove CM crowd, what about the one thats behind the others, next to the driveway...like in this pic (also from google).

Pic

Here's another pic, taken from in front of my garage, looking out. I plan on removing the "bed" also. And sodding to tie into the existing zoysia sod (the green part next to the driveway). Thoughts?

http://imgur.com/yH4JsJG

Definitely take out those pitiful looking shrubs near the road. They don't even look like crepe myrtles. Spindly and ugly.

There are two types of crepe myrtles--tree and bush. You have the bush. If you want to landscape your yard then you don't need 5 bushes lined up like soldiers next to the road. Remove them.

They were hard to distinguish in your first photos. I didn't realize the myrtles were bushes. I would take them out they will just cause a mess. If you can get the city to remove the tree even better. You might think about framing the area in the front and along the drive in flowerbeds. If you use perennials you don't have to keep replanting over the years. Things that grow from bulbs spread themselves filling the space. Then you just scatter Preen periodically through the season for weeds. Easy beauty. Enjoy your home.

please get an arborist out to look at your tree. is that a live oak? it looks amazing to me from what i can tell. have a professional come and walk your property. crepe myrtles are not the prettiest i ve seen, but what is the view if the are taken out?

those crepe myrtles need care, they look extremely neglected. remove the oak so that the crepe myrtles get full sun maximizing the blooms.

Crepe myrtles need heat and sun to thrive and bloom. If they're in the shade much of the time they'll never look good. It's difficult to get anything to grow under large trees because of roots, shade and competition for water, and oaks are particularly challenging. The trade-off is they're beautiful.

Looks like you have quite a few trees in your front yard, perhaps more than is wise. Before making a decision about the oak, I will echo liserb1357's suggestion -- have an arborist come take a look at all of your trees and advise on a course of action. An arborist can tell you which trees will eventually get too big, which might cause problems with your water/sewer lines, which are healthy and which are not.

BTW, I'd probably take out the crepe myrtles. They don't look healthy to me, and they are easy to replace (unlike mature trees).

That oak needs to go, it will shade the whole front yard. Pecan gets way to big as well I would remove them, then move the crepe myrtles to different spots.