Miz_G, I love trees and don’t mind messy ones. With a small yard my only consideration would be numbers. Planting just one, prob. an oak with fall color. Then do a couple of understory trees like dogwood, deciduous magnolia, dwarf CM.

I don’t mind messy trees (well, depending on the tree) personally, but we were talking to our next door neighbor and he said, “If you plant a tree, please don’t plant a messy one we have to clean up”. I promised I wouldn’t. :D Another drawback to such small lots, ha! The other next door neighbor has a Live Oak planted about 10 ft from his house. That’ll be fun for someone someday.

If we ever build, I won’t even consider acreage with no trees. I’m too old, I want them already mature. I sure miss mine before — the front of this house gets afternoon sun — I’m dreading the electric bills this summer.

It is imp to maintain neighborhood harmony but the first thing that came to mind is: what if their family situation changes? There’s a death/marriage and they move away. Now you have a tree that may have not been your first choice and a neighbor that is gone for whatever reason...idk about that kind of compliance.

But you obviously want to be as agreeable as possible and that’s to be commended. Maybe your extension has suggestions? Except for 1 live oak, all mine are messy even the SEV. Catkins, leaves, seedlings, acorns, bird poop. Define messy, ha.

Very true! They have an in-ground pool, so hate the thought of any trees nearby, which I understand. But still, if we had bought this house, I’d plant a tree in the front, just not on their side. :)

I think my Red Oaks were the messiest as far as leaves and acorns. One was mislabeled when I bought it, and kept its browned leaves all winter, doing a big late spring dump every year. *&#@!! My Bur wasn’t bad, the leaves are so big and crunchy. The Lacebark and Bald Cypress were the least messiest. I’d never purposely plant a Mesquite, but we had a huge existing one far from the house, down a hill. Loved it there. My closest neighbors there had two sickly Magnolias, which shed their huge, leathery leaves almost all year ... always blowing into my yard and beds. Drove me crazy. So thick, even the lawn mower couldn’t cut them up much, so it was like having to pick up trash every day.

Our mail-order sourced Dogwood does struggle and needs some pampering in our north Texas moderately alkaline clay, but there are others in the neighborhood that don't appear to suffer (chlorosis, leaf burn, etc) as badly - though they are rare. If planting today, would probably ask a neighbor with one of the few that appear better adapted here for seeds or cuttings. Still, ours has hung on for some 20 years and is beautiful at this time of the year and again in the fall (with bright red leaves) as a ~10ft tall understory to our red and neighbor's live oaks.

Pond cypress is another small low-mess option that can be hit or miss in our alkaline soil. There are several very nice industrial plantings in our area, but the species plant we tried from a southeast source failed in its second year. Replaced with a 'Debonair' pond cypress which is supposedly grafted onto bald cypress root stock and it is doing much better. Bald cypress is native to our area.

There are several narrow ginkgo cultivars that could work well on small lots here. We recently planted 'Princeton Sentry' that should never get more than 20ft wide... at least in our (our children's?) lifetimes. :-) Beautiful yellow fall color that drops all at once, so only a mess for a day.

While there are many large sweetgums in our neighborhood, they are also not native to our alkaline soil and some do show a bit of chlorosis at times through the year. We still planted a 'Slender Silhouette' as an accent and so far, so good. Nice for small lot, though does not provide much shade.

Texas mountain laurel, Eve's necklace, and 'Warren's Red' possumhaw are others worth considering in north Texas as trees (large shrubs) for small lots. Agree the CMs and Lacebark elm are other good options. We tried Shantung Maple sourced from a Kansas grower and while it initially flourished, it increasingly struggled with chlorosis after about three years. We finally removed it. I'm guessing lines available from Texas sources are likely more tolerant of alkaline soils... though still don't see any being used around our long-established neighborhood.

Bostedo, I’m glad you shared that about the Shantung. But darn! I’ve always wanted one. I think Bigtooth is another my nursery carries, I’ll have to check next time I go. And I’ll ask about Shantung in our town (where they’re sourced).

That Dogwood is beautiful!

Texas Mountain Laurel is another I’ve always wanted to try.

Renting stinks! I want to plant trees! :D

A MetroMaples quote on Shantung is "They seem to like slightly acidic sandy soils the best, but will grow quite well in heavy clay or alkaline soils." Like with Dogwood, seems to be some variation on alkaline tolerance. I'd try one again if we still had the space, but only from a source/line with some experience of them doing well in north or central Texas for at least six years.

Natches or Muskogee Crape Myrtles. They can both reach 30 feet and have the longest booming seasons of the tall crapes

B, love both of those, have had them at all my previous homes. They’re wonderful! But I’m a Crape fanatic, adore them all. :)

Another vote for a Texas Mountain Laurel. They thrive despite our heat; they come through incredible freezes. In addition, I would suggest a dwarf Japanese Maple. You can't beat them for their spectacular ornamental focal impact. They don't get too tall or broad and can even be grown in a large pot for years! They can be pruned to maintain size as well. There are so many pretty varieties, too. I just ordered a "Bloodgood" I plan to keep potted 2 seasons so I can move it around and decide where it will look best and do the best leaf color (re: sunlight). When I've found the perfect cozy spot for it, I'll put 'er in the ground. :)

Thank you, buttoni! JMs are one tree I’ve never had at any house. I think it’s time to remedy that. I like the pot idea, then I could take it with us. :)

Mountain laurel, Mexican buckeye, and persimmons (either native or Japanese) are probably what I would go with.

Buckeyes are lovely little trees. So are redbuds, but they won't get large enough for much shade. Personally, I love my golden rain tree. It tops out at 25-30 feet and is a great shade provider, not to mention the gorgeous color two times a year.

Bosetedo,

I wonder if you actually have Shantung maple? I have seen maples that was wrongly labeled as Shantung maple in the past. In Midlothian, mine grew in limestone rubble soil and thrived anyway so it is not pH issue at all. I live in Spicewood now and my Shantung maples are doing pretty good. Even further west nearby Marble Falls, my MIL's Shantung maples have done fine for years (with minimal care). Rarely ever use fertilizer so they don't grow very fast but nice fall colors.

Miz, I highly recommend 'Fire Dragon' Shantung Maple from Metro Maple . I was one of the first ones to get it in 2006. It did really well at my house in Midlothian before we moved in 2012. Maybe 25-30 ft tall by now? Just have to be aggressive with pruning early on so you don't end up with thick low branches.

Oh Bostedo,

Metro Maples sell dwarf SM cultivars now if you want to try them out in your limited space. :-) Shantung Maples I apparently have a semi dwarf SM that I grew from a seed off my MIL's Fire Dragon. Basically a small version of FD with nice red fall color. It just grows so slowly in the ground for a couple years. I have another one grown from a seed off Skinny Dragon known for thin lobes (looks more like Japanese Maple) that is currently under observation. It seems a more compact with maybe even more narrow lobes. I need to find a place to plant it... For some reason, FD tend to produce plenty of dwarfs... if you can keep them alive. They are pretty finicky.

Found it in west of Austin in Lakeway. It looked pretty good. You don’t see it very often around here.

Dang!, that’s beautiful, Lou! What is it?

Omar

Vulture, I think that's Dogwood. I am not familiar with it but I thought that's what it looked like. I wanted one like that for my yard. Awesome blooming.

Lou, We planted our Shantung maple as a sapling in the 90s. It was sourced from ArborVillage (RIP) because I couldn't find it locally at that time (they were actually on the MO, not KS, side of the Kansas City area). Their rep was pretty solid back then, though even the best occasionally make mistakes. It left a 5 or 6 inch diameter stump by the time we finally cut it down. As a young tree, it looked like I would have expected of Shantung, but am no expert on maples.

Might not have been a Shantung or had some other Nitrogen uptake problem, but my best GUESS still leans towards the genetic variation on alkaline tolerance seen with other species that generally prefer acidic to neutral soils, such as bald cypress and dogwood. I would trust one to work here from a line that MetroMaples (or other reputable local nursery) stands behind - I just didn't have that option back when we were looking. We have JMs all over our neighborhood, so do wonder why Shantung is still not showing up as a replacement tree in larger spaces; after natives, seems Chinese pistache continues to hang on as top choice almost to the point of overuse.

That is a beautiful dogwood in those photos. They also look spectacular in the fall with leaves that can hold on for weeks depending on the weather. Reliable deeper reds than most anything else in our area other than flameleaf sumac.

Nice. I’ll have to remember to check Lakeway dogwood in the fall for fall color. Nearby in Lakeway, this bigtooth maple’s fall color caught my eye. One of best I’ve seen. The picture doesn’t show it but wow.