The mention of Asian Quince above has me salivating. They make an interesting jelly that is often used as a glaze for many things from cakes to meat.

Our farm is 25 acres just east of Knoxville TN. We have somewhere around 150 species of trees and shrubs (representing about 75 different genera). Our larger collections (by number of represented species) include Quercus (20 species), Viburnum (13 species), Styracaceae (Styrax family), and Rutaceae (Rue Family).

HU, I have Ponderosa pine too, but it has chronic needlecast issues. It will never prosper here. Below, it's the smaller pine beside a loblolly pine:

Hey beng. The one here is quite full and about as tall as yours is. I've had sawfly problems some years, more when it was younger. They also found my Cedrus libani one year. No sawfly except a few on the Filberts this year.

Needlecast took my Scots Pine and the P. nigra. The Ponderosa is closer to the road and on a slight rise, maybe it escaped for this reason. One never knows. Last year (the Deluvian Year) we almost lost the Blue Spruce, (along with everybody else's Blue Spruce) within 50 miles of here.

Maybe a different disease, but Concolor Fir hedges were rendered transparent by something similar to needlecast. Those who had planted Concolor Fir hedges/screens lost all their privacy in one humid rainy summer.

Since I have a relative new build, I do not have many established trees but I love these maples that are turning north of my house and the weeping willows on my lake

SW MI...

I'm not sure of all the names, and we have a nice sized property for our area. We started out with about 5 acres of yard- then a couple years ago got 20 back acres attached to our property. It's a mix of regularly mowed yard, ponds, used to be kept open grassland that is still mostly open, ringed with a heavy thick of trees between us and the neighboring backlines. So a goodly mix of environments for various trees.

Different kinds of pines, cedars, maples, oaks, and willows. Apple, sweet cherry, sour cherry, pear, plum, and mullberry. Sassafras, Russian Olive- both bane weed trees, ugh. A couple other scrubby weed trees. Four big trees out front that I have no idea what they are. Chinese Chestnut. Smoke tree. Black walnut. Cottonwood. Redbud, and a couple other flowering trees I'm not sure what they are.

A handful more trees out back that I haven't really ID'd yet, but aren't the ones I know more how to ID.

Honorable mention- wild rose. There's a couple of them out back that have really grown up into couple feet taller than me beasts with fat trunks and are more small trees than bushes.

We had a bunch of trees cut down this summer in the yard too. Some old trees- couple pines, couple apples, and a something we never could figure if it was supposed to be a nectarine or peach it was so old and fruited so little. And a line of scrubby weed trees and a few small sassafras along a fence-line that the power company came and cut down to clear back to the transformer. Planning on planting in a handful of fruit and nut trees out back over the next couple years :)

Central Ontario Canada-Maples of all sorts,spruce,pine,hemlock,birch, poplar,sumack, ash...and more leaves than I really like,but that happens at this time of year.

beng, this is the Ponderosa Pine.

This is Calocedrus decurrans. The pic was taken at an angle, the tree is approaching 40ft.

And for maifleur, the Asian Quince. Some of them are getting aromatic. In early Nov., I send them to market in the D.C. area.

For those who have Asimina triloba (Pawpaw), do any have a non-ripening Pawpaws? I picked all the others in late Sep, early Oct, these are still hard and barely edible. Last year they dried and turned black then fell off during the winter. I'll probably cut the trees this year.

Finally, this is an old peach I planted. One side looks good.

The south side is a bit sketchy. I'll let it stand until it falls because we get chickadees nesting in the hollows.

Nice to see all the photos - so much more helpful (to me) than scientific names without common names.

Acer macrophyllum, Oregon Big Leaf Maple, showing Fall color on the bluff in the lower garden near Seattle.

Wow Mike, what a lovely view.

HU, you have an interesting range of trees. Here's one (you need more than one for cross-pollination) of my Amer hazelnuts. Nuts are smaller than Euro hazelnuts, but tasty nonetheless:

Just reread my post from near the beginning of this thread. Can't believe that I forgot to include my Paper Bark Maple. Here it is

And there is this huge Arborvitae and next the interior of it complete with scampering Elf.

I lost my big, beautiful birch in our last drought and miss the sight of it. However, the pods they dropped were buggers to get out of the gutters and the trees are not at all native to my area. We tried a J maple variety in the same spot because the nursery person said it could take the sun; he was wrong. We'll have to move it this winter as the leaves dry up almost as soon as they're unfurled. I have a different variety of J maple in the backyard that was a tiny little thing from Home Depot 20 years ago. Because it was planted where previous owners had had some redwoods that were taken out years ago, (great humus from the rotting roots!) it grew by leaps and bounds to be far larger than I ever thought possible--it dominates my small backyard. We have ground that is contaminated with oak root fungus, which is impossible to get rid of. So now before planting, I check to make sure the bush or tree is resistant to that disease.

I have 3 acres in rural Maryland. Priority is given to rarities, and/or at least semi-uncommon plants with proven track records like Ulmus 'Allee' as a shade tree.* I have 7 cultivars of Cryptomeria, for example. Interested in creating 'rooms' or 'areas' evocative of other regions of the world, like an Asian woodland garden with many rhododendrons, magnolias, camellias, and bamboos (probably most of the garden eventually!), or the desert with my cacti, succulents, and south african plants. And hopefully to someday prove that such a look can be very low-maintenance in our area with appropriate 'plant husbandry' lol.** Biggest menace is white trash neighbors who have things like rose of sharon or norway maple in their gardens...both vicious weeds in this area. Deer not much of a problem...knock on wood. Perhaps partly because of the distant but crisp booms of shotguns heard at certain times of year LOL. Music to my ears. (hate the horrid things even more recently: a buck gored my brother's sweet but dumb dog a couple weeks ago. Vet bill to clamp several arteries and repair multiple lacerations? 10K)

* Ulmus parviflora does self-seed a bit, but not nearly the nuisance that native maples, ashes, or cherries are. The seedlings, for the first year, are easier to pull than any of those...and perhaps due to a lack of outcrossing - no other lacebark elms around - there are very few of them. So it seems most seeds are not viable.

** not going to wade in the debate in various soil forums or whatnot, but it is clear that rhodies planted in the areas where I rototilled in permatil or turface 10 years developed deeper root systems and were more resistant to the recent drought than those planted on my standard 'leaf litter atop clayey loam'. Still I'm just reported my results, not actually 'recommending' what I did. I have no use for the controversy. Also showing more drought resistance were the rhodies planted on the 'hugelkultur' mound I created...so maybe that will be an acceptable alternative to those who cannot abide by the rototilling. Even though it's a known practice for golf course and athletic field maintenance.

davidrt, my Ulmus parviflora flowers profusely in Sept w/the accompanying hum of honeybees working them, then the branches bend from the seed masses, but I've never seen a seedling. Apparently none are viable -- no other compatible elms around.

And there is a certain cryptomeria cultivar planted at a Hagerstown rest home that none of them ever show any browning or branch loss no matter how cold/snowy the winter is.

I did not put down any of the fruit trees and red bud and dogwood I have planted. I have close to seven acres and most is woods. Maybe 3 acres are not. Can't grow a peach or cherry tree, darned deer kill them. Other than that, the deer don't bother anything else for me. Raccoons, that is another story.

Sue in Central Indiana

I am in DMV (dc,md,va) and we have multiple firs , black walnut, maple, what we call weed trees. Anyone hear about the call for donations of walnuts? The dept of natl resources or something wants them and I can’t find the info

Anne, blacks walnuts are one of the most numerous "weed" trees here in west MD. Literally thousands & thousands of them everywhere. The nuts actually have a stronger, superior taste than the store-bought English walnuts, but very difficult to both crack the nut then retrieve the "meat". Some stores do sell the "meats", but very expensive.

Zone 5A Central Maine......we have poplar, white birch, ash, red oak, red maple, sugar maple, balsam fir, white spruce, white pine & red pine.

Here we go

water, willow, blackjack, sawtooth, swamp chestnut, post, burr, red, mexican white, nuttall, swamp chestnut, shumard, southern red and white oak.

sweetgum, texas and fuyu persimmons, ash, southern magnolia, loblolly, shortleaf and longleaf pine, sassafras, chinese silk tree, chinese tallow(trying very hard to get rid of this disgusting tree), sugarberry, black tupelo, black willow, devils walking stick, bald cypress, common button bush,sycamore ,eastern red cedar, china berry, crepe myrtle, 2 kinds of elms, think they are American and winged elm, 3 or 4 different types of hickories, hercules club, yaupon, black locust, e.hopehornbeam, sweetbay magnolia, sliver maple, sugar maple, red mulberry, redbud, wax myrtle, methly plum, keifer pear, mexican plum and chinese chesnutt.

Some of these I planted myself. Could name a few more but they have died off like the black walnut.

Some could or could not be considered trees. Only 2 we seem to have problems witch are the tallow and yauon. Both grow out off hand.

The fastest growing tree we have is the black willow but very brittle.

Slowest is the post oak, but awesome tree. Very tough, but does not like anything to mess with it root system though.

Best and fastest wind screen is loblolly pine.

Favorite tree will be white oak, but for now its the swamp chestnutt oak.

As you can tell wildlife love our place.

worst mammal, hogs, hogs and more hogs. Favorite mammal whitetail deer

The only tree i wish we did have is the flowering dogwood,

Eric, it sounds like you live in Texas, like my brother. My brother's friend Randy Tate was in two episode of American Hoggers.

When I lived in Austin, I had a Spanish Oak tree in the front yard, and the back yard went down to a creek that had I don't know what. I had nicer trees when I lived in Houston, but I don't remember what they were, except for the banana tree in the back yard. I think I had a live oak in the front yard, which was common in my neighborhood (Montrose).

benzg6westmd, the black walnut is a very numerous tree here in west PA too. And as you say the nuts are hard to crack...but worth the work. I have seen many on the ground that squirrels have halved, but this one in my pic is a first. I sure wouldn't want to experience the bite of whoever chewed the 4 holes in this one and cleaned out the meat. The shell is still fully intact. I am guessing the resident chipmunk.

lgmd, whatever chewed thru that prb'ly wore down half their teeth. You could put a tiny candle in it for Halloween....

I've eaten black walnut ice-cream & black walnut cake, & the flavor is wonderful (better than English walnut).

Anne in DMV, the Virginia Dept. of Forestry has this page up on their site: Collecting nuts and seeds to donate

How I wish we could have flowering dogwoods here! When we sold my mom's house in Portland, it was hard to say goodbye to the big, beautiful one she had in front of the house. Gorgeous, but it's just to warm here to get my wish. I do wonder how much longer those trees will thrive in Portland, as the Earth warms.

The Twin Cities area & central Minnesota

Native and non-native trees already on site:

Balsam Fir

Boxelder

Silver Maple

Sugar Maple

Roundleaf Serviceberry

Paper Birch

Bitternut Hickory

Black Ash

Green Ash

Eastern Red Cedar

Ironwood

White Spruce

Colorado Spruce

Red Pine

Eastern Cottonwood

Bur Oak

Northern Red Oak

Staghorn Sumac

American Linden

American Elm

Trees I’ve planted besides more of the above:

Red Maple – cultivars Northwood, Scarlet Jewell, Autumn Spire

Sugar Maple – native plus cultivars Fall Fiesta, Green Mountain, Inferno

Blue Beech

White Ash – Northern Blaze cultivar

Black Walnut

Tamarack

Ponderosa Pine

Eastern White Pine

Quaking Aspen – okay, not yet, but next spring I’m putting in a stand of them

White Oak

Swamp White Oak

Northern Pin Oak – just planted one last week!

Canadian Hemlock.....yes, I have a sickness for planting trees.

Quercus agrifolia

Magnolia stellata 'Royal Star'

Cupressus 'Swaines Golden'

Lagerstroemia (several)

Pittosporum tenuifolia (several variants thereof)

Syzygium austral (as a tall hedge)

Metrosideros excelsa 'Gala', Metrosideros 'Spring Fire'

Bismarkia noblis

Acer palmatum 'Osio Bene', 'Emperor I',

Cistrus 'Valencia', 'Cara Cara', Key Lime, 'Improved Meyer' Lemon, Mandarin

Avocado 'Fuerte', 'Reed'.

Alluaudia procera

Aloidendron 'Hercules' :

Nice. Tree Aloe in the pic with no name?

I live in the city on a typical sized lot, small. I have a beech tree at the curb, which is really a city tree, but I reap the benefits of the shade, I also have a large “true” red maple (I was told this by an arborist—- the leaves are more cranberry colored. Doesn’t turn those beautiful red and gold colors that other maples do.) I also have a box elder (that has been problematic), a weeping Picea Pungens #5 the blues (which I understand will certainly outgrow my yard. I was given wrong info when I purchased) two arborvitae trees, a dwarf Japanese Maple, a Lions Head JP, dwarf weeping pussywillow tree and a Limelight Hydrangea tree. I also have two ancient lilac “bushes” which are more like small trees..... :-)

I really don't like trees. I prefer wide open spaces where I can see the horizon and the sky to the dark, crowded, confines of a forest. Trees make me feel claustrophobic. Besides, they are messy, cast too much shade on my sun loving gardens and they really don't belong on the landscape where I live. At least not at the scale that they are now.

When the Long Expedition crossed the prairies in 1820, they described the land as "presenting the aspect of hopeless and irreclaimable sterility."The "Great American Desert" as it would later come to be known was ocean of grass (and the wagons that would rumble across them on their way to Oregon, Utah, and California were colloquially referred to as "prairie schooners"). The land was virtually treeless from horizon to horizon. "The eye finds no object," Col. Long would say, "To rest upon."

The arid high plains and shortgrass prairie where I live, on the western edge of the Great Plains, is sometimes described as "steppe" rather than true prairie. It has more in common with Mongolia than it does Illinois. We consider 15" of moisture (rain and the water from snowmelt combined) a wet year here. The soil is alkaline, devoid of organic matter, and in most places is either comprised of beach sand or potters clay. Historically, the only real trees were cottonwoods dotting the banks of rivers like the Arkansas and the South Platte (and I have it on good authority from a cousin who has lived his entire life in Oregon that what I consider a BIG cottonwood is merely a shrub). Frequent flash floods along these rivers would wash away most of the young seedlings. Equally as frequent wildfires would render them to ashes and persistent dry wind would desiccate them. And while "progress" has tamed the rivers and quenched the fires, this place is still not what you would call "tree friendly."

Nevertheless that doesn't stop people from trying to convert this place into an eastern hardwood or montane forest. Chlorotic maples, infected aspens, parched spruce, and scorched ash abound in the cities and suburbs. Most HOA's demand you have trees in your yard, wantonly sucking up resources (and homeowner's cash).

I don't live in an HOA, and despite my preference for not having any, we do have some trees on this property. There's the aforementioned cottonwoods around the ponds. The windbreaks are eastern red cedar, but they are only marginally taller than I am. There's also a couple stunted locusts and some awful, ragged elms (every elm I've ever seen looks half dead) that are on the chopping block (no pun intended). It's a constant battle with the Russian olives. It wasn't until 2002 that the state declared them a noxious weed and banned their sale and planting. Too little, too late. Every waterway is now infested with them. But aside from that, and despite the fact that we are on the river bottom (arguably the most hospitable place for a tree in eastern Colorado), the vast majority of the acres is "hopeless and sterile" grassland. But don't tell that the milkweed and sunflowers, or the tules, sedges, and gramas, or the purple and golden asters, beggars ticks, gentians, prickly poppies, blazingstar, licorice, goldenrod, blanketflower and vebena that flourish, just like me, under the unending sky of the "tiresome and monotonous" prairie. You might give them a complex ;).

Zach, good description. Trees are not adapted to all areas....

I would literally wither and die if my life was devoid of trees.

My perfect piece of land would be surrounded by conifers from the south, west and north. But enough land to plant deciduous material. The house would be perched on a hill with an open view to the east of either a lake, mountain, river, pond - I“ll take any of them.

If anybody owns this type of land let me know I’ll be writing you a check

Oh and the soil needs to be a rich well drained loam with a pH of 6.8. Plenty of rainfall devoid of excessive cold or heat.

As with any plant, location and context will have a major impact on what can or should be grown :-) I live in a heavily forested state - timber and forest products account for a significant portion of the state's economy. So trees of just about any kind are easily incorporated into the landscape and many new developments have restrictions on what trees can be removed or must be retained.

I too could not live without being surrounded by trees. I don't mind natives - and there are many large ones on my property - but I also favor all manner of ornamentals as well, Asian maples and dwarf conifers being my favorites. At my previous property - an average suburban lot - I planted 12 trees....and several dozen dwarf conifers.

whaas, my property is similar to what you are looking for except it is pretty compact, only on an incline rather than a hill and with only a peek-a-boo view of the Sound rather an full open one. And you can see THE mountain when the clouds are not hovering. But it is not for sale!! :-)

Whaas, I have the land you are looking for. ....but it's not for sale. It's a hilly ten acres on a bluff with a view of the Cascade mountains. Ten or so linked ponds, good, mildly acid soil and adequate moisture for almost any plant that can handle low temps down to the 20s. Snow rarely lasts a week. Temps rarely get into the 90s in Summer with lower humidity than back east, mid-west. or the south. I can see over a 100 miles looking north to Mt Baker. I say again,............not for sale. :-)

Ok don’t forget about me when it’s time to pass the torch!

I’m eyeing up two states for retirement in the upper NW corner

I think its all in what you're used to. We went to visit my cousins in Oregon last summer. It was a cool place to visit, and the trees were certainly impressive. We have Doug fir in the mountains here, but they seem more like the dwarf conifers that Gardengal plants when compared to the ones in the Pacific NW. But overall, the forest was overwhelming. It was dark, impenetrable (very wet). I was wildly uncomfortable there not knowing what, or who, was out there with me. My wife who hails from forested mountains of the high county would love to live in Portland. There's no way I ever could.

On the backside of the property we live on is a bluff that rises about 100 feet above the old riverbed. If I stand up there on a clear day I can see Pikes Peak 150 miles to the south, Mt. Evans 100 miles south, and Longs Peak about 60 miles due west of us. From there you can follow the Medicine Bow range into Wyoming. They say the ocean is the only place you can see the curvature of the earth, but I'm pretty sure looking east from the top of the bluff that curvature is the only reason I can't see Kansas or Nebraska.

I live on the northwest coast of British Columbia and can relate to feeling uncomfortable surrounded by old growth forests of huge cedar trees dripping wet and with moss hanging from their branches. Beautiful but rather eerie.

There are stretches of beautiful coastal redwood groves in the Santa Cruz mountains near where I live. There are state parks for hiking, camping, etc., There are also some communities built into redwood areas and homes built in more remote, redwood covered sites. In a region that that's generally warm and temperate (except for some but not all of the coastal microclimates), these redwood forests can be quite damp (think banana slugs and ferns) and chilly. These long-lived giant trees can come down in storms or during period of heavy rainfall and deaths from falling redwood trees are not numerous but not rare either. No thanks, I don't want a house near or surrounded by a forest or thick stands of trees.

My neighborhood has views and aside for the odd tree here and there that's protected because of its age/size, people cut trees to maintain their views. I've had more than a dozen taken down over the years, both to improve views and also those prior owners planted too close to the house. Trees and dry shrubbery close to homes represent a fire danger in my area and homeowners are encouraged by the fire fighting folks to maintain cleared zones for safety reasons. I don't mind visiting trees once in awhile but I don't want to do that by looking out my windows.

Don’t get me wrong I can appreciate all forms of nature. I just prefer to be among the rich flora and fauna that make life possible. It’s more mystical than eerie.

I never want to live out of sight of the Blue Ridge again, because the mid-Atlantic eastern woodland says "home" to me. But I absolutely love visiting other ecosystems. When DH and I travel, we always look for botanic gardens, natural areas, state or national parks, to experience the difference. We are fortunate to live on a such a varied continent, where travel to "other worlds" can be as easy as getting in a car and heading out....

Not a tree hugger, but I love rose trees and fruit trees, not huge trees ( near the house). . Have 9 huge trees cut down at a suburb yard, 4 damaged 50-60’ tall ash trees, 4 huge pines and 1 maple. The yard is too small for large trees, now my 1000+ roses are under full sun. At the country, I love the small orchard that previous owner left, there are apples, pears, peaches, cherries, I added jujubes, harthorns and Canadian apricots. There are 5 over 100 yrs old maple trees on the property, It costs too much to cut them down, at $4,500 per tree, I have to keep them as long as they are healthy, 4 of them are not far from septic tanks. There are hundreds of acres of trees cross the street and behind property, those aren’t on my land, I enjoying looking at them, waiting for the opportunity to buy some of those land in the future to have my own hiking trails.

Ladydi , love your tree photo!

Hi, I'm in zone 3a (-40F and -40 Celsius winter temperatures), so my choice is limited. I have planted apple, pear and crabapple trees, along with amelanchier canadensis, paper birch, yellow birch, Japanese lilac, lots of unusual conifers (mostly spruces and pines), arborvitaes, red maples, sugar maples, elm and linden.

Waas, trees aren’t the only plants that make life possible lol. Plus, grasslands are typically more “species rich” (biodiverse) than temperate forests and on some scales even beat tropical rainforests in plant diversity!

Couple that hat with the fact that grasses are more resilient to climate change since they are more drought tolerant and fire resistant than trees and they are better at sequestering carbon because most of it is stored underground in their massive root systems rather than in huge above ground trunks, stems, and leaves.

Have I made a prairie convert of anyone yet ;).

To to be fair, while I gree up out here on the prairie and I have a special fondness for it, it’s only my second favorite ecosystem. If I had the opportunity to move back down to the low desert in southern Arizona I would be out of here in a heartbeat. The Madrean Sky Islands south of Tucson is my favorite place on the planet. You go from low desert-grassland populated by scrubby, green barked palo verdes and towering saguaros up in elevation through mesquite bosqes and into subtropical and montane forests of sycamores, oaks and conifers. If you’re lucky you might even catch a glimpse of a jaguar. I don’t know if it was the blazing desert sun or what, but the forests there seemed much brighter and less closed in than other forests. The rugged basin and range of the Sonoran desert just west of there is equally as beautiful with is craggly, weathered mountains where agaves, ocotillo, and organ pipe cactus thrive. Then there’s the Mojave desert and it’s savannahs of Joshua trees. If there is one place on this earth I live above all others it’s the desert.

SE Wisc:

Box Alder, black walnut, mulberry, pine, spruce, arbor vitae, American Elm and assorted bushes.