I suggest going to a nursery (in Florida) to see the trees in person and talk to them about what they recommend for your location. See which ones you like best. I love red maple and live oak but the others would probably look just fine. You can also Google them, just make sure to add the word Florida in the search because trees grow differently in FL than up north.

I like the Japanese Blueberry as it grows into a Christmas tree shape and is not messy.

This website is helpful for FL vegetation: https://www.south-florida-plant-guide.com/japanese-blueberry.html

My first choice would be the crepe myrtle, followed by Japanese blueberry and holly. The magnolia and sweetgum could be messy.

To neighborhood association: Smarten up, list only native trees. To shawnmarie23: I like my Sweetgums. (And not messy.)

What type "messy" would bother you most? How often would you (or who?) need to deal with it?

A neighbor recently removed an oak because "it drops leaves", while I treasure my oak's leaves on my "natural" yard - both for looks and for their contribution to the soil. On the other hand, I avoid getting plants that drop white flowers because they trigger my impulse to pick them up as if they are scraps of white paper trash!

You might wait as long as you can to make your choice, and meanwhile observe in your neighborhood the trees and their shedding patterns. It's a good conversation opener for meeting neighbors.

>"trees grow differently in FL than up north" ___ Trees grow differently in Tallahassee than in Miami.

All trees drop leaves. IMPE, hollies drop the least. Crape myrtle blooms can be a respiratory irritant for some people, I understand.

I enjoy all the birds that enjoy my huge live oak - especially blue jays. We're not required to keep a lawn here in our neighborhood tho.

Floridata.com has info on a lot of those trees.

The Florida elm is a very nice tree. Just give it room to grow; it has a very nice shape and grows fairly quickly with a single trunk. Live oaks are beautiful when large and older growth but be aware that they need a lot of room and are very messy! I have several and it’s a constant battle to control the leaves! Crepe myrtle is a fast growing tree that blooms in the spring/ summer. It looses its leaves in the winter and should be pruned at that time. They look especially nice in groups though so this may be something for you to consider!

Btw, I love holly trees; had one at my previous home but it got way bigger than the listed height and had to be removed!

The way I feel about live oak is if it’s already on your property fine! Plant one? No! Here are a couple on mine🤦‍♀️

We used magnolias as street trees, they dont drop noticeble piles of leaves. We also chose a dwarf size which still gets pretty tall ( 20-30 ft), i want to say the grandflora gets pretty huge (50+ ft) I would get a dwarf size (no ones going to know) and enjoy the flowers in the spring.

Not the holly! It loses leaves, and berries, and flowers at different times. And the leaves are painful! Painful to step on, pick up, or when they blow off the tree and hit you. I bought a house with a beautiful, unique holly tree. More than three stories high!

I'm looking for a new house and will not consider anything that has a holly tree on the lot. Hole in the roof? Drug dealers? I'll think about it, BUT NO HOLLY TREE! (sorry, I might be a little opinionated on this)

Four shade trees in a bed near the sidewalk on the side of the house at a new build(?) in Florida requiring trees be planted sounds a bit alarming to me. If this new build is like all the other zero lot line, packed in like lemmings construction I have seen in Florida, the litter they are going to drop is the last item to consider when planting trees at your new house. Trees can be put to better more vital use when you are cheek to jowl with the neighbors. There is a lot of site information missing here to make wise choices about trees.

The list says street and canopy trees. Not all the trees on the list qualify for that designation. I can't even imagine you have the frontage for four street trees in a new build in Florida unless you are on a corner lot. Is it four trees on the street or the lot?

There are more important things to consider when planting trees than are they messy.

Not all hollies have sharp leaves. Yaupon has rounded leaves - it's a native too

The weeping form is kind of strange looking, IMO

P.S. You can look up those trees on the UF IFAS site as well

https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/media/sfylifasufledu/baker/docs/pdf/horticulture/demonstration-gardens/Weeping-Yaupon-Holly.pdf

What a dull list, but at least there are some attractive non-natives on it. ;-)

Srsly though,

Not the holly! It loses leaves, and berries, and flowers at different times. And the leaves are painful!

As carol just pointed out, yaupon leaves are rounded. But what a shame that other southeastern native hollies like Ilex X attenuata and it parents are not permitted. They are some of the better natives, to be sure.

I would go with the Japanese blueberry or the Podocarpus, myself.

FWIW, I had regular Yaupon holly for a time and it's shrubby and does sprout suckers from the roots, which is mentioned in the publication I linked. Apparently the weeping form does not.

Agree with lyn on the FL live oak. We have one and I would never get another. It's deciduous and very messy.

Live Oak is a broadleaved evergreen (as is Magnolia grandiflora), not deciduous. Yes, it drops its leaves but all trees drop their leaves..., just on a different schedule. That does not mean they are care free. Northern deciduous leaves drop their foliage in the Autumn. I don't know about Live Oak, but M. grandifloras drop their leaves as new leaves begin to emerge (May into July for me), and yes, they too are "messy"..., this time of year, but in the Autumn they do not add to the tons of deciduous leaves I have to rake up. My biggest surprise by the OP's official list, is how many of these trees are destined to be really BIG and that the location is near a sidewalk!

Live oak is never without leaves. It sheds leaves particularly in the fall and spring and is quite bad in the spring as it also flowers and the pollen is notorious! It literally covers everything in a yellow mess for weeks! The leaves are small and get into everything especially your gutters which need to be cleaned several times during the shedding season! Yes they are beautiful, have that romantic southern charm with hanging moss( which can be kind of nasty actually); but in vest in a good leaf blower😂‼️

I don't understand the paragraph at the top of your listing sheet. Are these the specs for your initial (purchase and) planting? Or for the plant's size after a certain period? Is it a limit on the size? (Have ya'll read that paragraph? If it makes sense to you, please clue me in.)

I read the size as the requirement at installation. That is the only thing that makes sense.

Of course initial size. Given the expense involved, must be an upper echelon neighborhood.

Thanks!

I would never again have a sweetgum tree. The seed pods are sharp and can turn your ankle if you step on them wrong.

If you want to research under the botanical names be aware that the first two are misspelled. QuerCus and Ilex.

Yeah, they misspelled the common names too. Should be YaUpon holly.

It's great that these HOA fascists put so much care into their make-work "jobs".