a good start.. would be to tell us where you are.. big city name ...

Chicago Illinois. About 60 miles south

Thank you for your insight.
My husband is thinking red maples. I don’t care as long as they don’t take years and years to grow. He wants 3 in a row. I like the idea of scattered trees. See our problem!

Are your neighbors successfully growing red maples?

Quote: "My husband is thinking red maples. I don’t care as long as they don’t take years and years to grow."

All trees takes years and years to grow. To my knowledge the fastest growing are the pear trees, even these take over 10 years to provide any usable shade. We had a Cleveland Pear in the front yard when we bought the house 11 years ago. It was about 1" in diameter and about 12' tall Today it is about 5" in diameter and about 20' tall.

11 years ago we purchased a 14" Nuttal oak. Today it is about 30' tall and only in the last 3 or 4 years does it provide use sable shade.

Lots of trees could provide some shade after ten years. Lots of good options

Nancy. Yes our neighbor has 2

I guess I misspoke. I realize that trees take years to grow. We just came off of a 2 acre homestead with tons of trees. Oaks that were a couple of hundred years old.
We then build on a cleared piece of land.
I should have stressed that we need trees and landscaping ideas to fill in around the front of the house. There’s so much to choose from.
In our back we planted ( green giant) evergreens as a border.
But it’s the front we can’t decide on.

Beautiful house! I would work with a local reputable nursery on a landscape design. Landscape mistakes can be costly.

Oaks can grow much faster than we expect. We have several that we planted after losing some very large old ones. We have planted Nuttall, White Oak, Swamp White Oak that have gown to more than 30 feey in ten years. Also have several old ones left. They are the reson we bought this house 25 years ago. One volunteer is huge and I think it about 15 years old. I think their circumference is slow to grown big, though. Not sure where you are, but here are some thoughts.

As a lover of trees, I would plant several oaks or other large natives. Here in Northern Virginia, I have added a Nyssa sylvatica which is lovely and several understory/smaller flowering trees. I have added Amelanchier (serviceberry), native dogwoods, Chionanthus virginicus (native fringe tree, not the Chinese one). Your island bed looks large enough to support eight or so trees total. Then I would add shrubs (Physocarpus, native azalea, etc.). I have started using natives only in the last ten years. Of course, I must admit that I like to look out and see trees and green rather than neighbors, so exuberant planting is my go-to choice.

Now that I have hit 70 and have a new knee, I also am looking for easy maintenance and little weeding or pruning. I leave my leaves through the winter and spring. Mostly, I never rake at all. Haven't quite managed no maintenance yet, but working on it. Trees are pretty low maintenance as are many shrubs if they are well-placed. I made so many mistakes when I first moved here, Sigh.

Cluster evergreens on either side of house to frame it (and obscure garage) and deciduous in centre lawn area for a filtered view

Thank you everyone. We have been in touch with a local landscaper but he has been swamped and unable to sit down with us at this time.
Fall planting is the next step.
Wish me luck. I’m only doing this once! I’m tired. Lol

Bonnie I don't have any advice to offer - I bought a lot that's just under an acre that had almost 50 oaks on it, so I'm good for trees! - but I wanted to say please keep us posted on what you decide and on your progress. It's also so interesting and informative to see what people do with a blank slate. So much for the rest of us to learn!

Good luck!

:)

Dee

P.S. I will add that there is an oak on the edge of our property right on the street (no sidewalks here). I barely noticed it when we moved in, being in an aggressive patch of sassafras trees. 15 years later it's now at least 40 feet tall (and growing through the power lines. It's now blocking the sun from my veggie garden and the power company has told me three times in the last 15 years that they would remove it and I'm still waiting.) But just wanted to let you know how quickly it grew. Like cyn427 said, it's not particularly big around, but it did grow quickly, so something to look into.