This. Alf yet I bought my house with some trees near power lines on 2 boundaries, Power Co came and leveled all trees w/ in 20’ on either side. Because “they might one day grow to touch it”.

True, some were saplings of trees that get big. But that gave me no chance to plant some smaller species & then cut the others later, plus it dramatically changed the views from my house. We even met with their staff arborist who bad said, so sad. He also said, “now if you want to plant done arborvitae, that’s ok. “ And I’m going, huh? First, I don’t think you mean Green Giant, and second, umm, DEER?! We have basically the deer highway through the neighborhood.

So even with researching various dwarf cultivars of things like redbuds and dogwoods, and large shrubs, and taking measurements of distances from the lines, now I’m terrified that even something truly dwarf will not be identified as such by these people.

Also how far up is your power line? Because 25-30 feet is already above ours.

I am confused. Here, power lines are located in an easement that runs parallel to the street. Anything planted in the easement is fair game for trimming/manhandling by the power company or their designees. And is planted by homeowners with that understanding. But once the line crosses from the easement into your property, it is your responsibility to maintain. The power company will not/cannot trespass on to your land for any trimming or pruning.

Where in relation to your property line and any easements/power lines are these trees located?

Well, they rely on industrial strength herbicide around here to clear the right of way. We lost 4 Dogwoods and an Azalea in addition to every other living thing underneath our line. I was told not to plant back for at least two years. I did complain enough that they put us on a "no spray" list, or so they said. It was brutal.

Here the easement is within the surveyed property line.

So, not saying I can build in the easement, but that it might be “ debatable “ as to whether a “ tree” is a threat to the line or not, and I’d lose most debates

trees NEVER stop growing at some magical height..

do not plant trees under the power lines ... unless they are true dwarfs that will never exceed about 10 feet ...

you might be better off planting shrubs.. that can get that tall ..

can you state your goal... besides just wanting a tree?? .. are you hiding the ugly purple house next door?? .. the hippe commune.???

you are often better off.. planting about half way to the property line.. you will solve you goal a decade faster.. by placing a tree halfway to the property line

how about some pix of you yard .. for further analysis..

ken

Take the previous post with a large grain of salt. There are a great many trees that will never exceed 25-30 feet in your lifetime and probably not in your children's or grandchildren's lifetime!! And they do not need to be "dwarfs" either! Ken tends to overstate and oversimplify things to an extreme degree and that can be very confusing or misleading to many newbies.

I got agree with Ken and the other posters that say not to plant underneath. Tree trimming protocall around power lines varies greatly around the country…but here in the midwest most trimming is done every 5 years or so…and they butcher anything and everything underneath and around that they ”think” has the potenial to get with 10-15’ of the line in the next 5 years. Easements in this part of the country refer to structures only. A tree can be far outside the easement…but they’ll still shave one side off if a branch is growing towards the line. I would stick with large shrubs or truly dwarf trees.