Planting a tree

Not any particular expertise here, but I had a live oak in L.A., which would seem to be a similar climate, and it did really well. (It was an old, huge one.)

well, Live Oaks are the state tree or something here, they're all over....

I'm wondering about the costs, and how much you get for your buck.

Oh, OK, was responding (in a limited fashion) to this:



Hope Green Witch or Osso or littlek or one of those gardeny types will stop by with further info.

Check out this site for selection:Texas Trees

Trees are sold by caliper, not height. You can get a decent sized tree for about $500, although keep in mind that bigger trees are harder to establish. The tap root has been disturbed and needs to re-establish. The first couple of years you have to be really careful about watering it on a regular basis. Early on if you miss a watering during a dry spell you have a dead tree almost overnight. I'm not sure what the rates are in your area, just make sure you get a couple of references - it's easy to get into this business by buying a large truck and a tree spade. If you have an arborist you trust you can him/her to recommend a company. The larger the tree the less likely you will get a guarantee.

oh, didn't mean anything by that soz....I guess I assumed everyone knew there were lots of Live Oaks here.

sorry if I came off as flip.

They sure are beautiful though.

They are!

Thanks, I have been looking at a couple of local site, one which showed a lot of it's work, like at Lance Armstrongs house, the Blanton Museum etc, said they have a 98% success rate.

Yeah, I don't want to go HUGE, but big enough that it isn't just a little sapling.

does that $500 cover just a good side tree? Or is that with them planting it?

I understand Live Oaks grow really slowly, but the husband of a friend said if you water it deep an take good care of it the first year, it'll grow faster than average.

Damn, that picture didn't come out, and it was a good one....wonderful lighting.

look at this one! See the girl way teeny tiny at the trunk?



Right after we saw Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp, I would go walking on the greenbelt here, where there are lots of really old live oaks....between their twisted branches, and the cloudy days, and the beaten dirt track, I kept looking behind me, and listening for the headless horsemans hoofbeats.

really spoooooooky....

$500 is the tree price. Installation costs vary depending on your neighborhood. I like to take clients to the wholesaler so they can pick out their own tree. If a client can't make the trip I will just take digital photos and email them. It's an aesthetic thing, people have different ideas of what a nice tree looks like. Do you have any tree farms in your area that would allow you to walk around? Some large scale nurseries will have ball and burlap trees on-site and the equipment to plant them. You don't have to go through a landscaper or garden designer.

Yes, better care equals better growth. Just don't get too crazy with the commercial fertizliers, you end up with lots leaves and stunted roots. Slow growing trees tend to live longer and are better at surviving storms. Oaks tend to be a good choice as a muti-generational shade tree, as long as you have the space.

How much space do you have? What didn't you like about the sycamore? How tall do you want your tree to become? What exactly do you mean by messy? I am trying to figure out how flowers can be messy (unless your talking about magnolias, or something)

Hi littlek, I had to go measure...

The ground space open will be approx 12' on 2 sides, bordered by the city sidewalk on one side, and a new patio we're putting in on the other. The 3rd side is approx 10', bordered by a new walkway we're putting in. The 4th side is open to our neighbors front lawn.

The sycamore?
When I bought the house in '91 it was already there, and ugly then. It probably had been there decades already, it was taller than the house. It was old and half dead and just plain hideous. I always hated it. I've only actually lived in the house since 1997. There's lots of live oaks and pecan trees on my street, along with others I don't know the names of, and it was the only sycamore, and always looked like **** compared to everything else.

We got rid of it, oh, a couple of years ago, and right now we're still dealing with getting all the roots up so we can pour the concrete for the new driveway (hopefully this weekend)

As far as messy, I mean like a hackberry tree, that drops fruit or seeds or whatever that stuff is, and makes a God awful mess. Or like when you have to park under a tree and it gets sap or whatever it is from the tree on it. That's another thing about the sycamore, it was planted in the stupidest place. Didn't shade but one little corner of the house, and you couldn't park near it or your paint would be ruined.

This new tree will be planted well away from where cars will be parked, and will shade a large portion of the house.

How tall do I want it? I dunno. Tall enough to shade the house.

Magnolias are gross. They smell way too strong. Someone maybe 4 houses away has one, and I have to hold my breath when I walk by.

When greenwitch said the trees are measured by calipers, I guess she meant by how thick the truck is? So what would be considered a decent size tree? How tall would it be?

I'm not trying to sound uncaring, I'm totally willing an able to give a tree the care it needs during that first year to ensure its survival and good health, but as you can tell, I'm not much of a gardener.

I love looking at trees, and want a nice one, but I don't like become all emotionally involved in them or something.

Ok.... so, the sidewalk is on the south side of the house? Is you house 2-story? If so, I'd geuss you'd want a tree 30-50 feet tall. 30 would shade your windows and 50 would help shade your roof as well.

I would add that if the tree is desciduous, you'll get more sunlight into the house in the winter. I dunno how much that is a factor for you in central texas. Up here we plan for that as our winters are long and cold.

So, the live oak idea wouldn't work - too large.

Do you have an existing garden in your front yard?

Here's my two bits' worth. Plant what the neighbors have. Chances are, you'll see lots of hackberry -- it's got lots going for it-- for example, you can grow a decent lawn under it. Not so with live oak or pecan, and it ranks pretty low on the messiness scale, and it'll respond well to whatever care you would give to any tree. Its downside is it attracts mistletoe.

But then again each species comes with a downside.



Click on image to link to other selections.

I think I saw that very tree in your picture at or near the battlefield park in Yorktown Virginia.

Besides the oaks that you've already seen.......

crepe myrtles get to a reasonable height, but it might take too long. They do have flowers (pinks and whites). The flowers are paper thin and I think they sort of shrivel up on the ground. They have a multicolored bark (tan, cinnamon) which is attractive in the winter when the leaves are down.

http://www.clemson.edu/crepemyrtle/biloxi.htm






redbud blooms in white and pinks, it has heart shaped leaves and good bark

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/SYLLABUS/factsheet.cfm?ID=43

Thanks everyone so far...yes, I like crepe myrtles, and they don't get too big it seems.

My front lawn right now? We don't have one, the entire shabag was dug up the other weekend so we could get this show on the road. The ground here is clay. Hard, tough, gunky, sticky unforgiving clay. What we are doing is putting in a new driveway, which curves in to park 2 cars. we are also putting in a walkway that will go from the sidewalk to the front steps, and circle around to the driveway. The driveway and walkway I'm staining terra cotta. Between the driveway and walkway will be a big sandstone planter, maybe 18 or 20 feet long by 4 feet wide, widening out near the sidewalk to create an area maybe 10 x 5. This will be a raised bed holding perineals, about 3 feet high. That way we can start with good soil. I'm already starting the plants in little containers on the front porch.
There is also going to be a patio made with sandstone slabs, set in sand for drainage.
That leaves the area for the tree, which we'll dig up some of that clay and add in better soil. I'm trying to get all plants that can stand texas heat and drought.

actuallly littlek, my house faces North, but here, by 10am it can be very very hot in the summer. so we need the shade. The back of the house is already shaded, and we aren't doing anything right now.

I have plans I made at home, I'll try to remember to photashack them and put here.

Since the roof is going to get the western sun anyway, I guess 30' at an end result would be plenty. It is a one story house.

This may be totally off-base, but:

I read once that one can plant a hardwood and softwood together. The softwood grows fast, and gives the hardwood time to grow into itself.



I love those old Pecan trees....

DD - that depends on how you mean. I've seen two trees planted side by side (within inches of eachother) which work - for example a white redbud next to a pink redbud. The two trees grow as if they were one dual trunked tree. The branches formed one unit, one crown. If you did that with two different trees with the aim of cutting the soft wood down when the hard wood was big enough, then the hardwood would look like half of a tree.

I read once you could take an empty toilet paper roll and half a tube of toothpaste and make a perfectly acceptable substitute for your 1040 form at tax time.

If it's flowers you're after--
you'll do best by setting out Texas-hardy trees and shrubs. Surely you've already seen fine examples of Vitex such as this:



You can go off on holiday, and it'll still be alive when you return home.