Trees for the front yard.

[roosterstraw]

Looking for tree ideas for the front yard. Right now we are considering Japanese maple, sweetbay magnolia, Cleveland pear. I want something that doesn’t produce nuts of any kind and something that’s easy to mow around.

 

[Lucky_P]

Really...Cleveland pear?
There are enough invasive calleryana trees without anyone ever intentionally planting another one. Even in your yard.
Consider some natives, like Allegheny or apple serviceberry, American smoketree(not Eurasian smokebush), American yellowwood, American fringe tree, in addition to the sweetbay magnolia. Depending on your location, the Jap. maple may or may not be suitable.
We started with a blank slate...included the above(and others), but planted lots of bur & bur-hybrid oaks, pecans, shagbark hickories, and fruiting mulberry selections. We WANTED fruit/nut-producing shade trees!

 

[Telemark]

Please don't plant a Cleveland pear. An ornamental Asian cherry will be much better than an ornamental Asian pear.

Maple and magnolia are both great options. Magnolias tend to flower very early, so if you want a late blooming tree, consider a panicled hydrangea. With those three trees you will get a lot of great color in your front yard over a long period of time.

How much space do you have? How many trees do you want?

 

[Tree Spud]

Looking for tree ideas for the front yard. Right now we are considering Japanese maple, sweetbay magnolia, Cleveland pear. I want something that doesn’t produce nuts of any kind and something that’s easy to mow around.

Where are you located, what is your zone?

Hard to answer without know temperature zone.

 

[roosterstraw]

Please don't plant a Cleveland pear. An ornamental Asian cherry will be much better than an ornamental Asian pear.

Maple and magnolia are both great options. Magnolias tend to flower very early, so if you want a late blooming tree, consider a panicled hydrangea. With those three trees you will get a lot of great color in your front yard over a long period of time.

How much space do you have? How many trees do you want?

No Cleveland pears. I will look into the hydrangea. Plan on planting 4-5 trees. Don’t have a whole lot of room, we plan on planting a couple on each side of the driveway.

 

[roosterstraw]

Where are you located, what is your zone?

Hard to answer without know temperature zone.

NE Kentucky.

 

[Telemark]

Japanese cherry trees can be a good option. Kojo-no-mai or Kiku-shidare-zakura are great trees with 3-season appeal.

Weeping birch is an excellent ornamental that is really hard to beat.

"Satomi" kousa dogwood is another great small ornamental tree.

 

[Tree Spud]

Crab apples ... nice flowers in spring, some fruit, and can be shaped and sculpted.

For your area a Japanese Maple would really nice.

Hydrangea is not a tree or shrub.

 

[Northbound]

Autumn blaze maple. Pretty (imo). Grow fast and you can graft more if you catch that bug.

 

[buckdeer1]

I don't see anything wrong with planting a cleveland pear,it's not like if he doesn't it will change the whole non native world.I doubt if it will spread and take over.What I would be worried about with the maples is sun scauld.This will probably not kill them but makes them ugly.The cleveland is alot tougher than the bradford and there are a couple other good yard pear trees

 

[OakSeeds]

Cypress and sunburst locust are both solid - although a little slow growing - that have very small leaves (no raking and minimal maintenance). Ditto on Northbound's suggestion; absolutely beautiful in the fall.

 

[yoderjac]

Looking for tree ideas for the front yard. Right now we are considering Japanese maple, sweetbay magnolia, Cleveland pear. I want something that doesn’t produce nuts of any kind and something that’s easy to mow around.

Might consider some kind of bird crab or dogwood. I had some kind of bird crab in my front yard for many years. Very few if any of the tiny fruit made it to the ground and those that did were cleaned up quickly. Pretty in bloom. I also have a dogwood. In order to be able to mow around with with my tractor, I kept removing lower limbs as it grew until they were about 6' off the ground. I've got no problem mowing around it. It is pretty during bloom in the spring and the dogwood berries are not a problem.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[blueKYstream]

I tried to pay better attention to landscape trees this Spring (and will do so in the Summer and Fall as well). My favorite this year was a Cherry Tree. It may have been one of the varieties that Telemark suggested. The ones I saw were loaded with white blooms with a pink center. They were stunning! The picture I took of one doesn't do it justice:

There were some nice dogwoods I saw as well, but the cherry was my favorite. Here are just a few pictures of a magnolia, Thundercloud Plum (my yard), and another cherry:

 

[Telemark]

Hydrangea is not a tree or shrub.

Panicled hydrangeas are, in fact, a shrub, and they can be trained into a tree form.

 

[Tree Spud]

Panicled hydrangeas are, in fact, a shrub, and they can be trained into a tree form.

Yes and corn is a grass; however, I am not going to plant my front yard with it.

 

[sagittarius]

How about a native Redbud.

 

[j-bird]

Depending on the size of the tree you want in the end....a smaller tree that is very pretty in the spring is either a redbud or a flowering dogwood. There are also ornamentals as well. Avoid the pear....they can and have escaped into the wild and they are very weak trees that suffer from wind damage once mature readily. River birch or other birch trees could be considered as well.

Larger trees.....maples come to mind....but they work best away from the house. They tend to have a lot of leaves which can lead to gutter cleaning and raking needs.

 

[bwoods11]

I like oak trees for the yard. They grow faster than most people realize. You can water them and baby the trees. Red oak, or Swamp White Oak? *A side bonus is the acorns can be planted on your farm (if you have one).

 

[Rit]

Tough to be the sight of a big Northern Red Oak. Especially in the fall.

 

[Telemark]

Yes and corn is a grass; however, I am not going to plant my front yard with it.

What on earth are you talking about? What does that have to do with anything we are talking about here?

If you've never seen a panicle hydrangea tree, I assure you they exist. Here's a picture: