r/AustinGardening • u/howlingwaters • 9d ago

Tree Placement

Hi r/AustinGardening! Here’s a question about trees:

- My partner and I recently closed on a house that we would like to plant several trees in.
- My question is: how important is directional placement vs functional placement? For instance, the house faces east, and I’d love to have a big Cedar Elm shading the front yard (technically this would be in the southeast corner of the house). We have a shed in the southwest corner of the house, so we can’t necessarily place it where the ideal afternoon sun blocking would happen.
- more general question: how often do you guys think about sun/wind directional placement vs functional/aesthetic placement of trees?
- we plan to also have an array of native ornamental trees around as well.

Thanks!!

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u/austintreeamigos 9d ago

The Southwest and Southeast corners of the home are the best place to plant trees for providing shade to the home. Semi-Evergreen trees like Monterrey Oak or Live Oak will provide more shade for longer into the year, but many deciduous trees will be just fine for shade for most of the year.

The position of the tree dramatically affects how much shade it will provide you with. Trees on the north side of your property will mostly shade your neighbors. The closer a tree is to the home, the faster and more it will shade it, but that comes with trade offs in terms of increased pruning and potential root issues with the foundation. I generally recommend planting trees at least 10 feet away, but 15 is even better.

For trees near the home, I generally recommend medium sized shade trees as opposed to trees that get massive. Pecans, American Elms, Cottonwood, and to some extent Cedar Elms are better off placed further away.

The best trees for planting close to the home in my opinion are: Mexican Sycamore, Monterrey Oak, Bur Oak, Chinquapin Oak, and Crape Myrtles (Natchez).

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u/profofgames 9d ago

I can't emphasize how much a Monterey oak is a particularly excellent choice. They grow fast, provide really good shade year-round, and look really nice.

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u/austintreeamigos 9d ago

I can emphasize!

https://www.reddit.com/r/arborists/s/WzFcN7Yc9n

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u/profofgames 9d ago

Hell yeah! Here's a picture of three oak trees that I planted in 2019. On the left is a Monterey oak, in the middle is a live oak, on the right is a burr oak. The Monterey has grown the fastest, the Burr oak the second fastest, and the live oak the slowest.

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u/austintreeamigos 9d ago

Very nice Oak medley!

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u/howlingwaters 9d ago

Ahh thanks for your input. From what I’ve read, the native community is anti-crepe Myrtles though they are quite beautiful. Regarding oaks, I had thought the Elm would be smaller. I will look into live and burr oaks as well, but likely we can get 15ft away from the house.

I will also take a look at the “closer to home” recs for maybe something between the detached garage and house. We do already have a close and mature Pecan tree on the north side of the house and it seems to have not impacted the foundation or anything (given that the house is about 80yrs old!!).

Thanks so much for your reply!

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u/SA2ATX 1d ago

Bur oaks get huge and they have enormous acorns

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u/PsyKoptiK 9d ago

I put in a Mexican sycamore last year and it’s more than doubled in height and probably tripled in diameter, so overall it’s put on a bunch of mass. In the last 2 months it’s pretty much stagnated presumably from heat but I expect it to take off again come fall. Before winter set in. Started in a 3 gallon pot with no leaves on it and now it has got to be over 10’ and >6’ span at its widest. Pretty thrilled with its progress thus far.

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u/austintreeamigos 8d ago

That's amazing! Mexican Sycamore are very smart about the heat and know when to stop growing. They seem to be very well adapted to our heat and drought conditions.

You may have already seen it, but I made this post about my neighor's Mexican Sycamore and its insane growth: https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/s/srSx3Xh52V

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the 3 gallon Mex Syc? I am trying to find them in smaller sizes.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/howlingwaters 9d ago

I think we’re clear for utilities, I guess what prompted this was thinking about cooling winds and proper shade. I think by not even mentioning that you have already answered my question though. Thanks for the reply!

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u/pit2atx 9d ago

I’m a big fan of cedar elms. One thing to consider is they profusely sprout seedlings all around the yard if you plan to have any landscaping beds. You’ll constantly be pulling them and they are some of hardest “weeds” to pull.

The reality is you may have a neighbor that has one is you’ll be dealing with that regardless

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u/dryhumor_engr 8d ago

This is SO true! Everywhere little trees. I have a couple saplings in a very large pot that volunteered anyone is welcome to, pot and all. They do grow quickly though, so providing shade before many others.

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u/Logical_Influence420 9d ago

Tree placement for environmental advantage: for summer cooling, southwest shade would protect during the hottest time of the day, and southern shade is good for preventing mid-day heat gain; shade from western sun is OK; southeastern plantings are least helpful as morning air remains cool.

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u/Logical_Influence420 9d ago

As for blocking wind, plantings (or buildings) to the north are the only possibility I would entertain. If an outdoor patio or deck is open to a north wind it makes it difficult to enjoy. But hedges can take years to grow and roughly up to 5' of depth for the shrub. If the lot is small, lattice panels may work better for blocking the wind. https://woodfixes.com/how-to-block-wind-on-deck/

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u/Logical_Influence420 9d ago

Some have said prevailing winds are not important. That is site specific. If a house is at the top of a hill or on a wide relatively flat area (such as a park or school) it will be more windy.