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itzybitzy_gw

Looking for the perfect tree!!

itzybitzy_gw
10 years ago

Can you have it all? I am looking to replace my ornamental Bradford pear(yuck) that is right near my house;and was looking into the tulip poplar,sounds wonderful probably too good to be true,also this website offers a hybrid poplar(don't know the difference).So anyone here has experience with this tree? or others that you would recommend.I need it to be some kind of interest(foliage or flowers),shade during summer(for my porch),and easy to care for...this particular tree would be located about 8 feet away from my house so I'll be concern with huge roots damage to my fireplace.Suggestions welcome:)Thanks in advance.

Comments (10)

  • User
    10 years ago

    Itzy,
    I wouldn't plant that tree real close to my house like that.
    If you could plant it further away from your porch, like 30 feet away from the porch, you had the room, then I would get that tree.
    It is going to get really big, really fast.
    It is a magnolia, it's in the family, and I don't know where those roots are going to spread, and you want it real close to the house.
    I'm sure there are trees you can plant closer that you won't have to worry as much with the roots.

  • dottie_in_charlotte
    10 years ago

    itzy bitzy, the tulip poplar has three flaws for your location.
    1. it grows to 80 feet tall. To support that height, you have to figure its lateral roots are going to slam into your foundation area and suck moisture from your flower beds.
    2. it leafs out rather early and continues to leaf out until Aug.
    However, in the first hard heat of summer it sheds its earliest leaves and is messy.
    3. a. flowers are usually only visible from above the tree
    b. seeds are persistent,sharp and very pointy hazard to
    barefooters (and pets), prolific and sprout everywhere.
    There are lots of factors to think about when going outside the norm in choosing a decorative tree for landscaping.

  • chas045
    10 years ago

    Well, we don't know about the hybrid tree but the 'tulip tree', Liriodendron tulipifera is a native here. It is very common and one might be able to wait for one to pop up where they want it ;-). However, Dottie is wrong, they grow to 165 feet high! It would certainly provide some shade. They are very pretty with bright yellow leaves in early fall and fit in if you have a nice forest. Eight feet from a house, not so much.

  • itzybitzy_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Oh wow,glad I asked first before buying; never mind on the tulip poplar.Anybody has sugestions or better candidates?Thanks for the promptly answer you guys:)was going to order it tomorrow.

  • nandina
    10 years ago

    I know you would be pleased with either of the following as they can easily be controlled and shaped to specific 'tight' sites. Root growth is not excessive. Beautiful in bloom. Grow well in NC.

    1. Pearl bush (Exochorda x macrantha). Clean, large bush/small tree.

    2. American Snowbell such as (Styrax americus) and other named varieties in the same family. Nice smallish tree, some varieties very fragrant in bloom.

    Both are worth searching for.

  • Iris GW
    10 years ago

    How sunny is the area?

  • itzybitzy_gw
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks Nandina:) will check them up! The area is full sun esh_ga.

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    10 years ago

    I have experience with the hybrid poplar.

    It grows very fast if you keep it watered, that wouldn't have been a problem this year! I had two at another house, twenty years ago, and I ran an underground pipe from my AC drain to them.

    They grew about eight feet per year for the four years I lived there. It was almost instant shade.

    I go past the old place every once in a while on my way to a friends house. The new owner doesn't live there anymore, it's abandoned. The trees are about 40 foot tall and scraggly looking now. But they have been neglected.

    It has big leaves so it is easy to rake the leaves.

    The downside. It will have large lateral roots which can damage foundations and cause problems with mowing around them.

    You will have to trim the lower limbs often, they want to keep sprouting back.

    This post was edited by wertach on Fri, Aug 23, 13 at 12:01

  • dogridge
    10 years ago

    flowering Magnolia (deciduous)
    thornless blak locust
    larger/taller Japanese maple
    Chinese elm
    golden rain tree

  • User
    10 years ago

    How about a wax myrtle?
    Beautiful and evergreen.
    Native.

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