hmm....well my favorites have to be Live oak ( Quercus virginiana), Eastern Redbud, mature Cedrus, Willow Oak, mature Acer rubrum, large Japanese Maples- any variety, Virginia Pine- Pinus virginiana that has been grown in an open field- they get almost like Cedrus in a smaller form.

I like Mimosas- the tall, spreading ones in full bloom ( only if the flowers werent fertile and they were long lived, they'd be perfect!) I love large Beech trees with their huge smooth trunks and flaring surface roots.

I cant stand bradford pear anymore. They smell, their always small ,have an un-natural habit and as was mentioned earlier, they are self-destructive! Sweetgum are annoying, and they arent good for anything but fall color!

That pretty much sums it up!

Sam

I love oaks, I have a wide variety. Especially ones that like it moist. Swamp Chestnut Oak, Pin Oak, Willow Oak, Water Oak and Swamp White Oaks are just a few, and they grow fast with quality fall colors at different times.
I dont mind Red Maple and Sugar Maple.
I hate Silver Maple and Norway Maple, they are ugly, invasive with poor fall colors and disrupting roots systems.
I would never introduce Green Ash to my property either, its a messy tree, but maybe it would make good firewood.

favorite-- Russian olive, because the Army Corps of Engineers is calling for 100% eradication and historically the Army Corps of Engineers has been wrong about everything.

least favorite-- fake Hollywood trees that keep blooming through all seasons (e.g. The Last Samurai)

My favorites....

Dogwood, Redbud, Weeping willow, loblolly pine....

Least favorite...

Paradise tree, gum, sassafras (sure it smells good but Ive got them everywhere!) locust

I've fallen in love with the michelia champaca for its smell. Laburnum is also beautiful for its drooping yellowflowers, and when flowers fall off a jacaranda tree it just carpets the garden. Going to go buy an ylang ylang today!!!

I love big, old, red oaks; the kind with limbs as big as other trees stretching in every direction.

Unfortunately, my 8-year-old home was built right where the barn was from the old cow pasture, so the trees were cleared a long time ago. (It is also unfortunate that the previous homeowner didn't even bother to put in a few saplings anywhere on the property.) So, my little oak trees will hopefully be enjoyed by those who come after me.

For now, I'm a big fan of the October Glory Red Maples I planted. They're not to big yet, but they look like fireworks exploding in the fall.

I can live without willow trees.

My favorite tree is the Japanese Stewartia. Wonderful bark and Flowers- a four season tree and very hardy (mine has taken 30 degrees below zero. Another favorite is the three-flowered maple(acer triflorum), Great bark and wonderful Fall color.
I despised Norway Maples for obvious reasons and White Pines because they get too big for suburban yards and are very messy.

I have so many favorites, but probably my 5 best would be: jacaranda (beautiful flowers, gorgeous leaves), queen palm (very graceful and fast growing), camphor (year round green leaves, wonderful odor, and although I hear the berries can be a nuisance, I will grin and bear it), canary island date palm (big and gets neat ferns growing on it) and norfolk island pine (very different looking, my own personal giant Christmas tree that kinda looks out of place in Florida), all of which I have planted in the yard (and then some). Trees I dislike intensely are chinese tallow (beautiful fall colour, but very invasive like a weed from hell), scrub oaks (just dog ugly, aka in North Florida as Turkey Oak), Dogwood Tree (pretty flowers, a nice foliage in early spring, but foliage gets icky looking as summer wears on, especially if it doesn't rain enough and I dislike the way the tree looks in the winter when there are no leaves and it just looks creepy looking with all the spanish moss hanging off of it-- kinda like a dead tree), magnolias (had old beautiful ones around 80 ft tall in north florida, but between raking up the spent leaves twice a year and picking up the cones, they became too much of a nuisance) and finally I would have to say, Chinaberry Tree (grows like a weed and has a perpetual supply of beads falling all over).

Robin

fav. - Sweet Gums, and Hickories, the leaves look so good in the fall

least - hackberry, nuf said

My most hated tree has to be Pipal(Ficus Religiosa) I have 3 massive ones growing outside my boundary wall. They're effective for privacy but sinfully ugly, invasive, they break walls and sprout from cement(found one sprouting in cement on my 2nd floor balcony!). If I could have instant 50 foot trees I'd cut them in a heartbeat.
Favourite trees- So many! Michelia Champaca(and Figo) for its smell, Ditto Ylang Ylang. I love the way Jacaranda can carpet a lawn with its petals in spring. Laburnum has beautiful yellow racemes. Frangipani smells like a dream. Crape myrtle has STUNNING colour. I could go on....

hey people, does anyone have anything good or bad 2 say about a chinese pistache???

My favorites include sugar and silver maples, both are so pretty, the sugar maples look so beautiful in the fall where the silver is lovely in a breeze, the sun glittering off the leaves (silver maple is weak is the main drawback). I also love white oaks, and beeches. Apples are pretty, and flowering crab apples are in bloom all over so they are now a favorite.
I HATE poplars and cottonwoods. They are weak, break all the time, and are filthly with pollen, cotten, sticky seed pods and are just horrid trees. f the cotton isn't blowing all over the yards, cars, in the house all over the screens, then the branches are breaking and all over the yard. THEN the seedpods fall and are a mess to clean!! I like birches but they are too weak too, the harsh winters and snow wreck them. Don't like pines, I agree they are overused and the sap is so nasty. I know a lot of people love them near their house but I wouldn't live in a pinewoods.

My favorite tree is the big huge burr oak in my backyard. It has to be a couple hundred years old- its just enourmous. And my least favorite are the 3 locust trees in my yard, while the flowers smell wonderfull, they "snow" all over the place, make a mess in my pond, spread all over the place AND theyre a real stinker to try and rake- all those little cornflake leaves and mini-twigs. Plus they have atrocious thorns !!!!

My least favorite tree is the one that poops purple berries all over my car every spring. I don't know what it's called, but it literally poops hundred of ripe berries that splat when they hit the ground and leave a lovely staining mound of squished berry.

My favorite trees are:

- female ginko trees that turn gorgeous yellow in the fall

- weeping willows

- magnolia trees in the spring when the blossoms emerge

- japanese maples for the colors and leaf shapes

- very old oak trees for how graceful the branches can get - oaks just have a way of looking so wise!

My favorites that would never live here are white birch and aspen. I love birch bark and shimmering aspen leaves.

My favorites that will live here are pretty much any oak, Texas and Mexican redbud, and madrone. Oh, how I want some madrones on my property!! Oh, and desert willow is SO pretty!

I'm not even sure what my least favorite would be. In the past, I would have said mesquite, because it's invasive and almost impossible to get rid of. But without it, we wouldn't have many trees here. If you prune it properly, it will grow into a tree instead of staying shrub-like. We have some really old, big ones on our property that I think are beautiful. I have gotten to where I like the lacy sort of leaves on it. And while it's not a good shade tree, it's good to plant things under, because it's just enough shade to keep things from frying, but not too much shade. Oh, and it stays green in the summer, when all of the grasses and wildflowers are turning brown from the drought!

Tamarisk (salt cedar) is a pest around here in the rivers and lakes, but, at least they are pretty when they flower, and the provide wildlife habitat. I just would NEVER plant one. Everytime I think of a tree I'm not crazy about, I think of some redeeming quality it has. I guess I'm just an optimist:)

Okay, now it's time to ask the birds! :)

I don't think I've posted here, but maybe!, however, favorite trees are:

the Crabapple and

Crepe Myrtle. I haven't met one of either variety I didn't like and want.

Leat favorite:

Wild cherry. And only because of the tent caterpillars. So gross!

I am located in Southern California, in an inland valley area with plenty of sun and dry, hot summers. I am considering a chinese pistcahe for the small front yard of my 2-story home. I've been doing a lot of homework on the Internet about this species. Most of what I read about this tree is good. But can anyone give me a reason NOT to consider this tree, and are there other trees I should consider that would be better choices than this one? Thanks so much.

Favorites: white birch- i like the bark and the way they tend to "split" as they grow. Contorted Filbert because of its' uniqueness.
Least favorites: mimosa- a dirty tree and fruitless mulberry trees.

HATE: cedar (any kind)
manitoba maple

LOVE: weeping mulberry

Favorites: Tulip tree, Sweet Gum, Sassafrass, American elm (when healthy), Ohio Buckeye (I'm a fan :-), Larch (but mines infested with Japanese beetles right now, don't think it is gonna make it), Swamp white oak, domestic basswood (as in not the wild type), American beech.

Least favorite: Silver maple, Ornamental crab apples, "red" maples (the ones with purple leaves, I like the ones that turn red in the fall...), Japanese maple - they seem to fragile for my tastes.

Cindy

My favorite tree is the Hass Avocado, for its fruit and its tropical foliage. I must also put in a good word for the Mexican Elderberry, which is shrubby, messy, and attracts numerous species of bird to our yard. I too like the Purple Robe Locust for a very fast growing shade tree with gorgeous raspberry colored racemes (I'll be dead before my English Walnut grows to a respectable size).

Least Favorite: The Ash that blackenend the yard, reproduced itself like tribbles, and cost 1500 to cut down. Oh, and the Silver Maple that lifted my kitchen floor and required months of raking in the fall and winter.

Favorite tree is the Sycamore (London Plane), and next would be oaks, then red maples. We just planted all three - two sycamores, three red oaks, and two red maples.

Least favorite is black locust, followed by Idaho, purple robe, etc. We just had to remove five black locust that suckered and came up from an Idaho. At first they were fine, then they flowered and the aphids came. For more details, see my rant to happ on the CA. forum. We'll be pulling up seedlings til doomsday. grrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

Diana

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:737220}}

my favorite trees change... used to be river birch, black walnut, and oaks. now i am turning to fruit trees - too many to list.

hate: sweetgum, silver maple, and mulberry

jennifer

thumbs down: elms, maples, and boxelder (if I could blink my eyes and make every last one drop dead, I would in a heartbeat)
thumbs up: aspen, birch, serviceberry, ginko, redbud, pagoda dogwood, and many others

Favorite: Bay Laurel
Reason: Useful in cooking, smells wonderful, beautiful evergreen foliage, wonderful tradition (crowns of laurel leaves were given to athletes and poets), repels cockroaches

Least favorite: Bananna trees
Reason: Attract cockroaches like crazy

Only you southern gardeners can really appreciate that.

favorites: hollies, river birch, white oak, Eastern Redbud
can't stand: Bradford Pear. It is everywhere down here--falls apart in a strong wind, horrible pollen, and I can't stand those stupid lollypop shapes.

Surprised I haven't seen yellowwood mentioned. Cladrastis kentukea. Classy.

Favorite: Sycamore (for their majestic size, their bark, and broad leaves)
Least Favorite: Tree of Heaven (for smell, horrible weedy growth habit, useless wood, and tendency to blow down in storms)

Favorites:
Willow Oak , its dappled shade effects on a city sidewalk, Foster Holly Tree,its beautiful next to campus buildings, Magnolia Trees, seem warm and dark at the same time, Pin Oak, looks uniform but still wild, Blue Spruce, color and size, Japanese Maple, neat concept and varieties, Red Maple, beautiful colors, Sugar Maple, fall colors and history, Norway Spruce, great in the summer or contrasting against snow in winter,Black Gum, neat history and Fall colors it's an underated tree, Ginkgo Trees,wonderful history fan shaped leaves and yellow color in the fall White Oaks, beauty and size potential. I like some False Cypress trees too because of their evergreen color varieties such as Crippsii.
Dislike: Silver Poplar, too many suckers and shallow roots Silver Maple (in a yard) drops limbs and shallows roots.

My favourite tree is without question the Scots pine with it's lined craggy bark and knopps of green pine needles.The branches are easily broken in the wind creating Arthur Rackham style pictures.Against a clear blue sky they are unsurpassingly beautiful.
My least favourite is my neighbours leylandii fir which seems to grow whilst I'm looking and blocks the sun from my geenhouses.

I love trees, almost all kinds, but I hate, Hate, HATE the Pin Oak! We have 4 huge ones in our yard, and they're the messiest trees ever. Their leaves are ugly, and shrivel up and turn brown on the tree. No fall color to speak of. Every spring the dusty green pins cover my yard, car, house, kids, you name it. They have spindly, tangly branches that come down and litter the yard at the slightest wind, all year round. And tons of acorns in the fall (well, the squirrels love those).

The only good think I can say about them is that they provide some shade.

Our Shade Tree Commision in town wanted to put one in our front yard! I told them no way!

My favorite would probably be the dogwood, for all around beauty; beautiful flowers in spring, lovely shape, nice shiny leaves, berries in fall. I like the shape and bark of birches, and the fall color of several varities of maples.

favourites:
frangipani
magnolia
jackaranda
squigly bark gum trees
hybiscus
most tropical trees

hate:
paper bark
i don't know any of the names

Fig tree, because I have planted it together with my kids 3 years ago. Every time I look at it, it makes me happy!

Thanks folks for the geography/biology lessons. I've just completed this whole thread and it's been fun. In this northern bush of balsam, spruce, cedar, poplar and white pine it's satisfying to read names of places and trees that seem so exotic. I wonder if our months of cold weather leave us with just the hardy native varieties? This has been great.It's two in the morning with an April snow coming down. Thanks again.

Favorite:

Empress Tree (growth rate and unusual structure)
Dawn Redwood (unusual/fantastic history)
Giant Sequoia
Sugar Maples (beautiful color in the fall)
Those Purple Maples (purple foliage  canÂt figure out what it is  want one though!)
Oleander (canÂt grow it here  but itÂs absolutely idiot proof.)

Least favorite:

Scrub oaks
The Junky Oak thatÂs at the end of my driveway
Ash! (What a worthless tree - drops branches, not twigs, branches!)
Cottonwood! (Fuzzy, nasty, weirdness that floats and gets stuck in radiators, screens, and your nose! Also litters the yard with branches!)

And unfortunately, IÂve got all my "least" favorites in my yard. IÂm trying to slowly replace them with my favorites.

My favorites are cottonwood (yes, cottonwood) and sycamore. I love the height and shape of these trees. I especially love the sycamore trees' bark. The beautiful white color stands out amoung the other trees. They grow along the creek beds here in the Ozarks of Missouri. We have a cottonwood tree in our yard and it is the prettiest tree we have. Yes, it spreads cotton puffs everywhere, but I still love this species. Black Walnut is another of my favorites. I think these are beautiful trees.

My least favorite tree with out a doubt is the gum tree. Those are the most horrid trees on earth!!! They are pretty trees in the spring and fall but they drop the most horrid gum balls that must be picked up constantly! I also am not fond of mulberry trees either. They are really ugly and parts of them die out and leave leafless branches hanging in them.

I enjoy all the paperbark trees. They look very old and rustic the way the bark just lays there.

I dislike Momosa (sp?) with a passion. They grow every you do not want them to grow, get struck by lightning more often than other trees, and they go right for the sewer pipes!

I love the grafted Weeping Cherry! So beautiful when it is in bloom and the long drooping stems and leaves are so interesting when not!!
also, the Japanese Plum Yew!! Wish I had two more! The needles are beautiful!

I hate hollies. The leaves fall all over and if you are barefooted you are bound to get stuck!
Also, Wild cherries...birds love the fruit and then the birds love your car!
Deb

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb

We have a lot of English Elm here. They drip sap all summer and the box elder bugs stay all year if you have the trees. We cut down 5 and no longer have the bugs [they are friendly though] :-)

Favorite tree: Bald Cypress (Fairly fast growing but very tough, mine survived a horrid ice storm in 2002 with nary a broken limb, interesting shape in winter, gorgeous rusty color in fall.)
Least favorite: Silver Maple (just axed one Sunday. Hated the helicopter seeds, shallow roots, very weak and can't hack an ice storm.)
Newest Addtion: Japanese Maple (Don't know of any pros and cons yet. It's just a little baby now. Ask in a few years.)
Would Love to Have: small Weeping Cherry (With high lines in yard, limited on tree height so weeping cherry sounds good.) and Dawn Redwood (With high lines in yard, will never grow, but would have loved to try. Maybe if I buy the property next door? Never know.)

The Mimosa tree is the bane of my existense! They never die-never! And the seedlings grow so fast you can't keep up! Next to that I'd probably say the Silver Maple, for all the reason's that have been previously stated.

My favorites are Cherry tree's. I love them all. Especially the Yoshino and the Weeping. I think I also am partial to the Jacaranda tree, but I've never had one so I'm purely speculating.

Favorite - Palms

Least Favorite - The oh so boring Bradford Pear.

Jay

Favorites:

Overcup Oak, Burr Oak, Sugar Maple, Sycamore, Japanese Maple, Redbud.

Least Favorite:
Tree of Heaven, Sumacs, Norway Maple, Paulownia. They are all invasive in my area. TOH and Sumacs are like a plague.

Favorites: Beach, Crab Apple, White Pine, Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, Sugar Maple, Honeylocust, holly.

Least Favorite: Arbor Vitae. Boring tree that produces no flowers or fruit and always looks fake. WAY overused.

I have a love/hate relationship with: Eastern Red Cedar, Catalpa, Sweet Gum, Wild Cherry. Look weedy, but I admire their toughness.

Living in Wisconsin I do adore so many different trees. But my Mom had a gorgeous flowering mini crab apple tree that in spring would smell so wonderful, like almost a musky Hibiscus type scent that would last about 4 weeks. The fruit on this tree was about as small as a pea and was very abundant as the tree itself in bloom would look like one big huge flower on it's own. But most of the pea sized apples that would never have any issues with scabbing or insects would stay on the tree through the winter that would be a #1 staple of the bird life that never flew south for the winter time as my Mom would also have bird houses and Cardinals would stay along with Red Winged Black Birds and others. When the trees were flowering they would attract so many butterflies, humming birds and honey bees, that the next door neighbor would surly get his fill from, and even offer up honey to my Mom, otherwise he wouldn't have had so much honey and bees wax to sell at the farmers market. But unfortunately in 2012, my Mom's condo association voted on removing her wonderful bird and furry ground fellows tree (Yes! Also the squirrels of at least 3 to 5 different kinds would take advantage of all of the tiny apples that had fell to ground, along with chipmunks and some other furry ground animals, so I never did see what the big deal was. They had said that tree had made a mess. Well I beg to differ, and the closing vote was neighbor that actually got kicked out by the banks foreclosure no more than 4 months later. Now my 2nd favorite tree would be the lilac tree, not the bush but the actual tree. I remember when I had one right outside my bedroom window and the scent of lilacs would come in through out the lilac season, and my Dad had planted them to flower 2 weeks apart from each other, so I had that scent in my bedroom going for a good 4-6 weeks long at least! Now Wisconsin has a law in place that no one is allowed and will be fined if they are to plant any sort of troublesome tree. One big one being the darn Cotton Wood Tree. And for those that have them on their land that are in neighborhoods that clog up gutters and fly over to parks in which the fire departments HAVE to do a controlled burn to keep them from growing out of control every single year. This junk get into your air filters and in your cars, garages, homes and all over the place. I really hate these trees, and I just don't understand why people would take advantage of free removal by the city, especially if they have a fire place, free wood to burn for them for the winter time. And now these trees are huge! It's just unreal what you pull out of your gutters every year. Even though we want to enjoy our spring times and not have our usual floods as that is what usually happens here, but when you have Cotton Wood trees, you almost beg for rain every day so these seeds will only drop on the owners home and not yours when floating through the air and causing allergies with watery eyes, sneezing and being all stuffed up from just trying to enjoy the outside, which is impossible when you have a cantankerous neighbor that just won't take down that damn tree, even though it almost looks like it's 1/2 way dead anyway. Maybe some day it will get hit by lightning, and then he will have to use his home owners insurance to fix what ever damage it has caused and Karma will win in end. Just because he didn't do right by others. I know if I bought property, I would surely call the city and have them come and take it down as soon as they were able. And one more tree I don't care for all that much for at all either, is the Maple tree and for some reason, the seeds or what some people call whirly birds or helicopters I think they are a real pain in ars and for some reason the are falling off all year long and are green and slimy. Leaving the steps and landings all stained with this slimy mess so you can't even sit down and dry your hair naturally in the nice weather. And sometimes they even drop in clumps but when they do that they are too heave and drop onto the lawn, or what ever is left of it, when it rains it's a muddy mess on that side. I am doing my best to get the heck out of here, but I have some issues I need take care of right away! Heath issues that are stopping me from doing the simplest tasks. I never thought I'd need to be calling the HDRC for help like this. But I need to get out of here. Plus I just got a letter from my land lord that my rent is going up (only by $5.00) but still, I've been here for 14 years now. And I have been so unhappy and haven't had a single update done since I move in here. Sorry for over sharing, but she knows she has me over a barrel here, I have 3 auto immune disorders and many other medical issues that she used to be very empathetic to and I don't know what's happened to her now. She just no longer cares anymore at all! Now my Thyroid is effecting me. I knew years ago they found a nodule on my thyroid, but I went to a specialist and he said it's very common. My Dr. then always kept up with the testing. He now moved and I'm left with this flippent woman of a GP that is only in it for the money. Need to get rid of her now, and see if I can get a blood test tomorrow while I'm at the hospital anyway with 2 appts. back to back. I did feel so sorry for my Mom, she not only had a shade tree that she loved watching her birds every morning, but it was also a tree that gave her some privacy from her kitchen window and I think that was totally unfair for them to just take that away from her. She loves wildlife and birds, and loved waking up to it, watching and hearing the Cardinals and seeing all of the beautiful butterflies and other germinating creatures. Even the honey bees seemed very docile and as if they were trained to be non violent and just be busy worker bees along with all of the humming birds of every color of the rainbow that would stay still just long enough to make out their colors, I even saw a turquoise one, my favorite color. I went on google maps and they really need to update their pictures. That tree is still there on Google maps. I couldn't believe that when I saw that. Oh well, It's been awhile and they must have taken that picture right before they took that tree down. All I see is people raving about how much the love those trees and how glad they are they chose them. Mom moved in when that tree was a bit young yet. I wish I could turn back time, and announce her neighbors were being kicked out by the bank. That would have changed things a lot back then. They wouldn't have had a voice or a leg to stand on. And I believe the bank would have said "Keep that tree!" It only adds to the curb appeal and beauty for the next buyers. Oh well, to late now, Thanks for taking the time to read this. And God Bless to all those that have or have chosen the Mini Crab Apple Trees, you know what I'm talking about!

I have many favorite trees. Trees are my favorite plant. Firstly I love any old tree, they look so stately and strong.

Love my live oak, black walnut, pomegranate, and California cherry. Everyone should own a lemon tree, as it flowers and fruits all the time, and smells divine. Cactus pear trees are beautiful and provide vegetables and fruits on the same plant.

The California redwoods and pines are great too. Most of us don't have the space to plant a redwood.

I do hate invasive weed tree seedlings.

Mine is encompassed in one tree. I love my Mimosa tree when it's in full bloom. It is the talk of the neighborhood because it is huge and beautiful! However, eventually all of those lovely flowers wither and drop and then comes the mess of raking - blossoms first, then the leaves in fall and finally the seed pods. It's a love/hate relationship!

Mimosas are awesome mimosa trees, not so much.

I love Cottonwood. The leaves rustling brings me peace. I love the colors and the form of the tree. I associate them with happy times.

Least favorite, Tree of Heaven (Hell) for the invasiveness, woody suckers that go EVERYWHERE, every part of the tree stinks including the flowers, and the fact that flies are drawn to them, the awful yellow flowers that get everywhere. They also take forever to get leaves.

Somehow I mind less the mess that Cottonwods make, and I mind less the soft wood that suddenly drops limbs on Cottowoods than Tree of Hell.