Welcome Lynette.

Hi, Lynette and welcome to the forum! I don't have a pine in mind to recommend to you, but I do have a tree.

Chinese Pistache, a medium-sized tree (30-40'). I'm attaching an info sheet from Texas Aggie site. Read about this tree. I think it is a good bet for you. The best planting time for this tree is fall, so you're right in line with that. It is drought, wind, and ice tolerant.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese Pistache

Welcome to the forum, Lynette,

I remember having saturated soil, and not all that long ago. That's Oklahoma for you....swinging from one extreme to another!

Pines are having a lot of issues with various bark beetles in recent years in Oklahoma and it seems to be getting worse, so a pine is not what I would choose if I wanted a tree that was going to live long and stay healthy. It would be quite frustrating to plant one, have it adjusting and doing well for a couple of years, and then having the bark beetles kill it.

We had a large Eldarica pine tree in our front yard in Fort Worth, but it was not planted close to the house because pine trees get very large over the years and if you put them too close to the house, they will get increasingly too close to it as they enlarge and then will begin to grow crooked as they attempt to "lean away" from the house. We planted ours 20' from the house and only about 12' from the front sidewalk, which was almost too close to the sidewalk as the tree grew.

This summer, a neighbor of ours lost a row of pines that had been planted along the fence line by a previous property owner about 25 years ago. They were huge--easily 30' to 40' tall and served as a wonderful privacy screen. I've been watching those trees grow for the 16 years since we first bought our property here, and they grew really fast....but a wildfire got that section of them this summer and now they're gone. They looked great for all of fall and winter every year, but often struggled in the heat and drought here. Based on watching them all these years, I've never planted a pine tree in our yard here because I want a tree that can tolerate our summer weather and still look good and stay healthy.

I don't know that watering the Maple made it weak. It is more likely that the two back-to-back drought years were hard on it. Any tree can snap in wind. There's only so much wind force that any tree can tolerate, and even healthy, high-quality trees can break in a wind storm or in an ice storm.

I've mostly stuck to planting oak trees on our property because of their hardwood and longevity, with a few understory trees like deciduous magnolia, chaste tree, various hollies and desert willow that flower and give us periods of color. We have about 10 acres of woodland although we built our house on higher ground in what essentially was fallow farm land/cow pasture that had been left to grow as it choose for about 25 years and it only had two trees that we kept when we cleared the land to build the house--one post oak and one large native peacan tree. Since building the house, I have made my decisions on what to plant in the yard based on what I've observed is healthy and happy in the woodland.

I like Susan's suggestion of the Chinese Pistache. They are very good trees.

I'm going to link the website of the Oklahoma Forestry Service because it has links to several guides that detail great trees for various parts of the state. Maybe you'll see something there that you like.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Selection Guides at OFS Website

Thanks for the welcome!

I have always worried about pine trees for the reasons all y'all have stated. I do love the one I have. Sure would like to have some more. There's a spot in the back yard where I might put a few, then just cross my fingers that they stay healthy.

Chinese Pistache has definitely been on my list. Question about those: If I plant a female only, will it still make berries absent a male? Does the male tree just ensure that the berries are fertile seeds? I've read that birds like them, and part of my goal is abandoning vegetable and flower gardening is to make the yard a wildlife haven.

The other one I'm looking at for the corner of the front yard by the street is a Lacebark Elm. They have that classic tree shape I remember from growing up on Elmwood in Ponca City, before the plague of Dutch Elm Disease :( They made the most gorgeous canopy over the entire street. Such a loss, all those great big grand trees.

So another question: 115 degree summer temperatures are unbearable, and electric bill's ridiculous.

I'm wanting to plant some trees on the south side of the house where I used to plant corn and tomatoes. Ideas for that hot, dry spot? I can fix dryness, so even medium drought tolerance would be okay. That's one spot I was thinking of for a pistache.

Again, thanks for the welcome and the good info. It's nice to find gardening people who are familiar with the madness of Oklahoma's climate.

Friends of mine planted their Chinese Pistache on the west side of their house to bring it some shade. It has thrived there.

(Welcome!)

Lisa in OKC

Welcome! It just so happens, when we moved into our first house about 10 years ago, the two trees we planted in our barren backyard were Chinese Pistache and Lacebark Elm. Great minds think alike! I was aiming for no-raking (small leaves) plus durability and tolerance of our weather.

Between the two, the Pistache was the winner in our suburban backyard. It didn't grow as quickly, but it is a beautiful tree if pruned properly while it's young. I have no idea if we had male or female, but we had only one tree and it had the red berries. The fall foliage color doesn't last terribly long in our wind, it seemed like they had almost turned... almost turned... turned! Then the next day on the ground. :) Spreading branches, creating good shade under the tree - enough to kill the bermuda anyway. The twigs look a little chunky in the winter (sort of nubby, or stubby, like sausages instead of thin and twiggy and delicate) and it took a little longer to leaf out. But I loved that tree and plan to plant another at our new place when I find a good spot.

Our lacebark elm had pretty shape, but more upright, and not creating a lot of shade. Maybe because it still needs to grow bigger to begin spreading. It also had several limbs come down in ice storms, even though it was young and supple-limbed. It was just a little more gangly and not quite as "tree-ish" if that makes sense.

Not sure where in Tulsa you are, but I have my eye on a tree-planting program they are doing in OKC's Heritage Hills. They have selected trees for tolerance to street traffic, exhaust, drought, etc, and even though I am in the 'burbs, I am going to try at least one of their selections out. They are trying to recreate that tree-lined, historic vision like you mentioned having in Ponca. Someone telling me about the Heritage Hills tree program showed me their Zelkova. Beautiful! I'm attaching a link for you to read about their selections.

We have a two-story house and a huge oak tree shades most of the south side. I'm going to look at one of these big trees to plant to shade the rest.

Here is a link that might be useful: HPI Tree Program