Silver maples have weak branch structure and break easily in high winds. Also the same for Bradford pears. Everytime we get a big storm blowing through, there are many cases of Bradford pears being knocked down due to cotton root rot or their branches have rotted or are heavy and half the tree will be torn away. It's not a pretty thing when this happens. Check to see if Dallas has a tree ordinance. Most likely they will have a list of "unprotected" trees that are not recommended for this area. I know the City of Allen has a real strict tree ordinance and you would have to get a permit from the city to cut down a protected tree, but not the unprotected trees.

Willows are another one to avoid. Weak wood, bug infested, always dropping little dead stems - but woodpeckers love them.

Add Fruitless Mulberry, Mimosa, & Arizona Ash to your trash tree list.

Most trees that are fast growers are, unfortunately, trash trees because fast growth = weak growth. There are a few exceptions, but that's the general rule of thumb.

How about a sweetgum or a red oak? They have attractive leaves like the silver maple and are relatively quick. Just be sure to look for a fruitless sweetgum, unless you like to use the little spiny balls in crafts.

Are you looking for a definition of trash trees, or a list? A good list has been started. I didn't see Hackberries mentioned, but they are usually considered trash trees. Cottonwoods are another, as are Chinaberries.

Basically a trash tree is a tree that is weak wooded, weak branched, disease and insect prone and/or is messy. Weak branching is branching that is tight, or close together. Someone mentioned Bradford Pears, and they are good examples of this kind of branching. Branching should look more like this: L than like this: By the way, don't plan on planting your tree when it's close to fall - go ahead and wait it out and plant your tree in October or November. That is the best time to plant almost anything, especially trees.

Sally

Sweetgum was mentioned as a good tree, and it is UNLESS you live with alkaline soil. Here in far northwest Dallas county there were quite a few in our neighborhood 15 years ago, and there is only 1 left, and by it's look, this is it's last year. They are great trees, but don't do well unless your native soil is acidic.

Thanks for all the info, yes i wanted to know what makes the "trash trees" and a list of them. Thanks! I love sweet gum, did not know they came fruitless but then again I had one and it croaked on me unlike the Burr Oak. What about a list of good trees?

Deb is right. I (or I should say my husband and a friend of ours with a chain saw) just cut down a 10+ year old sweet gum because the top half of it was dead or dying. I was sad to see it go because it had such good color in the fall when it was healthy. If ou want fall color, Chinese pistache is a good one, but try to get a male tree since the females have seed pods and are a bit messy.

Chinese pistache is a great tree as denise said. I have a male and a female, and I do wish the female would die. My only complaint besides the nuts, is that they don't have the great fall color I thought they would - at least not in my yard. But the ones in the Kroger parking lot look great in fall. I think theirs don't get as much water and care, and that's probably why - so keep that in mind if you get one.

Your Bur Oak is one of my very favorite large trees (I have one in my backyard). I would also recommend Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum and Carolina Buckthorn.

Carla in Rowlett

Now i want a Shantung Maple after seeing the pictures, wow. I saw Metro maples does not recommend planting in July or Aug...but didn't say anything about June...hmm
I don't know if I want to risk it on a beautiful tree like that. Thoughts?

It's kinda hot out to be planting a tree. Unlike a smaller plant you could provide shade for, a tree is just going to burn. I planted my trees in early May and that was pushing it. The tree, even if it's watered, will look all wilted and under the weather. If you can tough it out and wait until it cools down, it'll pay off in the long run.

Yea i can wait, and that's what I thought. Those pictues are just soo tempting.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I have 9 bare root roses sitting in buckets of water because I just couldn't say no to the sales combined with everyone's beautiful blooming photos (dang enablers)! I also have 9 laundry baskets from the dollar store that are going to have to go over them so they don't fry once I get the poor things in the ground in June. But none of them were more than $10, some were even $3.50 so if I kill them it won't exactly be traumatizing. A tree though, that's an investment I won't do mid summer. Too big and expensive!

I waited to plant until fall and I'm glad.(I got here in July) I planted 22 ornamental trees and 2 shade trees(I was cursed with dead sugar maples here and nothing else!)I have had 100% success rate with my trees.
The Carolina Buckthorn and Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum are going to be hard to find BTW. I found 2 Rusty BV by chance(a male and female! whoo hoo) I haven't found the Carolina Buckthorn yet. The BHV were worth the search. I'm sure the Carolina will be too.
Oaks are good.
I love Redbuds even tho they are common.
I really like Desert Willows
The biggest problem I've seen with trees here in DFW is placement!!!! Even a lady on here on GW had to chop down two GORGEOUS palm trees because of placement!
They were in danger of touching power lines unfortunatly.
We have entire street of what I call the "Dr Suess trees"
They are all badly deformed from being pruned away from power lines. Burr Oaks get big. Make sure you want that much shade and that it's not taller than the power lines or is going to end up over the roof during a storm!!! Here is a list of good trees for DFW TX.
They give a description for each tree and a general picture. It also has a list for Ornamental trees if lines around your house where you want a tree is less than 30 ft. Good luck PJ

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas smartscape

Wow the Shumard is nice too! I love trees, PJ i totally agree with placement, i don't have any power lines near my house i guess they run underground. Thanks everyone for your input.

I would definitely wait till Mid september AT THE EARLIEST! October to late feburary-early March (before they leaf out) is the best time. It does make a big different planting a tree right before they leaf out and right after they leaf out. I have two shantung maple 'Fire Dragon' and one that was planted right before they leaf out is growing new leaves right now while the other one planted a month after that tree hasn't done anything at all.

Here is a link to pics of my Chinese Pistachios. Like most trees, every year the color varies. But, they can be dazzling in a good year, and usually have at least good color every year.

Go down the thread a little ways to get to the CP's.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese Pistachio color

Dang RC, why don't my CP's look like that? They've NEVER had that kind of color and they are 23 years old. I've even got the same kind of Red Oak you have, and it's never shown THAT much color. I've heard to get good fall color it's best to grow them a little on the dry side and a little hungry. Is that your secret? Maybe this year I will neglect the St. Augustine under them and see if they don't color up better. Yours look like the ones in our Kroger parking lot!

Getting "dry" out here is not much of a problem.

My only tip, and I'm not really sure it matters, is that I give them a dose of micronutrients ever year with an application of greensand.

My pin oak also gives me a good red color about every third year. Three years ago it was fire engine red almost. This last year was a good solid red as per the photos, but, the year before, it was more brown than red.

Fall color is a funny thing. I hear the growing conditions in the season make a difference, but the amount of sunshine they get just as they are shutting down the chlorophyl making process is key. Alot of wet and overcast weather right at that time kills the color.

Around here we have to add the prospect of a 40 mile an hour wind getting them before they get good or going from 75 degrees one day to 15 the next and having them all fall.

I guess it is what keeps life interesting!

My favorite trees have always been live oaks, but since they require yearly pruning, and it costs more each year to keep them up properly, my new favorite tree is the Elm. We inherited one on this property and we have fallen in love with it. In the spring, it is covered in delicate white flowers, and in the fall, the leaves turn a beautiful golden color. The tree itself has delicate foliage...just beautiful...and little or no maintenance.

One gardeners 'trash' is anothers treasure. We planted a silver maple about 7 years ago. (Didnt know then it was considered trash). But I have never lost anything but two small twigs in all our storms. But I did lose a bransh from an ash tree. (not Arizona ash) Ashes are one of the hardest trees are they not? To balance it out we have also planted some red maples, bur and red oaks. But we would really like to have more silver maples. We wont be around in 50 years or so to enjoy the full shaded maturity of the oaks!

True Story. We bought a house and the builder planted an 8' live oak in our front yard. The house next door, same thing, only 2 years earlier. When ours was planted, theirs was about 10 feet tall. We had ours thinned out about every other year. Neighbor did not. 10 years later, our oak was about 25' tall...his about 15. AND we had full St Augustine growing under it, as healthy as the rest of the lawn.

Im sold on getting those trees thinned out!

if you want an answer to the Shantung Maple question, email Keith, the owner of Metro Maples. I've asked him questions in the past and got clear answers.

Last year I got mine as a birthday present in mid May.

cynthia

Look what happened to my Arizona Ash. It became infested with bugs and fungus and fell over with only 20mph winds.

It looked terrible, but my daddy painted our Arizona Ashes with white paint about 4 feet up the trunk to keep it from getting bugs and diseases. Worked like a charm. I climbed those trees for many years. Never once did a limb break off on me. Are they considered trash because of sap dripping or something? Ours made it thru Carla just fine...and we were pretty far South. Near Jones High School. As a matter of fact, we lost some singles, but not the AAs... (I know, I know, I am telling my age...:)

PJ, just fyi but Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum doesn't propagate by "male/female." You need to have a plant that is not genetically identical to the other and which will bloom at the same time. RBH's are fairly common in Dallas-area nurseries. Unfortunately, ALL of them buy from the same wholesaler, who also unfortunately, grows ALL of his stock from genetically identical RBVs (ie, he grows from cuttings and not from seed). So the trick is to find a RBH that is not grown from this wholesaler. I bought a RBV at Rohdes last year and ended up buying a Blackhaw Viburnum from a nursery in South Carolina in hopes of them propogating each other. I went to just about every nursery in the entire Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex and every one I went to bought their RBV stock from this one wholesaler. It was very frustrating.

Carolina Buckthorns, also common in Dallas-area nurseries, will berry profusely without needing any additional pollination. Thank goodness.

Carla in Rowlett

Carla, interesting info. Are you talking about Nortex?

Texas Ash is a good tree.

Yes, Nortex does ring a bell as being the name of the wholesaler. I will say that the RBV I purchased from Rohde's (grown by Nortex) is very healthy and thriving. I don't mean to give the impression that I have a "bone to pick" with the wholesaler.

Carla in Rowlett

Willow Oaks - have long narrow slick leaves which stick together, cannot be separated, clog up gutters and downspouts causing drain water to back up under your roof. Also Canadian Elms create the same problems.