Hi ladies :D
I am wanting to plant a tree in my backyard but I am kind of at a loss. My back yard is not huge, the fence is about 24 ft or so from the house, it's about mid sized I'd say. The problem is we have zero shade to be in on super hot days. I really know nothing about trees all I know is I want something that doesn't have crazy roots to invade my plumbing, it can't have a huge branch spread that will always need to be cut to stay out of my neighbor's yard and I don't want anything like a pecan tree that will be dropping fruit everywhere. I can deal with leaves fine, but no fruit that my children will inevitably eat and I will have to clean all the time. I have what looks like a Dogwood in my front yard so I was thinking of something different in the back. Oh and I hate palm trees, just fyi....Any ideas??
We decided to plant a mexican plum on south side of house since it is a native, does well in full sun, and won't grow too big. Eventually it will bear fruit though.
A&M has a tree planting guide for texas I found helpful:
http://texastreeplanting.tamu.edu/
I''m guessing you will want a small or medium size tree.
I also like the texastreeplanting web site. Another site to visit is http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ where there is a database of native plants and trees. Planting a tree native to Texas will save you on your water bill and will require less maintenance, like fertilizer and pesticides. You also might consider what they call a bush (some of those seem more like short trees than bushes, IMO!).
Plan on watering the tree/bush well throughout the first year after you plant it. After that, regular rainfall should be enough (for native plants/trees).
Have fun!
Mimosa trees are pretty and quick growing. It will drop the peachy pink flowers in the summer and the seed pods later, so some consider it messy. I love the sweet aroma of the feathery flowers when they bloom late spring and early summer.
Lots of people like Bradford pears which have lovely white flowers in the spring. They also grow quickly.
Both these trees are relatively short lived (20 years I'm told, but decorative and not too large.
As a kid in Tennessee I loved to climb into one particular branch of our mimosa and sit and read. It was the biggest of the mimosas in our yard, but still pretty small. Climbing was basically one step up :)
Most trees will take many years to get to the size you want, alas.
Good luck.
