Hi!

Do you have trees around the house? I have 3 a few meters from 2 sides. Nice to wake up to the chirping of the birds. I prune them at least once a year to control their crown though, otherwise they would make a mess of the roof and gutters.

If you want to plant one near your house, make sure to consider spreading roots as they will break through concrete walks and walls.

Thanks for the tip.I have a question several of us have been pondering. I have a water maple.They grow very fast and grow very large. Some say that a water maple 's roots will seak out the water supply. Like water lines and such. Is this true.I tried looking it up once and all I could gather were ,that they were called water Maple ,because people used to plant them around ponds. I planted 3 of them because I wanted trees that grew fast.

Some trees roots are more than able to split water lines and things so you better make sure your planting them in a good place if there a large tree. Not too sure about Maples though. But if its a large tree then ye don't place near any water pipes.

There are things and stuff we call indicators. There are trees that love water, water maple there and some figs for us, so they grow well in water-saturated areas. They become something like water indicators.

If that water maple seeks water then it probably has a deep root system (versus the spreading type which can be found in arid region plants). So like Tom says, it can split pipes, gas or water. Though I doubt if it it can sense pipes, unless they are leaking underground. But they do bore through to the water table.

Fantastic tip. I have actually seen many houses that had trees planted near them that have done just that. Broken or cracked the foundation because they did not think about how the roots spread out as the tree is growing. I have planted trees around the house but none of them are closer than 20 feet to the house.

This allows for shade and bird chirps but not too much of anything else. I do have to mention that I liked the fact that you stated to trim the trees. that is very important for healthy growth of your trees.

Yeah, pruning is essential is tree maintenance. I trim mine at least once a year. One of my favorite tricks is to cut-off the top portion of the main stem so the crown would spread out, providing more shade. Proper pruning, when done in the rigth time, will also encourage vigorous flowering.

We have a rather large tree in the back yard, a rose of sharon bush, and quite a few bushes of various kinds, some of them used as a border. I really want to change some of them soon. I'd like to replace them with flowering bushes since they're evergreen now.

Other factors to consider before planting additional trees:

They make yard clean-up more difficult and more necessary.

If whatever falls from trees isn't scrupulously cleaned up you can get baby trees growing all over the yard before you know it.

They grow faster than you would expect.

Sometimes they block the view of the house completely.

If they get diseased they may fall on your house or car.

Of course, they have their excellent side as well: They provide shade and privacy. The right ones make the yard look nice. You can hang a swing on them or put a chair under them.

Good points here... this is actually why we've chosen to look for some flowering bushes instead of more trees. I don't like large trees being near the house during the severe storms we have all summer long... but only having one at this new house is fine... we were surrounded with them at the other house.

An alternative to large trees would be to plant ornamental trees. They wouldn't grow to the height of the larger variety,so should not pose a problem during storms.I myself have many oramental trees and I prefer these myself.Don't have to worry about them getting into power lines and such.We have power lines running directly across our front lawn so we cannot put large trees in.