What is a good choice for a fast growing shade tree?

[patandchickens]

Sorry, but I wouldn't suggest japanese cherries - they do not grow fast and are susceptible to a huge range of diseases, at least in PA and points north. There are ornamental crabapples that are more disease-resistant; but really none of the fruit trees (ornamental or productive) grow particularly rapidly at all.

Lindens, littleleaf linden and native basswood grow sorta "a bit faster than your average tree", and are pretty tolerant of questionable soil conditions. And are reasonably attractive. They have rather brittle wood though -- they don't usually come *down* in a storm, but calve off branches (both small and large) a lot more than most trees. They tend to attract a lot of bees when flowering, which can be a plus or a minus depending on how you feel about a lot of bees. Might be a reasonable choice if you don't mind an eventually-large somewhat-weak tree.

What size mature tree are you looking for? Can it be big tree-sized, or does it need to be like 25' or less?

Pat

 

[shelleyd2008]

ETA: I was thinking of vines, but I would think that would block the little bit of breeze we do get in the summer, and cause the dogs undo discomfort from being too hot

Just grow them on a sturdy arbor built over top of the kennel. It will be FAST, you can hang shadecloth on it until it is well clothed with vines, and will be both shady and breezy. It is not difficult to build an arbor.

Sorry, but your Tree Wizard link is not working for me -- it takes me to the first page of the process and then wants all the info input. Any chance you could copy and paste the list of trees they recommend, so we could see them directly here in a message?

Pat

Sorry, that's aggravating when that happens
Okay, so the trees on the list are:
Scarlet Oak
Yellow Buckeye
River Birch
Paper Birch
Baldcypress
Red Maple
London Planetree
Littleleaf Linden
Lacebark Elm
Live Oak
Hackberry
American Sweetgum
Silver Linden
Willow Oak
Sawtooth Oak
Overcup Oak
Sourwood
October Glory Maple

These are the suggestions (from what they offer) for my area, soil, and sun exposure.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Sorry, but I wouldn't suggest japanese cherries - they do not grow fast and are susceptible to a huge range of diseases, at least in PA and points north. There are ornamental crabapples that are more disease-resistant; but really none of the fruit trees (ornamental or productive) grow particularly rapidly at all.

Lindens, littleleaf linden and native basswood grow sorta "a bit faster than your average tree", and are pretty tolerant of questionable soil conditions. And are reasonably attractive. They have rather brittle wood though -- they don't usually come *down* in a storm, but calve off branches (both small and large) a lot more than most trees. They tend to attract a lot of bees when flowering, which can be a plus or a minus depending on how you feel about a lot of bees. Might be a reasonable choice if you don't mind an eventually-large somewhat-weak tree.

What size mature tree are you looking for? Can it be big tree-sized, or does it need to be like 25' or less?

Pat

Any size tree would be fine, we have 10 acres, and this area is in the center, but to the side, if that makes any sense? There is absolutely nothing over there, no wires or buildings. Only the horse pasture, the dogs (a bit farther away), and the woods that start the government preservation land that borders us. A really huge tree would be just fine, it wouldn't hurt a thing.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I was originally going to suggest horse chestnut, so I would vote for the yellow buckeye. But, I would be concerned about dropping nuts in your situation, which is why I didn't suggest it.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Okay, I re-did the 'tree wizard' with almost everything checked, and only fast growers listed. Here's what it came up with:

Pin Oak
Northern Red Oak
Thornless Honeylocust
Tuliptree (yellow poplar)
Weeping willow
Carpathian english Walnut
Quaking Aspen

There were a few others, but they were mainly pine trees, with the pine tree-shape and all So I don't think those would work

Of these, I like the Tuliptree, weeping willow, quaking aspen, pretty much all of them

 

[shelleyd2008]

Scarlet Oak
Yellow Buckeye
River Birch
Paper Birch
Baldcypress
Red Maple
London Planetree
Littleleaf Linden
Lacebark Elm
Live Oak
Hackberry
American Sweetgum
Silver Linden
Willow Oak
Sawtooth Oak
Overcup Oak
Sourwood
October Glory Maple

I forgot to mention the ones I liked in this group
The yellow buckeye is very nice, does anyone know if the nuts are toxic to dogs? Or is it just humans?
The sweetgum is also a nice-looking tree
River Birch is on this list, but I don't know how well it would do here? Our weather is crazy, it will rain for 2 weeks straight, then nothing for a few months. :/
The willow oak is also a nice one, and of course the maples. I'll have to go back and recheck the hackberry? I know I looked at it, but don't remember what it looked like.

In the list that digitS' posted, goldenraintree was on it. I have always liked this one, does anyone know how fast they grow? Sorry for all the questions, but trees are not really the type of 'plant' you can experiment with It's either all or nothing

 

[patandchickens]

River Birch -- if your site is not real dry or clayey, this might be an option to consider

London Planetree - I am surprised this was not on the list of fast growers -- it is basically an imported, less-attractive but less-sprawly version of the native sycamore. Both are pretty fast growers if they have sufficient soil moisture (better on damper rather than drier soil). AFAIK the european planetree tolerates dry clayey soil better than sycamore. They do not usually fall over wholesale but the wood is weak and they lose lots of little branches/twigs, and sometimes calve off large branches. I think they're good looking trees, especially sycamore.

Littleleaf Linden - another reasonable contender, see my previous comments on it

Live Oak - if they're well hardy in your area and will still grow fast enough there, that might be a nice choice as they eventually have a rather spreading shape, good for shade.

American Sweetgum - not the spreadiest tree around, but very attractive. However they will shed those pointy-all-over sweetgum balls every fall, I do not know whether the seeds are poisonous to dogs but a big spread of sweetgum balls is a real pain (literally) to walk over without shoes. Beautiful fall color. Not overly weak wood. Not the fastest grower on the list.

Pin Oak - I don't know about KY, but in the Northeast there is some disease that is seriously killing a whole lot of them. They are moderately fast growers, nice trees, make good shade when *old* (less so til then, though) and tolerant of less than perfect soil conditions... but to me the disease thing would be a concern.

Northern Red Oak - fast growing for an oak (along with pin oak) but still not a FAST grower as such, either of them. Good trees, though. Do you have to worry about dogs eating lotsa acorns? (I dunno)

Thornless Honeylocust - pretty, and moderately fast growing, but not a great shade tree (it is light and dappled shade, not lotsa deep shade). And I can never remember whether it's just black locust, or honey locust too, that has fairly toxic seeds in dog-chew-type pods. You'd want to look up whether this produces seedspods and if so whether they're poisonous.

Tuliptree (yellow poplar) - picky about soil if you want it to grow well, and not really a provider of large areas of shade til it gets big.

Weeping willow - if there is sufficient soil moisture, and no septic system or water lines or house foundation or other paving nearby, and you don't mind what gets squashed by very large limbs (whcih will happen on a regular basis), this is a good option. Very fast growing, good shade, handsome tree. Roots are BADLY invasive over hundreds of feet and can fracture foundations and slabs and paved driveways and totally clog up any water pipes or drains they creep into, so be careful.

Carpathian english Walnut - I would not describe this as fast growing IME, unless maybe you have super perfect conditions <shrug>. Would dogs chew on dropped green walnut fruits?

Quaking Aspen - like honey locust, not really a great shade tree. Fairly good fast grower, though, and attractive. Somewhat weak wood but the branches are mostly thin enough not to damage things seriously, and as it doesn't get as big as poplars, it won't do as much damage when bits fall over or it gets old and has to be removed. Invasive roots (see willow, though it's not as bad)

Frankly if you want shade over a significant area anytime soon, you may need to plant multiple trees, at a reasonably big size. "Fast growing" is relative, and most of these things, if you plant a typical 6'ish specimen, it will be several years before there is ANY pool of shade being cast at ALL, and even once there is, it will only be maybe ten feet across, best case scenario. And will grow only a foot or two per year. So I still think it would be worth SERIOUSLY considering shrubs (which you could afford more of) or vines on an arbor.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Sylvie]

Tulip trees are notorious for attracting lightening, whether as a single isolated specimen or as a component tree in a mixed mesophytic forest.