EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

The ole lady is wanting me to plant a couple shade trees the deal I was wondering what kind would grow the fastest and also be kinda short

Bradford pears. Not real tall, grow real fast and nice flowers in spring/early summer. Just have to prune lower branches early to get head room.

If your in bad need and don't care.  Plant some tallow trees. Just make dang sure you want em cause they like to procreate themselves.  They are like cockroaches ....can't kill em.

back in my early twenties a friend moved down to Freeport from back home...so we partied and fished like before...His father brought down a few tallow trees so my buddy could plant in the yard...well it was around july and he let the saplings lay around in the yard for 2 or 3 days with the bare roots and no water...I drove up a couple of days later and the sapling were still laying in the same spot but the leave were falling off. I told him to forget planting them because 1. it was the wrong time of year and 2. they were about dead anyway...long story short...he planted them and the sprotted new leaves on started growing...I hate tallows... ;D

Arizona Ash is one of my favorite...they are hardy and grow fast and big...last to lose the leaves and first to get them back...beautiful shade trees...

I don't knowif china berry tree is the same as tallows, but, they grow fast, shady and short. They also make some real good whittling and kid switches.  ;)

For me, I would asvise against the Bradford pears. I have a driveway completely lined with them. They surely do look nice while they are blooming, but to me, they smell like A$$ while doing so. Also they will break banches or spilt trunks with even the slightest of breeze.

Just my opinion, But I would stay away from bradford pears. I cant really help you out with any other type pf trees.

yeah, them tallow trees are a pain in the rear, especially when they seed if you happen to be barefoot.  But, like Myles said, they sure grow fast and make dang sure you want them, almost impossible to kill...

Never heard of a tallow got any pics

http://www.galvbayinvasives.org/Guide/Species/TriadicaSebifera

i planted a 6' bradford pear about 15 years ago and within a couple years it was huge. I never noticed a smell and always love the tree and have never had a branch fall from it.  ??? guess i got lucky

the tree on the right is the bradford pear i planted after about 8 years of growth... thinking bak i NEVER had to pick up a limb from it.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/travis1975/ChevyTrick055.jpg)

I have Bradford pears an they grow good. Just need to trim bottom limbs every year

My neighbors planted 7 bradfords 3 years ago, 1 made it through tornado season here, maybe they grow better mod93 in there area than ours.

what you need my man is some good ol Osage county cedar tree's and I'm just the guy to hook you up, bring your trailer and shovel and I'll hook you right up with as many thousands of them as you can stand to haul back home  ;)

.   :D

Thats what I was thinking Waylon, they are running them special TX linebred Bradford Pears down there. After all, everything is better in TX than Ok, right? ;) ;)

I should have been more clear in my first post, I HAD a driveway lined with them until the big ice storm a few years ago. Wasnt nothing left but the main trunk after that ice storm so I cut them down and had the stumps ground. But after a good OK wind storm, if you take a drive and look around, the Bradford Pears will suffer more casualties than any other similar sized tree around here.  As far as my comment about the smell of them, who knows, it may just be me. But when all 8 trees were blooming, there was a sweet sour smell in the air that I just really did not care for.

They are nice looking trees when they are blooming though, I will give them that much. And if you dont get a lot of high winds or heavy ice,  I bet they would do just fine. I just gave my opinion of them based on my experiences with them.

To throw another two cents in. I am not sure how they would grow in TX, but I really like my Redbud and Dogwood trees that I have in my yard.

trees not to plant - bradford pear, tallow tree/chinaberry, chinaberry

trees to plant - white oak, dogwood, redbud, pecan, tulip poplar(grows pretty fast)



osage orange can grow fast

you could also plant clumping bamboo that would

I like my texas ash trees.  If you don't mind the sap falling elm varieties are pretty shade

Man I think good olde Osade Orange is a good idea.  Not really the fastest growning. but super tough and hardy.

For fast growing trees, my pick would be Chinese Elm Or lace bark elm.  Very pretty, grow fast, and very little disease and insect problems.  They grow very well in the hot humid climate of southeast Texas.  Just need to stake them good and prune often when they are young because the limbs can outgrow the root and topple the trees over. Best of all is the leaves are very small and when they fall off they will gow down between the grass and rot fast no need to rake them.

Waylon

I agree with Bradford pears being a flimsy, sissy tree. In Alabama, they went through a stage of putting emmup all over, highways, housing community's, with oir tornado's and t storms, they are the first to break up.