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Landscaping Tips: Choosing the Best Trees for Your Yard

Updated: Apr 29, 2019

Landscaping provides the opportunity to accentuate the beauty of your home, while also delivering several other benefits. Choosing the right tree typically involves thinking about the reasons behind your decision to include trees in your backyard design. It’s also important to consider the environmental aspects of your outdoor area while complimenting the existing size, color, and shape of your home.



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Landscaping Tips: Choosing the Best Trees for Your Yard

Choosing the Right Trees for Your Landscape

A lot of factors go into the process of choosing the perfect tree for your yard. Not only must you consider the reason behind your purchase but you must also research the type of environment your landscaping trees are going to require for healthy growth. Evergreen shrubs and trees maintain their lush green foliage throughout the year, delivering a constant touch of color to your landscaping design. Deciduous shrubs and trees lose their foliage seasonally, creating a less colorful backyard design throughout the cooler months.


Determining Your Tree’s Purpose

Healthy landscaping trees have intrinsic value that goes well beyond simply looking nice. Depending on the type of tree you plant, you may be able to:

Enhance the beauty of your yardFilter out pollutantsReduce noiseShield your home from windShade your home from the sunCreate shady outdoor areasBlock unpleasant viewsIncrease the market value of your propertyReduce glare from surrounding structuresMinimize precipitation runoff


Selecting a Tree Size and Shape

Choosing a tree with the optimal shape and size for its desired location enhances the value it offers. For example, short trees with low-lying branches are ideal for areas with overhead power lines, while taller landscaping trees create excellent privacy dividers. The width of a landscaping tree’s branches determines how much shade it can provide, but also limits its placement in your outdoor design, particularly if you have a small or narrow yard.


In general, mature landscaping trees with long lifespans provide greater value over younger trees with less potential. Trees offering longer lifespans tend to grow more slowly, while varieties with shorter lifespans grow quickly. If your landscaping needs are time-sensitive, choosing fast growers is the best option. You simply need to realize that the trees may need replacing at some point in the distant future.

In addition to keeping in mind how quickly you need the tree to grow, you may want to consider its size at maturity before choosing its role in your landscape design.

Shorter landscaping trees are going to accentuate the beauty of your home without overshadowing its size.Taller landscaping trees often add more value to the property by enhancing privacy without infringing on the home’s access to sunshine.


Choosing the Best Planting Site for Your Tree

It’s important to look into the soil and sun requirements of any trees you intend to plant. For example, the Western hackberry may be suitable for dryer climates such as Albuquerque. Site conditions are critical for the health and growth of your trees, enhancing both beauty and longevity, while also minimizing maintenance needs. A local arborist can assist you in selecting a spot to plant your tree where it is going to thrive.

You should consider each of these aspects during your selection of a tree:

Hardiness zoneSoil conditionsDrainage conditionsSun exposureWind exposureSpace restrictions – below and above surface levelThe possibility of pest infestation


Understanding Ideal Characteristics in a Tree

Even if you aren’t an arborist, you can still buy excellent landscaping trees to meet your intended goals. Look for the following characteristics when purchasing your tree to enhance the likelihood of successful growth:

Strong trunkFirmly attached branches originating from separate points on the treeA balanced spacing of branchesLack of intertwined growthStrong root system encased in an appropriately sized container or root ballAbsence of disease and/or damage


Considering Qualities Offered by Trees

Choosing the right tree for your yard involves more than simply finding a healthy tree that looks as though it can provide the service you want. Some landscaping trees may prove to be more work than they are worth. For example, some trees drop nuts, seeds, fruit, blossoms, and twigs that you have to contend with to keep your yard neatly landscaped. It’s important to keep this in mind before you actually bring a tree home. Here are some examples to consider:


Ornamental trees deliver messy clean-up along with lots of colors.Shade trees often outgrow their original placement.Conifers provide steady growth along with year-round greenery.



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