what tree to plant?

[*mrgrizz*]

want to plant a tree(native) in the front lawn. to provide shade.

what is a fast growing, non limb dropping reasonably litter free tree? 

[icyfroth]

A Moreton Bay Black Bean. They are a beautiful shade tree and lovely flowers in the spring. Bit messy though, and slow-growing. 

[polksaladallie]

Can grow to 100m. 

4 m from house?  

[zanadoo_56]

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@polksaladallie wrote:

Depends on what area you live in.  This is an excellent book with details of what will grow in which area, and details of the tree, eg size, deciduous or non-deciduous, flowers, fast growing etc.

  Lots of these books for sale on you know where.

WHAT TREE IS THAT ? Stirling Macoboy

Callistemons, syzygiums, grevilleas are shrubs and not shade trees.

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Grevillea robusta (commonly known as a silky oak) is definitely a tree.  However I don't recommend planting one.  I had one in my (southern state) garden.  An evergreen, it was fast growing, had the most glorious yellow gold flowers, the birds loved it......but after 2 years of severe drought in a bad storm it keeled over, fortunately missing the house, fences etc.

My father planted one (in Canberra) and was even more unlucky.  It grew well, very tall and very green but it did not flower possibly because of the cold winters.  It too fell over in a bad storm.....onto the overhead power lines where it promptly blacked out most of the suburb.  When the electrical company came around to find out why the power was down Dad's exact words were, "Come with me, I think I can show you where the problen lies."  Definitely pun intended because there it was in the backyard balancing on what was left of the closest pole and power lines.

[polksaladallie]

Of course it is a tree, and very beautiful.. But very messy and the OP doesn't want mess.  And too big to be close to the house.

[***super_nova***]

How about some casuarina?  I have one with cork like bark, and it growth fairly fast but not very tall.  I grew mine from seeds and have no idea what is their proper name. 

[zanadoo_56]

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@evil_akuma_2002 wrote:

I'm afraid there's no such animal. Any fast-growng tree will naturally shed a lot of leaves as it grows.

However, I'd have a look at the Evergreen Alder - (Alnus Jorullensis). I used to work in a plant nursery in the '70's, and this was the fastest growing, least messy tree available.

It was originally marketed as the evergreen silver birch - it's growth habit and leaves strongly resemble the birch. It's not a native, but blends in well with them.

There are grevilleas, callistemons and syzygiums which are trees, but all are slow-growing, save for the syzygium, (lilly pilly) - I have a 15 year old specimen that's 10m  X 6m.

Failing those, have a look at the Grevillea Robusta - fast-growing, to around 15-20m, but very messy with fallen leaves and flowers. No branches dropped, however.

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I have an evergreen alder in my backyard.  When I planted it 30 years ago I read the tag on it before I bought it...and it was complete fiction.  These trees can grow to be HUGE - in fact they are great planted in rows as windbreaks on farms.  They can spread out quite a bit (probably too much for a front yard) and unless you trim off the lower branches you not only can't sit under it, you may not be able to even mow under it.  They will drop tips of branches in very windy conditions but I've never seen a whole branch come down like some gum trees do.  It's a nice tree to look at, it is definitely very hardy and it does give good shade but if I had my time over again I would not plant one in a suburban garden.

One thing councils can be good for is they often have lists of indigenous trees that are suitable for the suburbs, but just to be on the safe side I'd get advice from other sources as well.

A council planted gum tree near my house has lost branches 4 times that I know of in storms.  Fortunately (!) they have all fallen on the road.  The council won't remove the tree so all I can do is keep an eye on it and phone them when another branch falls.  My mother has gum trees overhanging from next door - when the gumnuts fall on to her patio roof they sound like gun shots and they are painful and hazardous underfoot as well.  Her council won't allow them to be removed either despite them also dropping branches.

[j*oono]

I'm afraid all trees are messy but I wouldn't be without trees in my garden.

Not a native, but our Mulberry tree has the most magnificent shaded canopy. The downside Mr Grizz is that you won't get much of a lawn under the shade.

Our Jacarandas have good shade but are messy. So too the Flame tree but not as messy.

I love the shade verge trees in South Perth.  I think they are London Plane trees and they really cool the area down.

[cherry*135]

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@polksaladallie wrote:

Can grow to 100m. 

4 m from house?  

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Add

Messy

Slow growing

Not native?

Doesn't get any ticks for meeting the OP's requirements.

[zanadoo_56]

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@polksaladallie wrote:

Of course it is a tree, and very beautiful.. But very messy and the OP doesn't want mess.  And too big to be close to the house.

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*shrugs" In your post that I answered you said grevilleas were shrubs.

I didn't find my silky oak to be messy.  It did drop leaf fronds sometimes which as they were fairly soft and flat were generally mowed over, unlike my evergreen alder's branches.  My silky oak at its peak was also much smaller than the evergeen alder (in terms of width) which was planted at the same time.  However, very old silky oaks can look very different - they grow very tall, produce less flowers and look quite straggly and you'd get less useful shade from them.

[cherry*135]

Some trees are more work than others. Gum trees drop sticks/branches all the time, leaves, bark flies of the trunk, had one in front lawn at last house, always picking stuff off the lawn from around it. Plus neighbour had one in backyard and all the sticks/leaves from that one ended up in our pool