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Photo Credit: Felder Rushing

Create a lovely conversation area under a sugar maple in fall.

You probably want trees in your landscape because they’re beautiful and add value to your property. But making a tree selection can be tricky, particularly if you have your eye on something different for your location. Here are some suggestions you might consider:

Select the right tree for the site

Evergreen or deciduous? A deciduous tree drops its leaves all over your yard in fall, yet may give you spectacular autumn color first. Evergreens may not be as messy, but they shade your house in winter, when you might want the sun to warm up the place. Your best bet may be to select evergreens for the north side and deciduous species along the south, east and west.

And is the tree hardy to your area? You may have loved your moss-dripping live oak in Louisiana, but don’t plan on taking one to Minnesota with you – it’ll freeze to the ground and take the moss with it! And that sugar maple your Aunt Ellie from New Jersey sent you for your summer home in south Texas? Forget it – the poor plant just won’t make it, because it actually needs cold weather to survive.

Know a tree’s needs

Do you and your gardening site have what it takes to keep a particular tree thriving? Consider the plant’s soil and water requirements when selecting a tree. Many trees, for example, are super-sensitive to soil pH. A tree native to acid soils will have chlorotic leaves (a washed-out appearance with green veins) in time, and it’ll decline. (Among the species most affected are maples, pin oaks, sweetgums and tulip poplars.)

Bald cypress and cottonwood perform best in a moist – or even wet – location, where most dryland species would drown. You can grow quaking aspen high and dry in the mountains, but don’t put them in the ground at sea level in Mississippi!