continuation of natural woods

wish I had a picture handy but I have a 24x24 (the square) area at the beginning of a natural woods area. It has oaks, mountain laurel and a couple of other tree's that I don't know. The square starts at my drive edge on east, natuarl woods on west, frontyard on the north and lawn on the south. so when I pull in my driveway, the sqaure is on my left.

I think planting a sawtooth oak in the middle would provide evening shade on the driveway and garage. but I'm not sure what else to do there. It would be the starting off point for the natural woods that run in front of my house. the square also is the top of a smaill hill.

How do you "square" the natural woods idea, with your first inclination to plant a non-native tree? And one that is considered to be an invasive in zone 7 and south...

the area is about the size of a 24 x 24 "square". square is just a nickname, an alias of sorts. do you want me to call it plot? sawtooth oak is invasive in VA?

here is the picture of the plot. my intention is not to have all four edges squate but to taper the lines down the drive edge a bit. but that not the issue.

I looked it up and it is. I guess I'll shift gears. but hey, how was i to know.

and I wanted the sawtooth because I read it was fast growing.

i believe these are white oaks.? sorry for the fuzzy spot.

What about dogwoods or redbuds? Or are they too small for you?

yeah, those would like nice but I would like something that can block an evening sun while we are on driveway/the hoop court. this is just more than a tree project.

It will take a while for any tree to be big enough for shade, but the fast growing ones I can think of are: willow, tulip poplar, sweetgum, and of course pine.

The pines are often not thought of as a yard tree, but they grow fast (that's why they grow them for pulp down here) and provide year-round interest.

My neighbor has some Autumn Blaze maples that are nice looking and growing fairly quickly.

This message was edited Apr 17, 2011 9:09 AM

cool. I'm getting a 20ft autumn blaze but whatelse? pattern/design/layout. what to put where?

Is that 20ft correct? That would be a mighty big tree to plant.

If you want some other large trees to consider take a look at American holly (you will need male & female to have red fruits), or maybe a nice pine with red buds and dogwoods underneath as Julie suggested. I like the short needle pines that have a smooth bark and spread similar to oaks.

Well, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Firstly, have you had a soil analysis made? If not, it could save you a lot of money and headache in the future.

Here's a good article regarding planting trees and bushes.

http://www.aces.edu/ucf/gearingup.php

I think two rows of plants would look nice. The tall trees in the rear on the edge of the plot and the smaller trees and shrubs (also look at witch hazel) on the front edge.