Advice Need:Trees for Sunny Front Yard

I have a fairly good-sized front yard, slight slope (not steep) 85' wide by 70' deep area available and I want to plant a couple of stands of small trees with surrounding flower/shrub beds (3 trees I'm thinking in each area) and seeking advice/input.

I'm very interested in planted trees native to our area (Western New York, zone 5a) and am thinking of a thornless hawthorn for one bed and gray-twig dogwood for the other. But I understand that hawthorns are prone to rust and a borer (I think I have this right) and am concerned that such problems would make it a poor choice. One nursery and an arborist did not mention these problems, but another respected nursery said they stopped carrying the hawthorns due to these problems.

With regard to the gray-twig dogwood, I understand it likes moist but well-drained soil and I've had mixed advice about how adaptable it is. This area gets a lot of sun but is not really sun-baked (except briefly in summer if we have a really hot, dry spell). I was reading that these are adaptable trees; the red twig dogwoods I have in the back (more woodland-type area) are doing fine. I like the flowers of the gray twig dogwood (the flowers on the red twig are fairly nondescript).

Other trees I'm considering are chokecherry and fringe tree. Also yellow twig dogwood has been mentioned and although I'm not that partial to yellow, it would make for nice winter interest. I do like trees with multi-season interest as winters here are gray, snowy and cold (although not so much this year)
.
Any advice, suggestions, experiences with any of these trees would be most welcome. Thanks all.

I was trying to find a resource showing trees native to western NY, but I gave up.
How about moosewood, american hornbeam, kentucky coffee tree, if any are native around your area? They all have nice bark texture for those long winters. Or black maple, american smoke tree, yellowwood, serviceberry, black gum for beautiful fall color. I like my fringe trees, but limited season of interest. I like pagoda dogwood also - has an attractive growth habit. Hope some of these are possibilities in your area.

Assuming deer are not an issue: Stripe Bark Maple. 4 season interest. Bark has white stripes against green in the summer, white stripes against red in the winter. Unusual flowers and leaves for a maple.

This message was edited Apr 8, 2012 9:07 AM

OK, Wee - no fair throwing in the towel so easily. I like the plants you've listed, but I'd venture that KY Coffee Tree, Black Maple, Yellowwood, and Blackgum (while fabulous plants) don't fit the small tree designation.

Take a gander at Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America (Gary Hightshoe, 1988) for a starter text. About as thick as Dirr, and I've been using it for 20 plus years. It doesn't have every single plant in it, but it has enough to suit most users. It has a distribution map for each species (including western NY). It is great for its categorization of plants by form, branching, foliage, flower, fruit, habitat, soil, hardiness, susceptibility to problems, urban tolerances, and its associate species. Under each of these headings, the subject is broken down to even more subsets. Many will find this somewhat older reference still a stellar backbone of their library of knowledge.

That said: roberta1977 will do well to make the longer list of trees that are interesting for all the reasons mentioned, but then start fitting them together categorically along with other plants that "play well together" - shorthand for being natural associates in the wild in similar soils, hydrology, aspect, light conditions, etc. That's when the whole idea of using native plants pays off in spades for the gardener and the local flora/fauna intended to benefit.

I'm not averse to using non-native ornamentals (as long as they have no damaging invasive potential) for these conditions, either - but that question was not raised.

So - to dessert:

•Acer spicatum or other understory Maples (Moosewood fits here, Wee?)
•Alnus rugosa and other small Alders
•Amelanchier canadensis, A. laevis, and others of the diverse Serviceberry clan
•Asimina triloba
•Carpinus caroliniana (as mentioned by Weerobin)
•Cercis canadensis (this may be a slight stretch)
•Cornus alternifolia (as mentioned by Weerobin) and all the other shrubby Dogwoods
•Cornus florida
•Crataegus crusgalli and many more native Hawthorns
•Euonymus atropurpureus (didn't realize my favorite Wahoo went this far north)
•Hamamelis virginiana
•Ostrya virginiana
•Prunus americana and other small native Plums/Cherries
•Ptelea trifoliata
•Rhododendron maximum (another plant I didn't realize occurred north of the middle Appalachians)
•Rhus copallina and other Sumacs (Note: these colonize, so don't use if you don't want many stems around)
•Viburnum lentago
•Viburnum prunifolium
•Viburnum rufidulum

All of this is your choice, of course, but I must say that using native plants must come with the realization that there are native flora/fauna that use those plants. That means insects that eat foliage; birds that eat fruit; and yes, fungi that colonize parts of the plant. Healthily grown, however, these resident pests are ephemeral. The goal is to recognize where the limitations are, whether they are acceptable, and focus elsewhere when at less than peak appearance.

The example of Hawthorn is a perfect one. You mention you'd like some winter interest to carry through the long cold gray. Hawthorns are almost at the top of this heap (Holly would be right there with them) for interesting habit and bark, and long persistent fruit. To leave this off the list because of some rust or other foliar problems would be a big mistake to me. There are many species of borers that each have their favorite species of tree to invade. If that was a threshold, we would never plant anything. The keys are always:

•Procure a healthy plant
•Site and plant it properly
•Take care of it

OK, I'm through barking. Get after making your list and assessing your site - and then shop. I'll add a few more plant ideas here that stray from the strictly local natives, but are high quality plants for landscapes.

•Malus - there are so many great Flowering Crabapples for landscapes
•Hamamelis vernalis and other hybrid Witch Hazels
•Magnolia - there are many deciduous Magnolias that are very hardy
•Acer sp. - there are many Asian maples with fantastic bark and interesting samaras (the seeds we call helicopters)
•Cornus mas and other non-native Dogwoods
•Sorbus alnifolia
•Syringa reticulata
•Syringa pekinensis
•Viburnum sargentii
•Viburnum sieboldii

A couple more to consider: the deciduous Holly group. Ilex decidua challenges the more common Crabapple as favorite for persistent fruit through winter months - still attached and colorful when new foliage is emerging in spring. The larger selections of Ilex verticillata should never fail to impress for their copious fruit display, though usually considered a shrub for landscape character. Both of these will prefer more moisture than average, but don't absolutely require it.

Here are some images to prime the pump...Blackhaw Viburnum, Flowering Crabapple, Possumhaw Holly, Winter King Hawthorn, Three Flower Maple.

Thank you everyone...wow such helpful responses. I have thought of some but not of others mentioned, and am intrigued by the possibilities. I am still very attached to the hawthorn and am pleased to have a more positive view of its value. I find that the more I ask and explore, initially the more confused I get but then eventually the more I find myself focusing and deciding.

For now I'll go back to doing some research, both of some on the options you all have generously provided and on sources for some of these locally (there are some local nurseries that emphasize natives but so far I've found local selections somewhat limited).

More ideas very welcome. We moved here just over a year ago to a new house with an empty front yard and the tabula rasa I have to work with is a pleasure but also somewhat overwhelming.

I have a place in mind for a couple of native witch hazel trees in the side yard, and I have a serviceberry and weeping redbud in the back yard along with a number of larger trees in a woodland area. Serviceberry is certainly a good possibility for the front as well. I do not have any native viburnums (I do have some non-native ones) and am certainly thinking of some for the front, along with some other native shrubs.

Everything in the yard is not, and will not be, native but I do have a goal of a reasonable percentage being native and to consider native varieties and their cultivars across the spectrum whenever adding to the beds.

Thanks again.
Roberta

Here is an idea - how about a good, ole pine? There are some very interesting varieties out there and you can have alot of fun with them - they deserve rediscovery! They can be a noble backdrop to smaller, fancier trees and shrubs, and can certainly welcome those strands of lights during Christmas...if you are thinking of straying a bit, think about some of those great weeping white pines...what character!