Trees: For the Best Shade
By Ken Lain, the Garden Guy

Frontier Rotary used Watters Garden Center for its annual 'Wine in the Gardens' fundraiser. This was the organization’s best event ever. Some 300 people attended and raised almost $20,000 to benefit Rotary’s reading and math clinics, and its clean drinking water projects. My hat’s off to our truly generous community for the support shown to a very worthy cause.
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Trees have tremendous influences on our communities. I can't think of many things that affect us so completely as trees. They improve our environment by providing protection from wind and dust, shading us from our high mountain sun, and decreasing summer energy costs. Trees also enhance our quality of life and contribute to our good health. It’s the first place I start with any landscape design.

Now let’s talk about the best shade trees. Although there are dozens of great trees from which to pick, my favorite trees for central Yavapai County are readily available for planting now. Those of you who don’t want to put in hours of research to find that perfect tree for that special spot in your landscape, I’ve narrowed the field for you. I am certain that any one of these trees will earn a place of pride in your yard.

Deciduous trees are the best to shade patios, courtyards, and the west or south facing walls of our homes. They permit solar warmth in the winter and provide dense shade during the heat of summer. Although the short descriptions that follow will enable you to make educated choices when selecting trees, be sure to read the plant tags and to ask for help from a garden designer at your favorite garden center. Remember: trees are the most important assets of any home’s landscape.

My back yard patios are wonderfully shaded with two Purple Robe Locusts. Although they leaf out a little later than other trees, I chose them for the wisteria-like flowers that bloom in spring when we begin our outdoor entertaining. Their fall color is an amazing Arizona gold with small leaves that easily blow away or conveniently blend into the shredded bark ground cover. The only caution about this tree is not to over water it in our clay soil. It likes to be drier than most trees.

A similar tree, but with gold foliage both spring and autumn, is the Golden Locust. Even hardier than the Purple Robe, this low water user is easy to take care of and provides an attractive filtered shade that’s perfect for courtyards and front yard accents.
A tree native to the high mountain region is the Arizona Sycamore; it’s a large shade tree that is undaunted by our clay soils and heavy winds. Another sycamore, which does even better at this altitude, is the London Plane Sycamore. The leaves look like maple leaves on steroids, but the leathery leaf tolerates our wind and sun better than its native cousin. Allow all sycamores plenty of space to grow to their traditional 80’ in height. Place it in the wrong part of your landscape and it could overshadow your home in just a few years. Good to ask for guidance before planting this one in your yard.

Providing more than just great shade in summer, the Flowering Pear is one of the first to blossom in spring with bridal white flowers that produce no fruit. In fall this tree is the last to turn crimson red before evergreens take center stage in winter’s landscape. For a deciduous tree that performs through all the seasons at this altitude, I highly recommend planting a flowering pear.

For a yard that needs a small tree with an umbrella shape, I like the summer blooming silk tree, Mimosa x pudica. I use this umbrella shaped tree to filter the light over several flower gardens. Growing to a height of about 18 feet this extremely low water user produces masses of pink tasseled flowers that have already covered the tops of my trees. Very pretty! Just in is my new Chocolate Mimosa tree. Chocolate covered scarlet leaves pour over this tree with an intensely colored flower. It puts the old-fashioned purple leaf plum to shame.

My last recommendation is the entire ash family of trees. There are several types grown at this altitude and all are noted for their fall color, low water use, great shade, and longevity. They have few bug and disease problems and the leaves are easy to clean up come fall.
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Nurseries provided 1.5 billion trees for planting in the United States last year. This averages out to over six trees propagated for every U.S. citizen. The Forest Service reports that nearly 3 million acres were forested with some of those 1.5 billion trees. We need to plant more trees in our community, especially since so many were lost from last winter’s damage.
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This Saturday’s gardening class is entitled ‘Landscapes with Less Maintenance, Care, and Water’. Next week’s class, July 24th is ‘Easy-Grow Summer Colored Flowers’. Classes start at 9:30 a.m., are free, informative, and a lot of fun.

Until next week, I'll see you in the garden center.

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