What tree can I plant that will give me shade, grow very quickly and have high branches in Florida? I need to buy something. The sun is very intense here in the spring, summer and fall.
Maybe you need to put up an arbor or employ another architectural solution. Even a fast-growing tree will require many years to produce a significant shadow. How many more summers do you want to bake, waiting for a tree to develop?
I'd go for Baldcypress Taxodium distichum. It might not be the fastest, but it is much more resistant to hurricanes than the things that grow faster. In general, fast = weak, which isn't a good idea close to the Florida coast.
Yes: Another drawback to depending on planting a tree to solve this problem - it might grow for 10 or 20 years and then blow over during high winds, leaving you with no shade again. Rootbound nursery stock is ubiquitous here, liable to be common there also. This would seem to make it more likely for a planted, nursery-grown tree to go over in a hurricane zone. Once the top got heavy enough, it would overcome the inadequate anchorage of the deformed roots.
Thank you all for your answers. Ron, what type of plant will grown well on a wood fence? I would need something that I could attach to the top of a 6ft privacy fence. Perhaps some extension poles with wire that a vine could grow on. What type of vine would do well, do you think? I have a Jasmine growing on part of it.
