Below is the main portion of a UBC private message that was sent to me earlier this week. I am not a good choice to ask for fast growing trees, let alone trees that will grow fast in Ontario. Perhaps some of you can help this lady. I may come back into this thread later when I have had some time to check into some trees that may be possibles but for a few days longer I am currently far removed in distance from any of my plant books. Thank you for your help. Jim I am very new to gardening and come to it unwillingly. I am growing to like gardening a bit more but I think part of the problem is I know so little. As this is our third house and the most landscaped, I need some advice and maybe learn a thing or two. I live in London, Ontario (2 hours east of Detroit), directly north of Erie, Pennsylvania (across Lake Erie). I don't know what zone I am. It can get pretty cold here -20 C (don't know what that is F). We are having a bit of a heat wave here with temperatures around 25 - 35C (I am thinking that means high 80-90sF). Our house sits N/S which means we get the blazing east morning sun in the backyard and the scorching west sun in the front yard. I am searching for advice on 'fast growing' shade trees for both back and front yard. We have a bit of a zen garden in the front but would be willing to put something that would provide shade to our front windows, front door and bedroom windows. My husband would want something drought resistent but I just want something big and leafy or coniferous (spelling?) ... majestic even but that GROWS REALLY FAST! If you have any suggestions on type of tree that can protect us from this scorching heat I would appreciate it. Thanks, Margarita
A Note to Forum Readers Thank you Mr. Shep. Just a note to Margarita and other posters, it is best to post your questions directly to the forums unless they are of a personal nature. Mr. Shep is very knowledgeable about plants and trees for sure, but he is also very busy and probably does not have lots of time available for personal responses. Most of our regular contributing members read all the new posts when they visit the forums. If they have an answer to your question, they will reply. Also by posting to the forums your question can be seen by all who read the forums, giving you a much better chance of having your question answered. If you do not get an answer to your post, you can reply to your own thread with more info and a new request for responses or send me a message for advice. Thanks everyone for contributing to the forums discussion,
Hopefully, this will help get things started. Check the two links below to learn more about some of the trees that can grow in your area. http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infowast/watgreen/nativetrees.html I'll keep most of my comments about the Manitoba Maple to myself other than to say selected forms of that Maple are not a zero for a rating here, at least not to me. http://www.treecanada.ca Jim
http://gaia.flemingc.on.ca/~dhendry/specdes.htm Here's a site with lots of Ontario trees. Hope it helps. .vc
