Hi, I live in suburban Chicago on a 60 x 150 lot. The city has contacted me regarding thier planting a new tree in my parkway in the Spring and need tree approval from me now. The nearest tree to the one they are planting is a young red maple in my front yard approximately 40 feet away. Our street is one with older homes that used to be lined with beautiful Elms. It is now virtually barren due to Dutch Elm diseasesweeping through in the last 15 to 20 years. They are recomending a Swamp White Oak but have given the option of the following: River BeechWhite Satin Birch Frontier Elm Resistant Elm Ginkgo Hackberry Honeylocust Linden Bur Oak Shingle Oak English Oak Red Oak Swamp White Oak Ovation Sycamore and a variety of Maples Please give me your opinions on what might work well given location, the lack of trees on the street, the damage winter street salt might do to root systems, aesthetics, etc... Thanks in advance
Not on your list but claimed by introducer to be salt tolerant. City may approve if approached with description. http://www.lakecountynursery.com/superfection.htm Which will work depends on total package of site conditions including space available, you don't something that will branch out into traffic and get hit by trunks or over-pruned by street workers.
I think it is a waste of time to plant elm trees until there is a proven disease free / resistant source . Most Mid West grown elm trees only live for 30 yr tops ; birch has similar disease / pest problems in the Mid West. Ginkgo (med. growth ), Linden ( fast growth ) , Carpinus ( slow to med. ) , Red Oak (slow ), Sugar Maple (slow ), Acer Davidii ( fast ) , Carya species ( slow - med. ) , Beech (slow ), Magnolia trees ( slow - med. ) , Metasequoia ( med. to fast ) , or Tulip Tree ( fast growth )would be my first choices . Usually English Oak grows much faster than North American Native oaks but they are messy trees ( my personal experience ) . REMEMBER that Oak trees are very messy for a residential area so as long as you don't mind the nut cleanup go for utilizing any one of them . Ash species seem to be short lived and have a multitude of disease / pest issues in the MidWest .
Phellodendron amurense -- Amur cork tree. From Missouri Botanical Garden: "Generally considered to be a poor street tree because of its spreading, low-branching habit." http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=A889 Looks like you only want male trees (like a ginko in that respect?). Beautiful foliage. It is an exotic escapee in the U.S. Northeast, it says.
Notice that Lake County nursery is depicting the cultivar as being upright in habit. Many trees on the list provided by the city will also produce large, broad, tops - most are not even named forms selected for particular growth habits.
Check a few tree encyclopedias at the library - most of them will have a brief description or photo of the tree as a mature specimen and some discussion of their suitability as street trees from the perspective of salt tolerance, how they affect cars parked underneath them, and so on. How nice that your city needs your approval for tree selection!
