When we think about shade trees, we often imagine towering giants that reach more than 40 or 50 feet high. To properly shade a two-story house, you probably need a tree that stands at least 30 feet high.
Shade is important for energy-conservation and to reduce air conditioning bills. But what if you have a single-story home with limited space? Medium to large trees just aren’t practical for your space.
For those with this dilemma, the fix is to use smaller trees— a grouping of them. Small deciduous trees (less than 25 feet high) planted closely together on the east and west sides of a single-story home can save homeowners money and provide shade. They can also be used to shade windows and air conditioners, and create a beautiful outdoor living space around patios and entryways.
I’ve planted small trees to create shade around my own single-story home in California’s hot Central Valley. In my front yard, I created a narrow, hedge-enclosed courtyard shaded with 10 ‘Natchez’ crapemyrtles lined in two parallel rows of five. Evenly spaced roughly 20 feet apart, the trunks of the crapemyrtles add an architectural element and emphasize the straight lines of the pathways.
The smooth cinnamon-brown bark adds unique beauty, and I can’t express how great the white flowers look in summer or how dramatic the orange-red leaves appear in fall. The flower litter can be messy and it’s sometimes a challenge to garden among the tree roots, but the long seasons of color and cool shade make it worth the effort.
I have also used small maples, such as Japanese and hedge maple, to shade windows along the backside of my home. With careful pruning, the green trunks of the Japanese maples also make a strong statement and look good both indoors and outdoors.
In addition to the crapemyrtles and small maples, some of my favorites include redbuds, dogwoods, deciduous magnolias and crabapples. However, there are many excellent small trees to choose from. Find the right small tree for you in the Arbor Day tree nursery.
Once you’ve made your selection, don’t forget to take steps to inspect, treat and protect your trees, especially those that are vulnerable to invasive pests. Arm yourself with the right tools and information to help combat the spread of destructive insects and diseases.
For more information on how to preserve and defend your trees click here.
Lance Walheim is the Bayer Advanced® lawn & garden expert and author of Landscaping for Dummies.
What about fast growing small trees and dwarf varieties?
I live where houses were built right on top of each other, and while I would love to plant a tree that ends up 50ft tall when mature, I don’t want the liability if it damages the neighbor’s property in a storm.
I’m looking for something fast growing that will provide privacy, decent shade, and that tops out at around 25-30 ft when mature. It also needs to be easy to take care of (I.e. grow in normal soil, average sunlight, and not require extensive pruning), be able to be planted within a few feet of a fence line, and have roots that grow down rather than out (both neighbor’s driveways are on either side of my fence line further limiting what I can plant).
I prefer not to plant bushy trees. I’ve always ended up pulling them out because they end up too big around/too big a spread. Something that will be pretty spring through fall would be great. Fruit trees would be a plus.
USDA says I’m Zone 8a.
Thank you in advance.
Hi jduff,
A lot of the fruit and flowering trees work great as small shade trees, apple trees, apricot, peach, crapemyrtle , magnolia…stay tuned. We will highlight small fast-growing trees in an upcoming post.
That’s good to know that if you plant small deciduous trees on the east and west sides of a single story home that it’ll help you save money. My husband and I are looking for plants to add in our backyard since right now it’s pretty plain so I’m looking up what will look good and be functional. We’ll have to find where we can buy small deciduous trees so we can plant them around our home to help with the energy bills.
Nice to have a small tree with good shade and flowers nice