Try these top trees for North Texas — and a helpful slideshow

In addition to covering other recommended trees for North Texas, I’d like to mention a source of information on planting and managing trees. It covers some of the most fabulous trees in the world, including some that I have had the pleasure of helping with, including the national master’s pecan tree, the fastest growing ginkgo in Texas, and the climbing tree, Nellie. It’s called Fabulous Trees Slideshow and it’s free. You can find it in the top right corner of Dirtdoctor.com under “Ask Howard” or go directly to this link. Now for some great trees for North Texas.

Texas ash (Fraxinus texensis) is the most abundant ash in Texas. Although it is a subspecies of the white ash (Fraxinus americana), it is far superior to any other ash in many ways. Some in this industry advise against all ash trees, but this one is different. It has dark summer leaves, a gorgeous fall color that ranges from yellow to red and purple, and none of the problems that Arizona and green ash suffer from.

Mexican sycamore maple (Platanus mexicana) has large, distinctive leaves that are medium green on top and dramatically white on the underside. The foliage turns yellow or orange in autumn if the weather cooperates. It grows faster and has far fewer disease problems than the American plane tree.

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is prehistoric and one of the most unique trees on earth. It has a reputation for being extremely slow to grow, but that’s not really the case in the organic program. Soil life is key. The graceful foliage design is unique to ginkgos. The name Ginkgo comes from Chinese and means silver fruit. The species name biloba refers to the bilobed leaves, but some leaves only have a single fan shape.

Pecans are great shade trees, even if they are a little messy at times.(Howard Garr / special article)

Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) is the state tree of Texas and a great choice for a shade tree. Native trees and hybrids with small nuts are often cited as the best choices. Probably they are when it comes to the use of the landscape. However, research by Joe Bradford of Hamilton, Texas, showed that the Desirable type pecan produced more nuts than the Caddo type and other small nut trees. Pecan trees are a little messy, dropping bark, twigs, and other debris, but they grow wonderfully in all types of soil and can make some delicious nuts.

To ensure a productive pecan crop with few insect and disease problems, use a basic organic program that includes organic soil building and foliar feeding with Garrett Juice, plus garlic oil additives for pest prevention. Zinc is often recommended but is rarely needed in an organic program. Buffered and adequate amounts of zinc are found in many natural organic products, including fish, algae, Garrett juice, humates, etc. In addition, the organic program enables nutrients trapped in the soil to be released and made available to the plants.

You can find more detailed information on all of these great trees in my Texas Trees book and on Dirtdoctor.com.

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