Shade trees represent a valuable investment for your landscape

My wife and I moved to the Fort Worth-Dallas area in 1970 and we’ve lived here ever since.

Fifty years ago people were still planting primarily fast-growing shade trees like Arizona ashes, silver maples, fruitless mulberries and sycamores.

For the most part, those fast-growth mindsets – and those trees – are now gone. Thoughts have turned to the better trees. We want types that will last more than a few years and that bring with them a minimum of problems along the way.

“Speed” has given way to “quality.”

We Texans value our shade trees. We hate to think of summer evenings without protection from that late afternoon heat. We know that shade trees cut way down on our cooling bills when they’re properly positioned over our houses, and we also know how much beauty they bring to our neighborhoods.

What we don’t always think about, however, is the monetary reward we gain from our shade trees. We see it when it comes time to resell our homes, those trees are worth real money.

That is, given a few rules are met. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

First is the species. Some types of trees are known to be worth more. They have longer life expectancies. They’re more attractive. They have fewer problems, and they’re better adapted to local soils and climate. Those are the ones that will be worth the most. Sorry-dog trees that live short, hard lives and then die quickly and ugly may even detract from a property’s value.

Placement is important. If the tree is in a strategic part of your landscape where it gives maximum impact to its surroundings, it’s going to give maximum value to its property as well. For example, if a tree shades the house, the patio or pool, it scores extra points. But if it blocks visibility of the entryway or of a busy intersection, those aren’t good things. Worst of all is if the tree is planted too close to the house, drive, pool or street, and if its roots or limbs are beginning to encroach where they’re not wanted.

Condition and vigor matter a great deal. It pays to care for your trees. Keep them watered during prolonged dry spells. Remove dead, damaged and dying branches as soon as they become obvious. Be sure that you’re pruning them properly so that you leave no stubs that could foster decay. You want to leave just a very short section of the “branch collar” in place on the trunk or the surviving branch as you prune. New bark will form across that branch collar, sealing the wound in the process. Without that relatively quick healing, the stub can begin to decay, and that deterioration can move into the main trunk and cause the loss of the entire tree.

Surface roots are natural for large shade trees. That’s because 90 percent of any tree’s roots are in the top foot of soil. As the tree grows larger, so will its roots. As they get thicker, they swell up and out of the soil until eventually they are above grade by as much as several inches. It’s not due to erosion, so don’t start piling topsoil on top of them. That would risk suffocating them, and that could cause serious damage to the tree. Leave them alone. If they’re unsightly, plant a groundcover to conceal them. If you have one or two that are threatening pavement nearby, October is the best month to remove them. It gives the tree six months to regrow new roots before next summer rolls in.

The first couple of trees that you plant in your landscape will probably have the greatest per-tree value. Occasionally you’ll see a gardener who decides to plant 10 or 15 shade trees, and by the time all of them grow together to form a jungle, none of them is worth much because they’ve so mutilated one another in the process of crowding. Moderation is always going to be in keeping.

Up until now my notes have addressed basically the philosophical aspects of tree values to us as gardeners outdoors. But there is an actual financial value tied to those trees, too, and it becomes evident when one is damaged or destroyed. It could be due to storm damage, vandalism, fire or some other calamity, but for whatever the reason, the tree is now beyond repair.

How much was it worth? What loss have we sustained?

It helps if you have recent photos showing the tree and what it meant to its surroundings. If a photo shows it towering over the house as a family gathering is held in its shade, so much the better.

Your next step would be to hire an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist – someone with the best credentials and background you can find. That person will be able to assign point totals based on their scoring scale and come up with a reasonable estimate of the tree’s real value. Hopefully, he or she will have the experience of testifying and winning in court. It’s a specialized skill. Ask plenty of questions beforehand.

All of which is to say that your shade trees represent the biggest investment you have in your landscape. Care for them to the utmost. They deserve it.

You can hear Neil Sperry on KLIF 570AM on Saturday afternoons 1-3 pm and on WBAP 820AM Sunday mornings 8-10 am. Join him at www.neilsperry.com and follow him on Facebook.