Home (as in single, double) Owers; a question. How do you feel about Tall Trees...

[electric_blue68]

slightlv's comment about the a$$hats cutting down that loved tree in the UK reminded me.

So, one amongst several of my cousins live in the 'burbs in their own house. Last summer I was mentioning to her how I love their trees. This home (from her parents) has been in the family for at least? 70 yrs, maybe closer to 80 yrs. Lots of taller trees 4 - 7+ stories high around their, and others property.

She sort of scoffed, and said they're dangerous. Obviously she's thinking of storm damage.

So do the beauty, shade giving, bird nesting qualities of the trees outweigh the potential danger?

[CrispyQ]

1. I love trees but you need to maintain them, especially tall ones.

At some point, that means paying a crew who has the equipment & experience to deal with big, tall trees. I did a website for a tree company once & learned a ton!

[electric_blue68]

4. Ty. Heh, why didn't I think about the maintenance aspect..🤔 .on apt blocks the city does that

[CrispyQ]

20. Our city planted trees in an area between my property & sidewalk but the maintenance is our responsibility.

I found out a few years after we moved in, when the top of one of the trees broke in a wind storm. It was dangling over the street & I thought, "Oh they'll be out here pronto to fix this." No.

[haele]

24. My parents hired someone to top a 150 ft Fir tree in their backyard.

This in the middle of a University District neighborhood in Seattle. The tree was at least 90 years old at the time. The arborist took 50 ft. off off the top, treated all the cuts and and trimmed the sides up so it didn't look horrible from the house, the street, or the ally - it could still take out the garage or the neighbor's garage should it fall for some reason, but it also became less likely to come down or drop heavy branches in high wind or a blizzard for another 50 years or so.
Trimming large trees are expensive, but worth it in the long run, especially with beloved shade or landscape trees.

[CrispyQ]

27. Four years ago our new neighbor cut down a lovely tall locust tree that provide privacy between our yards & shade.

It threw runners into our yard & one is in the perfect location to provide privacy & shade so we're nurturing it. All my other trees have decorations, so I found some tiny brass bells on a string to hang on it.

[ret5hd]

2. like any thing in/around your house...

trees require maintenance…pruning etc. keep an eye on things, keep them healthy, keep damaged parts patched with the proper stuff…then finally, if they are unhealthy/dieing…then you need to remove them.

but trees are beautiful…i would never kill a healthy tree for a “view” or because it may be dangerous…trim it back, prune it, guide it.

[electric_blue68]

5. Ty (see my reply above)

[SheltieLover]

3. I love my trees!

After ice storm a few yrs ago, rednecks were all cutting down trees. Not me.

I love them.

[electric_blue68]

6. Ty

[SheltieLover]

7. Here in the United States of Extortion, there were a few news stories

About theft of trees for hardwood lumber.

Horrifying!

[electric_blue68]

9. Oh, sh-t! Terrible!

[SheltieLover]

11. Yes!!!

[CTyankee]

8. We lost a tree after we moved into our house (some 30 years ago). My husband planted a tree in its place and today

it is so glorious and beautiful! I feel as if he "anchored" us in our beloved home and when we leave, we will leave the house with a wonderful legacy from us. I know that sounds kinda weird but it's the way I feel about it!

[electric_blue68]

10. Oh, Not Weird to me at all! What kind? I can identify some.

🙂 🏡 🧡

[SheltieLover]

12. Wonderful!

[Cheezoholic]

13. While I live in the country I can tell you this, the ammount of money you can save on utility bills wipes out the risk

BUT, it is very important that tree's no matter the size, that are close to your home are healthy and properly maintained. Maintained by an arborist if you can afford it. Proper trimming is a must around your home.

But the amount of money that can be saved on utility bills is far from insignificant. Its downright amazing. My home see's direct full sunlight about 4 hours a day. I don't have central air as my home is far too old to be running duct at a decent price. I just use a couple of thermostat controlled window units. Around 2/3rds of the summer "hot" season around here, maybe 4-5 months, they don't turn on until 4 or 4pm and may run until sunset around 8 or 9. All the trees within 10ft of my house are deciduous so in the winter, the leaves fall and go into my compost pile. So my house gets full sun almost all day during winter, like most homes.

I have a neighbor that has about 400 more heated square footage but 0 tree's around his home. It bakes in the summer and his electric bill is as much as 3 times mine and he has a a ducted heat pump for AC. It irritates the hell out of him lol. Compared to him I estimate my summer electric bill savings at about 1k dollars.

I will say this about trees that fall on homes during storms. 80% of them are diseased trees that have never been properly cared for or are growing where they shouldn't be. Thats according to my arborist who submits tree risk assessments to insurance companies. I live in tornado, severe thunderstorm, Derecho and 80mph blizzard country. Most of the 6 tree's around my house are 80-300 years old, older than the house. I have 4 or 5 Sycamores that are well over 100 years old farther away from the house. As long as they are decently maintained (I have the arborist come out every 3-5 years for insurance purposes and to check on those specific trees within 10ft of my house) they will definitely outlive me, probably the house and hopefully another 200 or so years that they are capable of living. I'm saving about 200 a year on homeowners which is about what I pay every 3-4 years to maintain the trees, so there's 600-800 dollars.

I have a beautiful giant Rock Sugar Maple that the arborist cored (at his request) and it is over 300 years old. It's one of the oldest he's seen recorded in the state. Its the main shade tree over our back patio and the back of the house. The trunk is over 10ft in circumference and the canopy is roughly 75ft tall by 100 feet wide. Imagine the storms that tree has seen and survived.

This just my long winded opinion of course. Like I said, a lot depends on how sturdy your house is (mobile homes are like yikes!) and more importantly the actual health of the tree itself and the ground its rooted in i.e. does the ground around the tree hold water for a while water a rain or does it drain away fairly quickly.

Sorry for the long post lol. I ramble. Personally I couldn't live without them

[electric_blue68]

19. Some interesting stuff 👍 Healthy vs diseased trees as someone else mentioned...Soil drainage!...

How you save on electricity. Even with the heat duct pump (looked it up), your neighbor pays more bc no trees.

I sometimes look at r/arborist on reddit, so yeah.
Your Rock Sugar Maple sounds lovely! I looked it up- (I know what a maple tree looks like in general 😉 ), what a beautiful fall color.

Lemme tell you; back about 55 yrs ago in NYC they had to cut down many elms bc of Dutch Elm Disease! Between my block, the block below we lost at least 3 or more ?5-6 story high trees.
I came home from school to see them cutting down the one on the south corner of our block.

On the block just above us the two elms survived.

Here's to many more years of enjoying our leafy friends.

Eta: wow, you live in Storm Central! Eeeks Stay safe!

[Blue Full Moon]

14. If it's a shallow root tree like pine trees cut it down

[Rebl2]

15. I love

our tall trees around our house that we planted over the years, but I do worry now after 30+ years, about heavy thunderstorms. We have had a couple somewhat large limbs come out of our maple trees. Thankfully none have fallen on our house or neighbors house or fences. We had a snowstorm about 8 years ago that caused so many limbs to fall from our willow tree, we had to cut it down. I would still plant some of the trees (not willows) but make sure to remove damaged limbs or branches.

[electric_blue68]

21. Sorry about youw Willow tree. They're so pretty!

[FirstLight]

16. I live in the forest, hard to get away from them...LOL

I have about a dozen very tall pines on my lot. Many of them do need a trim of the undercarriage, so to speak. Had a tree guy out here for something unrelated next door, asked him about trimming the deadwood and he quoted me over $1000...that was a few years ago.

I have bigger trees on neighbors lots that would put me and my bedroom in direct danger, but none of them are gonna cut them down to keep my ass safe, lol...nor would I. Those big'uns are the reason we live here. So you gotta take the bad with the good. Been through some very narly storms, and so far, they have all swayed to the wind easily. If one decides to snap off, I guess it's fate.

As for Fire danger, the whole Tahoe basin is a tinderbox. What are ya gonna do? I learned from the Caldor Fire that once we get evacuated, it's all in Nature's hands... thank goodness we have some very good firefighters!

[electric_blue68]

22. Forest does equal - Trees! 😉 I'm sure the big trees are glorious! I love them from saplings on up....

Even emergent seedlings; some day these tiny ones are going to be Big Trees.

Here's to yourself, your home, the trees etc staying safe!

[Ms. Toad]

17. It's a debate I have with my spouse all the time.

It has been 90+ degrees here every day for the last couple of weeks. We have gorgeous trees which provide enough shade that our AC doesn't come on until about 5-7 PM every day - and only runs until around 9 PM.

I want to keep the trees. We do trim the dead branches periodically, but my spouse wants to chop major healthy portions of them down.

Yes, there are dangers - primarily that a large branch would fall on the roof and damage it. My position is that that is what we have insurance for.

[electric_blue68]

23. That's not that much A/C at all. Good you have insurance. Enjoy your trees!

Last edited Thu Jul 17, 2025, 06:02 PM - Edit history (1)

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Talk to an arborist about "crown reduction" to limit growth and keep trees balanced.

My grandfather "topped" his trees to keep them from getting too tall, but he never had particularly tall trees so it didn't much matter. Most arborists now say topping trees is counterproductive and may put the tree at risk for infection and early death.

My father bought a lot with several VERY tall pine trees, several of which were appallingly injured by the construction crew who built the house. This left them vulnerable to beetle larvae, and most had to be cut down to keep them from falling down. Very expensive. Lots of pines here in the South, but not good to build your house too close to them. There are several trees in our neighbors' yards which sway most disconcertingly in high winds. It's easy to guess which will be the first ones to be blown down.

PS: If you want birds nesting, go for hardwoods over conifers. Unless you like woodpeckers.

[whopis01]

25. I have mixed feelings

We had a number beautiful trees around our house. There were some that were really starting to concern me since we live in a very hurricane prone area. Every time one would come through, there were a few of the trees I was really worried about.

As much as I hated to do it, we made arrangements to have a couple taken down. We had gotten the estimates and were ready to go ahead with it.

Then a tornado came along and made the decision for us. Took down a total of 7 trees. Three pines (70+ foot tall) and 4 huge oaks. We were incredibly lucky. One pine was about 15 foot away from the house and the top 20 foot of it snapped off and flew about 80 foot away - fortunately away from the house. One of the oaks scraped the paint on the side of the house and broke a railing on a wooden staircase. The yard was devastated, but we and the house were just fine.

I miss the trees we lost - but seeing what happened, I don't know I could deal with ones looming over the house again.

When they cleaned up the oaks, I had them leave the stumps - they can actually grow back from their root system. There are good ones sprouting up. It will be years (decades) before they are big - but it feels a bit better knowing they aren't completely gone.

[electric_blue68]

32. Woah, that's some storm experience! Makes sense you'd be leery of close by trees!.

Glad the oaks are on their slow journey to growing back. Interesting

[JustAnotherGen]

26. Yes and more important?

They soak up water.

[MineralMan]

28. The only answer is to have large trees evaluated by an arborist.

[markodochartaigh]

29. Here in SW Florida

the area in which I live is either pine forest (upland) or cypress forest (wet land). The pines trees have about a fifty year lifespan but this is heavily influenced by hurricanes. I don't have any pines which could fall on my house, I had about a dozen go down during the last three hurricanes. I also don't have any large palm trees near my house although most species are less likely to fall during a hurricane. I had a fifty foot tall live oak fall during Irma. Mahogany trees, which are native here, lose branches but don't seem to fall. Mango trees should be kept below 25 feet in order not to blow over, and if blown over and uprighted immediately they may survive. Invasive earleaf acacias which can easily grow ten feet a year are only emboldened by hurricanes. The many species of beautiful and fragrant flowering trees generally stay below 25 feet and can be planted far enough away from the house not to be a problem. Kapok trees are an exception. They can get 200 feet tall and although they don't usually blow over their giant branches alone can crush a house.

I love the wonderful trees that we have here, but few trees are suitable for within fifty feet of the house and some trees are really only suitable for the botanic garden.

[electric_blue68]

33. Woah, losing all those pines. Didn't know they were so short lived...

Palm trees!
I forget, of course, they're a (various) native species down there. 😄

Mahogany, wow! A much touted wood.
Interesting about Mangoes sometimes able to be saved if blown over.
The earleaf acacias - the have pretty slender leaflets! New to me.

Ah, all the fragrant flowering trees. Lovely. further away if you have the property for them.

I just remembered like ?35 yrs ago or so, one of my art stores had a short plank woodsampler. Not sure about mahogany, but it definitely had walnut. Which I bought. Long gone.
Oooo, going to see if they still have some version.

Eta Wow just looked the Kapoor tree.
Those wild roots!

[HappyH]

30. our house in Florida was surrounded by very large live oak trees

We weathered several direct hits from hurricanes and tropical storms with minimal damage, including a cat 4 with winds about 160mph. Those trees were what saved the house, they kept the worst of the wind off of us. Limbs would break but they rarely would come completely loose from the trees so we had to develop a solid relationship with a local tree company to help with clean up.
We sold that place about 5 years ago. I was playing on Google maps a few months ago and noticed that the folks we sold to have removed almost all the trees from that place. I'll check in on the old place when another storm visits and see how it does without the trees.
One of the biggest live oaks there was partially hollow and damaged at the base. We thought about having it removed but is was far enough away from the house so that it couldn't fall on us. And, the best part, there was a large colony of flying squirrels living in that old tree.
Now we live in the mountains. The property is forest mostly with several trees that could hit the house depending on which way the wind blows. I have a couple of them marked for firewood in the coming years but no plans to remove anything else except for damage or disease.

[mopinko]

31. when we 1st bought our house, the neighbor introduced herself, then said- u know that tree's a menace.

she was sure it was going to take out her garage. 38 yrs later, the tree’s still standing. u do have to take care of them, tho. the ppl who bought that place recently paid to have several limbs that were hanging over the property line. wasnt thrilled about it, but it’s their right.

i had a big old silver maple in the front yard of a rental i owned. the core was rotted and i had to take it down. cost me $2500. i left the bottom chunk of trunk, used it as a planter in case any of the neighbors were mad at me. (have a few who r not fans for many reasons.)

u can love them, but u have to b rational about it.

[electric_blue68]

34. Sorry you lost your silver maple. I like the idea of having the stump turned into a planter.

[Hekate]

35. Our house came with a California Live Oak that gets "older" every time some new expert looks at it

I’m going with the latest: 350 to 400 years old.

Last year it dropped a major limb that weighed about a ton, maybe more — old oak is heavy. Thank the oak gods it fell on a chain link fence between us and a neighbor’s orchard (no tame trees were hurt) and all that hit our patio was a huge amount of smaller leafy branches that alas comprised a good deal of the shade.

We called out tree experts to do all that could be done for its health. Oaks are a protected species here, but even if they were not, a tree as grand as that should be saved. It was here long before we were.

As for undesirable trees — non-native eucalyptus just about heads the list afaiac. They are flammable, shallow rooted, and are inclined to fall over after heavy rain. They are also all over SoCal. I drove by a parking lot one morning and saw someone’s shiny new pickup truck smashed nose to tail by a eucalyptus.

[electric_blue68]

36. Woah, nearly a ton for a tree limb!! Good luck to you, and your Live Oak!

[tinrobot]

37. We lost a tall tree at a house that we rent out.

Not fun, someone could have easily been hurt. Thankfully it missed the house and two cars in the driveway. Even so, it was a very expensive event.

I love trees, but the sick ones absolutely need to be taken down.

[electric_blue68]

39. Phew! Understandable to take them down when diseased and unfixable

[ProfessorGAC]

38. We've Got 7

5/16ths of an acre yard, so quite a few.
We have maples (one sugar, the other silver), a sycamore, a pin oak, a mulberry, and two beech.

The mulberry is the shortest one at roughly 30'.

And no, I'm not cutting them down due to storm risk.

[electric_blue68]

41. There are a couple of mulberry trees in two different areas, neighborhoods I've walked through. Lots of berries on the

ground.

At this nature conservatory park they have a lovely big beech tree w a canopy that the ends of the bottom most braches touch the ground.

[ProfessorGAC]

43. We Make Mulberry Jam

About the only non-savory thing I make.
I try to get a number of purple & red berries. Gives a sweet/tart feel.
Oddly enough, because of the trees we can't grow any edibles other than herbs.
My Sicilian card is in jeopardy because I can't grow tomatoes!

[electric_blue68]

45. Oh, no...No tomatoes! Container plants with cherry tomatoes, maybe?

Cool on the jam making!

Our mulberries have been the white ones in one area, and the purple in another nabe.

[ProfessorGAC]

46. Couldn't Even Make Cherry Tomatoes Work

3 years ago, I bought 8 heirloom plants. Forty something bucks.
We had these big pots, 18" in diameter, 18" deep. Filled them with high quality enriched soil.
Put 2 plants in each, staked up. I actually made the effort to move the pots where the sun came through 2 or 3 times a day.
We got 9 full size tomatoes and a half dozen cherry size.
They were good, but not good enough to justify $40+ dollars. That was our final attempt.
Oh, and we had even worse luck planted in the ground. There is literally no spot in the yard that gets enough sun.

[meadowlander]

40. It has to be the right tree in the right place, but if you have room for it go for it.

The other thing to keep in mind is the roots. If you plant the wrong species too close to water pipes you can stuff up your plumbing big time because they will break in and clog them. They will also tear up sidewalks and driveways which can be a consideration for older people, wheelchair users, kids, and anywhere else you need to maintain an even surface. Don't know about the US but in New Zealand you are legally liable if the roots of a tree on your property damages your neighbour's plumbing or the public stormwater network and that can run to $10-$15K to repair.

And depending on the species they can drop a lot of litter/rotten fruits and berries/etc. which you may also not want to inflict on your neighbours. They stain, smell, attract rats, and are a tripping hazard.

But I do think where feasible we have a moral responsibility to plant things and promote biodiversity. The first thing I did when I moved into my house was plant 10 trees and only one of them I kind of regret and might end up having to get rid of (the rowan tree). It's got lots of berries which the birds go nuts for but at its full height its going to be too big and will drop about half of them on my elderly neighbours' patio. I was trying to get a sense of how big it was from Google images and the only picture of a full grown tree had extremely misleading perspective so it looks about a third as big as what they actually get to. I feel kind of guilty too because I found out after I planted it that it's on the pest species list for my region. But other than that, after you've taken in all the variables, if you do have space for it and can afford to maintain it properly, I'd say do it.

[llmart]

42. Depends on the kind of trees and the placement of them on the lot.

People oftentimes want to plant the same tree species that others in a subdivision have and you end up with no biodiversity which is bad for the trees and the environment. Some species become a fad to have such as the Norway maple which is not native to my area (actually not native to the US either, hence the name Norway maple). These trees have a hugely dense canopy and no sunlight or rain can get through. As they age they tend to throw off thousands of "helicopters" which are a nuisance and they get very tall and should never be planted on a small lot. I believe Canada has a law about not planting them.

Without biodiversity you end up with epidemics of dead trees if they are attacked by a fungus or beetle larva such as the ash trees that were dying off rapidly due to emerald ash borers.

Most developers will put in the cheapest trees they can get without any thought to placement or proper planting guidelines. My neighborhood has very small lots, about 50 x 100 and when this place was built, they put in all the wrong types of trees in all the wrong places. After 30+ years most of them are way overgrown for the spots and dying. So you have no choice but to take them down.

[electric_blue68]

44. "Hence the name NORWAY.". Indded! 😄 ....

Wow, that dense a canopy!

Such an important point about biodiversity! Sorry to hear your neighborhood will be losing a whole batch of trees sooner than not?

The "helicopters"! We used to, I think at my cousin's 'burbs house - break then in half and stick one on our nose.

[llmart]

47. Funny!

I remember as a kid deciding I was going to collect them in a grocery bag. What a weird kid I was.

My next door neighbor has a huge maple right up in front of his house. Our houses are only 10' apart and his tree had so many samaras (the scientific name for helicopters) the last two years and of course my luck is that the wind pattern is such that they land on my driveway and walkway up to my door. I had four of the brown kraft yard waste bags completely filled with them. I can tell the tree was planted incorrectly when the place was built because the crown of the tree is way above the level of the yard. This is huge! I've often thought that if that tree comes down it'll land on my house and it would actually crush the entire house and me in it. But he won't have it taken out.

I had a Norway maple that was 30 years old and had it removed and one in the backyard too. I planted two native trees in my backyard. I'm actually an Advanced Master Gardener and certified Environmental Steward. I've worked in nurseries and taken too many courses to even remember to retain my certifications.

[electric_blue68]

48. Ah...samaras! 4 Kraft Bags full?!! 😄

I'm actually an Advanced Master Gardener and certified Environmental Steward.

Very cool!
One of my cousins became a Master Gardener.

"because the crown of the tree is way above the level of the yard. This is huge!"

Can you explain this more? The crown is the top of the tree? If so, why is it a problem? Maaaaybe top-heavy for the space?
Please explain when you have the time. 👍

[llmart]

50. I must have been really tired last night...

I'm sorry. I certainly didn't mean crown. Base of the root ball would have been better.

I shouldn't post when I'm exhausted. My neighborhood are site condos/detached condos. Whereas most condo boards are considered to be overly picky, ours is overly permissive. However, this all happened when the sub was developed in 1992, so the condo rules have no specifications about what variety of tree anyone can plant. They could certainly amend the rules now but they can't be bothered. We still have a regulation that says no one can shake out their throw rugs outside.

[electric_blue68]

56. No problem

👍

[Mossfern]

49. We moved into our house about 35 years ago

There were several mature trees - beautiful evergreens, oaks, maples, a huge apple tree, a giant cherry tree - just a whole bunch. We still have an ancient hollow crabapple tree that continues to bear fruit. She's the "Queen of the Garden." The person who build our house was wise and planted shade trees on the south side of the house - a couple of maples.

One year we experienced a microburst on our property.
It was bizarre! In one area, it looked like a giant had come and carefully ripped up the trees and laid them out in a pattern. These were at least 70 feet tall. Since then one by one storms brought down other trees. Among the survivors there was one lone maple that I loved right outside the kitchen window that the kids called the 'fairy tree' when they were growing up. We've always had an arborist check out our trees every couple of years.

About 5 years ago a wild storm just blew down that 100+ year old maple - actually split it in half. It fell across the roof, breaking in half over the ridge almost hitting our neighbor's house as well. Because the storm was so bad, they couldn't lift the tree from the house -it had gone through the roof and into the attic. Rain kept pouring in and we had water all the way down to the basement. It took more than six months to repair all the damage.

We've replaced a bunch of trees with Linden, Sycamore, and Tulip Poplar, Hollies, Spruces, and some large shrubs. I miss the fairy tree though, but will never plant one so close to the house again.

[no_hypocrisy]

51. My childhood home had a ginormous oak tree maybe 10 feet away from the house.

It was very very tall, likely more than 100 years old.

Acorns everywhere and lots of leaves to rake.

I loved it. Loved it until a big wind storm blew off big branches that piled up more than six feet next to the house. And I got the fear of God that if the tree lost its roots and toppled either into the house or across the street, it would be a nightmare.

I got estimates to cut down the tree, starting at $900. Homeowners insurance wouldn't cover the expense.

I sold the house (with the tree) before I had to make that decision. It would have been painful emotionally and financially if I had gone through with cutting it down.

[lapfog_1]

52. wait for the future!

[tulipsandroses]

53. Not a fan of large trees on home properties. I'm in GA, trees fall all the time

when it rains a lot. People die, property damage. Tree removal is very expensive. 15 yrs ago when a tree fell in my yard, I found a company that did it for $450. That was way below other companies. When I bought a new home, I made sure to look for homes without large trees.

[Ocelot II]

54. Depends on the kinds of trees, their location, and how healthy they are.

Trees can make a big difference in how hot your house gets in the summer - not so much in the winter unless they're evergreens. Some trees have shallow root systems (like some evergreens) or weak cores that can fail in a storm - e.g., silver maples, box elders. Best to have an arborist check them out, see if they're healthy or need pruning. As a general rule I'd rather have them than not.

[DFW]

55. Anyone read any headlines out of Nantucket recently?

A wealthy homeowner illegally cut down several 50+ year old trees on his neighbor’s property, and then put his own home on the market for $10 million, due to its fabulous uncluttered view of the ocean. The view was uncluttered because he had cut down the trees on his neighbor’s property that had “cluttered” the view. He waited until they had left town (or island) for a few days. They are now suing the asshole, and I hope they are awarded either house or $10 million. If he gets to keep his house, I hope he is barred from selling it until the trees have grown back—in sixty years or so.