What Trees To Plant In The Central US?

The part of Midwest America between the 37th and 42nd latitudes is blessed with many trees suitable for planting around one’s home, whether it be a mansion on a hundred acres or a small house on a city lot. 

Although our native trees are beautiful, we sometimes think a few are overworked and yearn for something different. This desire is easy to satisfy if we inform ourselves about what choices to make.

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We used to think that temperatures depended upon our distance north of the equator, but we now observe that many other factors influence the temperature of a place. 

Many of these factors are quite local. For example, if you examine the government map of temperature zones in the United States, you will be amazed to see how they narrow and widen as they cross the country froth east to west. 

Zone five, for instance, makes almost a semicircle from northwest Washington through northern Oklahoma to Boston, Mass.

Plants That Can Grow Outside Their Original Habitat

Saw Trees

Formerly one seldom saw trees growing outside of their original habitat. But this is no longer true. 

We have learned of many plants that seem willing to adapt to soils and temperatures outside their native regions.

Bald Cypress

We are continually finding new ones. The bald cypress is a good example of a tree that can adapt widely. 

In the South, it likes marshy land and will even grow well in water, but in Kansas, it makes a majestic tree and gets along nicely without the “knees” that it develops when growing in water. 

Albizia Julibrissin “Mimosa”

The mimosa (Albizia julibrissin), a distinctly southern tree, is now doing well in several northern states. 

Even the southern magnolia finds it possible to do well in parts of the central Midwest – its range seems to be slowly expanding northward and westward. 

Going beyond the trees of this continent, we have learned of many from other parts of the world which seem to do well here. 

The list of kinds from which we may select is constantly growing.

Tree Considerations

Before choosing a tree, there are many things to study, especially if the tree under consideration is one not well-known to the person making the decision. 

Here are some questions to ask and find the answers to:

1. Do you want only trees and a lawn, or do you expect to grow flowers and shrubs, too?

If the answer is “flowers, too,” will the tree you are considering permit the culture of flowers?

Many flowers and shrubs will not be able to compete with shallow tree roots or a heavy umbrella of shade. 

The American elm is beautiful, but its roots will soon take all the water and food out of your soil.

2. Is your soil suitable for the trees you wish to plant? If not, can it be made so and kept so?

Some trees and shrubs like acid soil; others prefer soil neutral or containing a good deal of lime.

3. How far is it to solid rock in the place where you wish to plant trees?

Trees, especially those with large tap roots, seldom do well in shallow soil. However, if it is possible to break up the rock layer sufficiently, such trees will usually succeed.

4. Is your tree unduly subject to insects or disease?

5. Will its seeds be a nuisance?

Many trees produce seeds by the millions. They fill the eaves troughs, sprout in the garden or walks, fences, and foundations, and are an eternal bother.

6. Will your tree resist wind?

Some trees are brittle; others are exceedingly tough. The brittle ones will give you plenty to do after every windstorm. 

Easy Breaker Trees

Some that have reputations as easy breakers are: 

• Cottonwoods (poplars)
• Elms (especially Siberian, often called Chinese elms)
• Box-elders
• Tulip trees
• Willows
• Soft maples

Those notably tough trees are the following:

• Oaks (especially pin oaks
• Basswoods
• Ash
• Honey locust
• Hickories

People in Northern states waste thousands of dollars annually on shrubs and trees even after they are told that their purchases will not live through Northern winters. 

Trees, shrubs, and many flowers are indeed adaptable, but there is a limit to this adaptability. Sometimes it is accomplished gradually over many centuries. 

Common Red Bird

Our common red bird (Cercis canadensis), found from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, is a good example of a tree that has adapted itself to a wide range of conditions over a long period. 

If you want to know about the adaptability of a tree, consult a horticulturist in your region.

Different Native Trees

Let us look first at some of the trees native to this region under discussion (and occasionally at some of their cousins from abroad).

American Elm

The American elm has been one of the most popular. It is beautiful, long-lived, and adaptable. However, its susceptibility to foreign diseases has decreased its popularity. 

Thousands of elms have been removed from city streets and lawns in the last few years because of disease, drouth, or overcrowding. 

In many cases, the disease factor was small. Elms have been crowded too close together along city streets and around homes. 

Much of this planting was cloned before streets were paved. The feeder roots of elms are notoriously shallow, and when grading and paving took place, the water and food supply was greatly cut, 

The result, as we see, is deterioration and, finally, the tree’s death. If your area is small, I doubt you should plant an American elm. 

Use it if your area is large, for it is a magnificent tree. In addition, hybrids are now available that seem to be disease resistant.

American Sycamore

The American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) is another native that, although beautiful, is not suited to a small place. In the forest, it rises above nearly every other tree. 

Its small dead limbs, shedding bark, leaves, and seed balls make it a nuisance on a town lot. 

It makes a majestic tree on large properties, especially in winter when its white bark is conspicuous.

London Plane Tree

The London plane tree, a close relative, is usually found at nurseries. It tolerates the soot and grime of city streets and is often planted there, but it too gets too big for a small space. 

If you want a more desirable tree from this clan, a pyramidal type of plane tree of much smaller growing habit is now available.

Oak Species

Practically all oaks are good. Their roots go deep, their limbs resist strong winds, and they are beautiful even when bare. 

The pine and red oak are most suitable in towns and cities. They grow comparatively fast, have few diseases, and are seldom bothered by insects. 

They give a wonderful color display in the fall, and both tend to hold their leaves well into the winter, although this trait may vary yearly. They grow to a great height and will outlive several generations.

Sugar Maples

The hard or sugar maples can adapt to many situations. Native trees from eastern Kansas have been taken west more than a hundred miles and seem to flourish there. 

But sugar maples brought from the eastern U. S. to that area frequently die from drouth or winter sun-scald. 

All maples are surface-rooting, so it is hard to grow lawns or other plants under them. But the fall color of sugar maples makes them desirable, especially where they have plenty of room to develop.

Norway Maple

A relative from Europe, the Norway maple (Acer platanoides), has such wide varieties of sizes, shapes, and colors that it answers almost every tree need. 

There are round ones, pyramidal ones, columnar ones – and kinds with variegated, golden, red, purple, and regular green foliage. 

Most of these will grow throughout the central U. S. Check with horticulturists for local experience with particular kinds.

Red Maple

The red maple (Acer rubrum) is another native of outstanding fall coloring. Itïgrows big and needs lots of room.

American Linden Or Basswood

The American linden, or basswood (Tilia), is a handsome tree. It makes dense shade – a point to remember in placing it near gardens. 

Its flowers are intensely fragrant, and its leaves turn beautifully yellow in the fall. This tree is not easily broken and may reach great height and size under good conditions. 

It is hard to establish when young because the smooth bark often scalds in the winter sun. 

Smaller growing sorts of Tilia are available and may prove more practical in small grounds than the American giant. 

Tilia Cordata

One of the favorites is the little-leaf linden, Tilia cordata, a European kind. A spreading tree that is seldom seen over 50’ feet high, it is almost without faults. 

However, Lindens prefer moist soils and are difficult in regions of persistent drouth.

Some kinds of native ash are beautiful. Unfortunately, although larger limbs of most kinds are truly resistant to strong winds, some varieties lose small limbs throughout the year. 

The loss of these small branches is partly due, at least, to fungi, borers, and insects. 

Ash Tree Varieties

If you want an ash tree, choose a variety with clean habits. Here are some examples:

White Ash 

White ash (Fraxinus Americana) is often recommended. Most ash trees prefer moist sites, and not all are satisfactory in arid regions. 

Flowering Ash

The flowering ash (Fraxinus ornus), a small tree, comes from southern Europe and features fragrant white flower clusters in spring. 

It is rated hardy in zone five, where moisture is plentiful and stays small. 

Diminutive Ash “Modesto”

Another diminutive ash of even hardier nature is the ‘Modesto’ which usually stays under 20’ feet.

Horse Chestnuts

The Ohio buckeye and the horse chestnuts seem to like the central West well enough to make acceptable trees quite similar to those found farther east. 

Horse chestnuts of several sizes and flower colors exist and furnish an interesting variety. They cast a very dense shade, and some become quite large.

Kentucky Coffee Tree

The Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus) grows well in this general region and is practically free from diseases. 

Its seeds are edible when roasted in live coals, as chestnuts are roasted. Otherwise, they might be considered a nuisance. 

In winter, the stubby branches have interest, partly because they are such a contrast to the giant doubly compound foliage of summer. 

Native to most of this region, although rarely found, it is easy to please. In cultivation, it usually remains a rather small tree.

Native Honey Locust

The locusts deserve mention, for our native honey locust is one of the characteristic trees of the central plains. 

It has its faults:

• The native trees are usually heavily armed with thorns.
• The trees grow huge.
• The bean-pod seeds they drop are a bother. 

However, these trees often provide a good thin shade that allows other things to grow; they have fragrant flowers in spring and are strong and long-lived. 

Horticultural Varieties

The new horticultural varieties (and there are many of them) have remedied most of the faults. 

Small forms have been found that take columnar or pyramidal shapes and remain tinder 25’ feet in height. The “educated” locusts have lost their thorns, for the most part.

Another native of the region, the sweet gum, will do well wherever it can get enough moisture. It puts on a spectacular show of fall color that justifies extra effort in growing it. 

Sweet Gum

The sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) should get ample space, for it eventually becomes a large tree.

Sour Gum

Sour gum or black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) is hard to find in nurseries, but it is worth looking for. 

It is difficult to transplant, and trees dug from the wild are almost doomed to failure. However, this tree is known for its distinctively graceful branching and bright autumn color. 

It likes the moist lowlands. It is a smaller tree than sweet gum, which is unrelated.

Immigrant Trees

Now for a few more trees imported to our shores, which have shown adaptability to our region.

Golden Rain Tree

The golden rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata) – from Asia – is amazingly tolerant of plains conditions. 

It stays rather small and produces panicles of yellow flowers in July, followed by papery pods. Give it full sun.

European Hornbeam

The European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) has an American counterpart which is not as good. 

The European hornbeam is slow growing and hard-wooded, seldom reaching beyond 25’ or 30’ feet. Pyramidal varieties are available.

Chinese Cork Tree

The Chinese cork tree (Phellodendron amurense) is a distinctive small tree that seems surprisingly tough. 

It becomes broader than it is tall and displays clear yellow autumn foliage. It grows fast. Its bark, berries, and flowers are all interesting.

Ginkgo Tree

The ginkgo tree has the reputation of being able to stand almost anything–sizeable specimens grow well into the dry plains and are found as far north as Minnesota. 

It also survives city grime and grows so slowly that it seldom poses a space problem. The important thing with this tree (a native of China) is to plant only male or stagnate kinds to avoid the messy fruit shed by the female trees.

Undesirable Trees

Ailanthus “Tree of Heaven”

There are some trees, both native and foreign, that are not desirable. Ailanthus, commonly called the tree of heaven, is one of these. 

Its only desirable features are that it is a fast grower and has a tropical appearance, but its winged seeds are a real nuisance. 

The male tree’s flowers have a disagreeable odor, and so do the leaves when bruised. 

Planting only male trees removes the seed problem, but the female tree is usually recommended if no male trees are near enough to pollinate its flowers.

Box Elder

The box elder is another tree to avoid. It will grow almost anywhere and stand cold and dram”, but it is scraggly often. Unfortunately, it also happens to be the home of the box-elder bug. 

These insects gather on the trees in the fall, and often if a house is nearby, they will find an entrance somewhere and manage to be a pest from the basement to the attic.

Lombardy Poplar

The Lombardy poplar is a beautiful tree for a short time, but its beauty is not durable. 

Lower limbs begin to die early. The tree is short-lived.

44659 by George H. Marshall