Make Good Choices -Leave These Trees To Avoid At the Nursery

This article is about trees that can cause headaches for eco-friendly homeowners. They might look all pretty and stuff, but they can totally wreck your yard or your sidewalk or even your sewer pipes. Not cool, right? We don't want to have to spend all our spare time pruning and cleaning up tree messes. We definately don't want to have to spray chemicals on them all the time to keep insects and disease under control. We don't want to plant invasive species that belong in other parts of the world that will take over the natives and hurt the eco-system in our area.  This article will focus on some high maintenance trees that may not be sustainable good choices.  Here are 15 trees I suggest you avoid planting and why.

Willows

So like the first tree on the list is the willow tree. Now don't get me wrong, willows are gorgeous with their flowy branches and all. But dude, their roots are crazy aggressive. They'll spread out like all over the place and can even bust through your pipes and stuff. And they make a huge mess shedding leaves and twigs everywhere. So unless you got a huge yard far away from your house, you might want to skip the willows.

Fruit Trees or Ornamental Fruit Trees

Next up are fruit trees. I love me some fresh apples and cherries, but man, these trees can be a real pain. They attract pests like nobody's business - insects, squirrels, birds, you name it. And if you don't pick the fruit right when it's ripe, it'll just fall on the ground and rot and stink up your whole yard. Plus you have to prune these things all the time and watch out for diseases. So like, only get a fruit tree if you're ready to baby it, you know?

Ornamental fruit trees like crabapples, mulberry or purple leaf plum can worse.  With crabapples and mulberries you are feeding the birds and often attracting other issues. Purple leaf plums get shot hole disease and other issues 90% of the time.  All three of these are loved by deer. Attracting deer to your property is counter active to a lot of other green projects we tend to what to encourage. Crabapples are a host of cedar-apple rust which is another disease we don't want to encourage. So unless you want a mess and to encourage insects, disease, and deer, ther are better choices for trees. 

Strangler Fig

Now here's a wild one - the strangler fig. This is some crazy jungle stuff right here. It starts out growing on another tree and then just like, takes it over and kills it. And in your yard, its roots can demolish sidewalks and pipes. Oh, and it makes a mess with its fruit that attracts critters. So yeah, probably best to admire this one from afar.

Silver Maples

Silver maples are another tree that's like, "Ooh, look at me, I grow so fast and give you shade real quick." But don't be fooled, my friend. Their roots are super invasive and can wreck your driveway or even your house foundation. And their branches are weak, so they break a lot in storms. You'll be constantly cleaning up after this drama queen of a tree. Put on your list of trees to avoid.

Eucalyptus Trees

Eucalyptus trees might make your yard smell all nice and stuff, but they come with a bunch of problems. They're crazy flammable, so if you live somewhere with wildfires, that's no good. And they drop huge branches without warning, which is just dangerous. Plus they're always shedding bark and leaves, so you'll be cleaning up 24/7.

Bradford Pears - Ornamental Pears

Bradford pears are another tree that seems nice at first with their pretty white flowers, but they're sneaky. See, their branch structure is weak, so they break a lot in storms and wreck stuff.  Since they are ornamental pears, they make little pears about the size of a nickle and drop them on your lawn and sidewalk.  There are tons of varieties of ornamental pears.  Bradford is just one variety. Planting the right one is hard, you may get one that is super wide or very slim.  Since they are all grafted, they sucker badly and the suckers are not the same as the top. And they're super invasive, like they'll take over your whole neighborhood if you let them. Oh, and their flowers smell nasty, like rotten fish. Hard pass, am I right?

Sweet Gum

Sweet gum trees have these spiky seed ball things that fall all over and hurt like heck if you step on them barefoot. They make raking your yard a nightmare. And their roots are all up in your business, tearing up sidewalks and making your lawn all lumpy. Plus you have to prune them all the time. No thanks, buddy.

Sycamore Trees

Sycamores are these massive trees that are just too much for most yards. Their roots will demolish anything in their path, and they drop a ton of leaves and bark. And they get sick a lot with stuff like anthracnose that makes their leaves fall off. These giants are best left in big open spaces.

Mimosa Trees

Mimosa trees have those fuzzy pink flowers that are really pretty, but they make a huge mess when they drop. And then the seed pods fall and sprout up baby mimosas all over the place. These things are hardcore invasive. Plus they don't live long and get diseases a lot. So yeah, not great for your yard.

Alright, so let's dish about these other troublemaker trees.

Lombardy Poplars

First up, Lombardy poplars. These tall, skinny dudes grow super fast, but they're like magnets for pests and diseases. They get cankers and stuff that can straight up kill them. And their roots are shallow, so they blow over in strong winds like nobody's business.

Leyland Cypress

Then there's Leyland cypress. Sure, they make a nice privacy hedge, but they're so high maintenance. You gotta trim them all the time or they get out of control. And they're prone to all sorts of funky diseases like root rot that'll make 'em look half dead. They tend to get a fatal canker blight that is a slow death that starts about the time they get big and become the screen you bought them to be. No bueno.

Cottonwood Trees

Cottonwoods are another fast-growing tree, but they come with a price. They drop these fluffy seeds everywhere that get all stuck in your air conditioner and gutters. And their roots are crazy aggressive, invading sewer lines and causing all sorts of expensive damage. Hard pass on these guys.

Black Walnut

Black walnut trees are just plain rude. They produce this thing called juglone that straight up kills a lot of other plants around them. So good luck growing anything near these jerks. And they drop these big, hard fruits that are a pain to clean up. Plus, their roots will wreck your foundation and sidewalk given half a chance.

Ginkgo Trees (Females)

Ginkgo are often referred to as living fossils due to their longevity and minimal evolutionary change over millions of years. Ginkgo biloba is the only surviving species of a group of trees that dates back to around 270 million years ago, making them older than the dinosaurs.

Now, ginkgo trees can be cool, but only the male dude trees. The lady ginkgos drop these nasty fruits that smell like hot garbage. I'm talking rotten eggs and puke, man. It's nasty. So if you're gonna plant a ginkgo, make sure you're getting a male tree, or your yard's gonna stink to high heaven.  They have been used in traditional medicine, particularly in Chinese herbal practices, for their supposed health benefits so if you know what you are doing using them for medicine, go for it, just make sure you plant a male.

Osage Orange

Finally, there's the osage orange. These things drop big, lumpy non-edible fruits that are like stepping on a dang boulder if you're not careful. They'll straight up trip you and twist your ankle. And good luck cutting down one of these bad boys if you need to. Their wood is hard as a rock and they have thorns that'll slice you up. No thanks, Satan.

So yeah, all these trees might seem pretty or fun at first, but they're just way too high maintenance, you know?  These big 1-3 pound bogger than a softball, fruits are a big job to keep picked up.  Once they start to rot, you will be ready to cut the tree down., so you don't have a choice about picking them up. They're like that high drama friend who's always causing problems and expecting you to bail them out. Ain't nobody got time for that, especially in your own dang yard

So like, the moral of the story is, when you're picking out trees for your yard, don't just go for the flashy ones. Think about how much work they're gonna be and if they'll play nice with your house and stuff. Your landscaper homie can help you pick some chill trees that won't make you regret all your life choices. Because ain't nobody got time for drama queen trees, am I right?