Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Looking for advice on what tree to plant


Recommended Posts

We have to replace a tree that is simply overwhelming the area it was planted in and damaging an adjacent pond and creating major pool maintenance problems.  This has been a problem with this property, several of the trees were planted without giving consideration to how big they would become and the result was damage and maintenance headaches.

 

Would appreciate suggestions for tree types that do not get overly large, particularly in diameter, and are not highly messy.  I think we want to avoid fruit trees because of the latter.

 

As always, appreciate the great help from this group.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crape Myrtles don't get huge and are pretty drought resistant.  These trees are the ones planted along the carretera that bloom white, pale pink and darker pink.  Japanese maple don't grow well here even if you can find them in a vivero.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, happyjillin said:

we have 2 of these Italian cypress and you can see them around here in many gardens. They can also be shaped if you don't want them to grow real tall. Our first one is almost as tall as our queen palm.

italian-cypress-tree-cupressus-4-inch-pot.jpg

I had 18 of those on my property( Mine were a fair bit larger) and would not recommend them. Snakes like to live in them where they eat the young of nesting birds.The dead needles make a pile around the base of each tree where almost nothning else will grow.  Boring-no flowers but they do move around in the wind a lot. I have  a list of more suitable trees that I will post when my company  leaves. A rether pedistrian tree more suitable to northern altitudes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my favorites is the Pata de vaca (because of the shape of the leaf) https://www.google.ca/search?q=pata+de+vaca+tree&newwindow=1&sxsrf=ALiCzsavuHOZ7mVdirz435KkpyONkWLCcA%3A1658798534343&source=hp&ei=xkHfYqi-EJ_ZkPIPxJmsWA&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAYt9P1ktRCNue6BCxWvcNxtmsa4OfJNar&oq=pata+de+vac&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADIECCMQJzIFCC4QgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoECC4QQzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQ0QM6CAguEIAEENQCOgsILhCABBDHARCvAToKCAAQgAQQhwIQFFAAWKIkYII_aABwAHgAgAG3AYgBwQqSAQMzLjiYAQCgAQE&sclient=gws-wiz The leavas are a beautiful green that I painted most of my ironwork to match. It is also called the orchid tree because of the shape of the flowers. Mine flowred for up to 8 months of the year. Very little trouble with pests escept for leaf cutting ants which are easy to control as there is a only a single trunk usually. 

If you look through the Lake Chapala garden guide  or flowering plants of the landcape or tropical blossoms of the Pacific or Tropical trees or Major flowerings trees of tropical gardens,or Arboles de Mexico, orTropical trees and shrubs or Jardinera you will see many excellent choices. You may have better luck looking through plant books rather than asking here

Edited by cedros
more information
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, cedros said:

One of my favorites is the Pata de vaca (because of the shape of the leaf) https://www.google.ca/search?q=pata+de+vaca+tree&newwindow=1&sxsrf=ALiCzsavuHOZ7mVdirz435KkpyONkWLCcA%3A1658798534343&source=hp&ei=xkHfYqi-EJ_ZkPIPxJmsWA&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAYt9P1ktRCNue6BCxWvcNxtmsa4OfJNar&oq=pata+de+vac&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADIECCMQJzIFCC4QgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDoECC4QQzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQ0QM6CAguEIAEENQCOgsILhCABBDHARCvAToKCAAQgAQQhwIQFFAAWKIkYII_aABwAHgAgAG3AYgBwQqSAQMzLjiYAQCgAQE&sclient=gws-wiz The leavas are a beautiful green that I painted most of my ironwork to match. It is also called the orchid tree because of the shape of the flowers. Mine flowred for up to 8 months of the year. Very little trouble with pests escept for leaf cutting ants which are easy to control as there is a only a single trunk usually. 

If you look through the Lake Chapala garden guide  or flowering plants of the landcape or tropical blossoms of the Pacific or Tropical trees or Major flowerings trees of tropical gardens,or Arboles de Mexico, orTropical trees and shrubs or Jardinera you will see many excellent choices. You may have better luck looking through plant books rather than asking here

Another favourite tree is the Arco iris (Idon't know the latin name).It is a medium sized tree with interesting leaves. They flowers change colour during the day. Red to yellow or vice versa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, cedros said:

Another favourite tree is the Arco iris (Idon't know the latin name).It is a medium sized tree with interesting leaves. They flowers change colour during the day. Red to yellow or vice versa.

Another interesting tree is the Tabachin-pinnate leaves with yellow or red flowers. They used to have some outside the ajijic hospial. Not too large a tree but colourful

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, cedros said:

Another favourite tree is the Arco iris (Idon't know the latin name).It is a medium sized tree with interesting leaves. They flowers change colour during the day. Red to yellow or vice versa.

Arco Iris aka Hibiscus tree; yes the flowers do change color and you can see many of the lakeside some of which are quite huge. As they are deciduous they may shed leaves and certainly flowers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, cedros said:

I had 18 of those on my property( Mine were a fair bit larger) and would not recommend them. Snakes like to live in them where they eat the young of nesting birds.The dead needles make a pile around the base of each tree where almost nothning else will grow.  Boring-no flowers but they do move around in the wind a lot. I have  a list of more suitable trees that I will post when my company  leaves. A rether pedistrian tree more suitable to northern altitudes.

Amazing some of the unreal things that you come up with cedros/cypress. Snake bearing trees?  Our older Italian cypress is about 35-40 ft. high and the younger about 20 ft. They are our only totally maintenance free tree in our courtyard and far too dense for any birds to nest in them. can't even see any needles on the ground and our ground cover grows quite nicely around their base. Almost every rich Mexican's estate around here has them so there goes your suitable to more northern altitudes. I suggest that you probably meant latitude,in any event.

part foto of our 2 cypress

IMG_1308.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another tree to consider is the fishtail palm we have 2 clumps in our courtyard and they provide excellent shade and the only maintenance required is to get rid of the seed pods about once a year. they  grow to about 15 ft. Oh,we do fertilize all our trees from time to time.My wife does 98% of the gardening including properly trimming our two citrus trees

IMG_1307.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Yo1 said:

Fishtails palms are nice but they get much taller than 15 feet, unless there is a mini and you have it.

Nope it's regular and around 15 ft.  my guess, with 4 offshoots and they can sometimes reach 20 ft. Do you have actual experience? If so post a foto like I did.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/25/2022 at 9:54 AM, Mainecoons said:

OK, I'll start a list:

Cypress

Juniper

Crape Myrtle?

Japanese Maple?

Colorado Blue Spruce?

Pacific Dogwood?

Many of those won't do well in this climate. I 've tried literally dozens of plants-from cashews to olives.  The cashews did well at the coast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, happyjillin said:

Nope it's regular and around 15 ft.  my guess, with 4 offshoots and they can sometimes reach 20 ft. Do you have actual experience? If so post a foto like I did.

I had one at my rental house in SAT but I no longer live there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...