Best Front Yard Trees
What makes a tree the best for your front yard?
The best front yard tree, adds height to your garden landscape, creating a point of interest. You can take a garden and design it around a great tree. A few well-placed trees in your front yard add curb appeal. Sometimes a front yard can be small, but a well-designed front yard is a great investment in the value of your home.
How we can choose the best tree for a front yard.
Don’t pick something up on sale and hope it will fit the landscape. This may work, but more often than not, you end up with a tree that is much too big or too fast-growing and it doesn’t fit into the landscape. So you don’t want to be impulsive. Research the various options you have available.
You also need to decide what you want for color. Perhaps a flowering tree, a fruit tree, a tree with colored leaves, or just an interesting texture.
You need to know how big this tree will become. If you have a small space, you need a smaller tree so decide how big this tree can become in the space you have chosen.
The root size of the tree matters. If there is a septic system close by, you do not want the roots of the tree to find their way into this system. It can be very costly to fix.
Some trees need maintenance, some are self-sufficient. Are you willing to do maintenance?
What type of soil where you want to plant the tree is something to think about. If it is very moist or very dry, the tree will have to withstand these conditions.
The amount of sun the tree will get is also something to think about. Most trees do well in full sun or partial sun conditions. Deep shade is a factor to consider though. Not all trees like deep shade.
Harsh winter winds can be a factor to consider. Make sure the tree you choose is right for the zone you are living in.
Here is a list of a few trees that are low maintenance and stay a medium size. If you want a small tree, check out our Best Trees for Small Spaces
Magnolia stellata
Zone 5 Height 5 meters spread 3 meters
The magnolia flowers in the early spring before the flush of leaves come on the plant. The shrub type is great for small spaces. The tree form of magnolia can grow to 7 meters wide. Showier if you have the space for them. The flowers are very showy but last a short time very early in the spring. This is a great choice if you have a companion plant that flowers later.
Prunus serrulata - Flowering Cherry
Zone 5 Height 6-10 m Spread 2-6 M
The flowering cherry forms heavy clusters of bloom in the spring. Many varieties have bronze/green foliage which acts as a nice contrast to the green of summer. There are many cultivars available in this family of trees, many of them well suited to a front yard landscape.
Maple - Acer varieties
Zone 3-5
There are many varieties of maple that are well suited to the front yard landscape. If you have a smaller space, look for varieties that remain shorter like Acer ginnala ‘Ruby Slippers’ or Acer platanoides “Columnare’ for a tall slender maple, Acer platanoides “Globosum’ for a formal globe-shaped head which needs no pruning. This is the perfect tree for under power lines. These varieties are tolerant of wind and are low maintenance.
Crabapple - Malus
Zone 2-5
The crabapple is a favorite of many gardeners. It displays a beautiful showing of color in the spring, contrasting against its green, bronze, or red leaves. Most of the crabapple varieties are smaller in form and are well suited to a front yard garden. The flowers are fragrant. Some cultivars produce crabapples, while others do not. If you do not want the fruit, be sure to choose a variety that is fruitless.
Oakleaf Mountain Ash - Sorbus thuringica Fastigiata
Zone 5 Height 8 m Spread 4 m
This is an upright, oval-shaped, slow-growing tree with oak-like silver-green leaves. White flowers in the spring followed by dark red berries in the fall.
Unique Linden
Tilia cordata Unique
Zone 4 Height 8 m Spread 5 m
If you like the look of a Linde, this is a new cultivar that is much more narrow that its relatives. This little leaf Linden has dark green foliage with creamy yellow flowers in spring and golden foliage in the autumn.
Serviceberry - Amelanchier
Zone 4
Serviceberry trees tolerate a wide range of soils and conditions. It can be purchased as a tree or a multi-stemmed shrub. There are many varieties of this cultivar that fit into a small space. This tree gives 4 seasons of pleasure. In the spring, it has a profusion of white flowers. In the summer it has grey to medium-green round leaves which are a great contrast to the green of summer . Fruit adorns the tree in the fall along with the foliage turning shades of yellow to orange. In the winter, the birds love to eat the fruit of the serviceberry.
Birch - Betula pendula
Zone 2
Either the pyramidal European Birch or the Young’s Weeping Birch are great choices for small spaces in a front yard. They are slender and create an interesting accent for the landscape. The white bark stands out against the glossy green foliage that has lovely movement in the breeze.
