Summers are getting hotter every year and the air conditioning is using more power to compensate for it. Just spending time in your backyard is going to become difficult without shade-throwing trees. You can search for “tree service near me” and hire pros to get your trees serviced. For now, let’s check out a few quick-growing trees that throw shade on hot summer days.
The Trees
1. Northern Red Oak – This tree has quite a reputation for all the right reasons. Naturalist Joseph S. Illick referred to it as the cleanest, stateliest and most handsome tree in all of North America. The Northern Red Oak is considered a national treasure and highly valued for its usefulness and adaptability.
It is exceptionally tough, considering it grows throughout US Hardiness Zones 3 to 8 and even in dense urban settings. When you plant this tree in your backyard, it is going to grow very quickly and invite all kinds of critters and wildlife to your property. During the fall season, the tree also changes its foliage to a reddish-brown color and announces the change of season.
2. Quaking Aspen – Unfortunately, there’s no Guinness Book of World Records for recording the achievements of trees. If such a book existed, the Quaking Aspen would secure a rank for itself. It is a tree with the most range in all of North America. It spans 47 degrees of latitude. For context, that’s the distance from the equator to the north pole. The numbers get crazier when you come to know it spans 110 degrees of longitude.
That means this tree exists in nine time zones. Across elevations from the seal level to high hills. The trivia does not end there. Quaking Aspen is also technically the largest living organism that grows as clones when sports come out of the roots. A Quaking Aspen in Minnesota is estimated to be thousands of years old. It can exist throughout zones 1 to 7 and the tree can quickly grow and make multiple clones to create deep shade.
3. Paper Birch – If you’ve visited the New England countryside or even the urban landscape, you must have come across Paper Birch trees. It’s the state tree of New Hampshire and is often planted by homeowners due to its unique aesthetic features. That includes the signature white bark that grows smooth but starts to curl and peel once the tree starts to mature.
During the fall season, the leaves also turn into a beautiful shade of yellow. When you plant this tree on your property, you don’t need to worry about pests like deer or other critters chewing on its bark. Its beautiful features, fat growing ability, and adaptability to various soil conditions make it a perfect tree for throwing some shade in your backyard.
4. Hackberry – Tree experts and naturalists also refer to the Hackberry tree as “one tough tree”. That’s a significant cue that tells you all about the tree’s reputation. You’ll find this tree growing on all kinds of soil. The tree grows unhindered east of the Rockies, from Florida to Canada, and can tolerate a wide range of temperatures.
It can thrive with little to medium levels of annual rainfall and can even stand up to strong winds and terrible city pollution. All those factors make the tree an enticing choice for homeowners and fast growth is icing on the cake. If you plan to get shade for your backyard without spending a lot of time maintaining or watering the tree, Hackberry is the ideal choice.
5. River Birch – As the name suggests, this tree grows along riverbanks. However, it can be planted across the US as a quick-growing landscape tree that can provide a lot of shade. This tree is known for its quick growth and high tolerance to both drought and excessively wet conditions. During the fall season, it develops a brilliant yellow hue, and the curling bark along with spreading limbs just add to its beauty.
6. Red Sunset Maple – The Red Sunset Maple is considered by many as the best red maple cultivar in North America. This tree puts on a glorious show during the fall season and delivers on color. It develops an amazing red color in the fall, grows quickly, and grows in a pyramid shape to create a nice little shaded spot in your backyard. Apart from the leaves, this tree also produces fruits in the summer, buds in the winter, and leaf stems with a red hue.
7. Pin Oak – Both homeowners and people living in dense cities love Pin Oak due to its dense shade, strong wood, and high tolerance to all sorts of temperature and soil conditions. It can withstand the polluted air of the city and doesn’t attract any major pests either. Moreover, it’s easy to plant and grows fast. That’s why you would also find this tree in parks and along streets apart from yards.
8. Dawn redwood – Dawn Redwood sets the benchmark in many ways. It’s an impressive tree by many standards and the greatest advantage of planting this tree in your yard is that it’s fast-growing and requires little to no maintenance. The tree features feathery leaves that are fine and a sight to behold. This feature alone makes the tree stand out in the neighborhood.
The tree also produces cones despite being deciduous and can be grown throughout US hardiness zones 5 to 8. At one time, dawn redwood was thought of as an extinct species with its evidence only found among dinosaur fossils. However, later on, it was found alive and well in China and since then it’s grown throughout the world.
Conclusion
While most trees that have a large canopy and thick enough foliage throw shade, you need fast-growing trees so that you can get some relief in the upcoming summers. The above-mentioned list should help you create a shaded oasis in your backyard. You can also search for “tree service near me” and hire pros to get those shade-throwing trees trimmed.