House & Patio

Best Trees To Plant Near The House For Shade

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Planting a tree close to your home can be a great idea. It can cut down on your heating and cooling costs while also upgrading your home's curb appeal. You can typically plant a flowering or fruit-bearing tree on a corner of your house. This will allow you to extend your rock or mulch edging out a little bit and give you a great looking corner to your house's landscaping flow.

Additionally, you can plant a tall, skinny evergreen close to the house. These typically look great next to an entryway or garage door.

Here's a list of the top trees that work well in this type of situation.

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NameMax HeightGrowth ZoneLink
Japanese Maple Tree15-25 ft.5-8Check Price
American Holly15-20 ft.5-9Check Price
Flowering Dogwood20-25 ft.5-9Check Price
Crabapple Tree15-20 ft.4-8Check Price
Little Gem Magnolia15-20 ft.7-9Check Price
Italian Cypress40 ft7-11Check Price
Knockout Rose Tree4-7 ft.5-10Check Price
  1. Japanese Maple Tree

    The Japanese Maple Tree is very similar to the more traditional maple trees you are used too. However, it has a smaller maximum height and typically only grows to 15-25ft.

    You can get the Japanese maple tree in all sizes, colors, and shapes. There are ones with coral bark, red leaves, and white leaves. It's an extremely flexible tree that can work with all sorts of landscaping.

    Additionally, the tree is highly disease resistant, easy to grow, and tolerant of most soil conditions.

    It's a fantastic tree for the person who just wants to plant-it-once and watch it grow.

  2. American Holly

    The American Holly tree is a variation on the traditional holly tree most known for creating hedges in European gardens. It can grow into an oval shape without any trimming. Or you can hedge it and shape it however you'd like.

    This variety of holly tree is slightly more cold tolerant than others. This tree also requires minimal care, is tolerant of most soils, and can grow with varying amounts of moisture.

    If you are looking for them to grow berries, you'll need to plant at least three of them so they can cross pollinate.

  3. Flowering Dogwood

    The flowering dogwood tree is a beautiful addition to any front yard. It keeps it's color year round unlike most flowering trees and stays small so you can fit it into tight places close to your house.

    They have a fair amount of foliage that can provide shade if you are in need of that.

    The tree is relatively care free and will grow in most soil conditions.

  4. Crabapple Tree

    This tree is hardy!

    It grows almost anywhere in the United States. The crabapple tree, like the Japanese maple tree, has many different varieties. You can get them in white, red, orange, and other colors.

    The tree flowers in the spring and then has green leaves throughout the summer. It's flowers produce a nice fragrant rose smell.

  5. Little Gem Magnolia

    Unlike your typical 40 foot magnolia tree, this tree only grows 15-20 ft. This makes it perfect for smaller places. The tree does require a warmer climate.

    It produces beautiful white flowers and adds a lot to your landscaping.

  6. Italian Cypress

    The Italian Cypress is great for gardens and walk-ways. It grows 40 ft tall but only gets 5 ft wide. These are the trees you'll remember from movies like "The Godfather".

    They require a warm climate and like other Cypress trees are relatively easy to take care of.

  7. Knockout Rose Tree

    Finally, one of the best trees you can plant close to your home is the Knockout Rose tree. This tree grows in a variety of different climates, produces beautiful roses, and stays small so it doesn't block your windows.

    The tree is perfect for being planted close to the home in a rock garden. Or by itself with some mulch around it in the middle of the yard.


Tyler loves the challenge of finding the right trees for any piece of land.