Know Your Roots

Trees come in all shapes and sizes, and so do their roots.

 

Trees come in all shapes and sizes, and so do their roots.   Choosing a tree for your landscape based on certain characteristics such as bloom time, leaf color and mature size are all very important but picking the wrong tree with the wrong root type can cause a plethora of problems down the road.

Larger trees will obviously have large root systems but some large trees, such as Willow, Poplar and Elm have aggressive roots and they are not a good choice for smaller yards.

Strong roots can also probe into pipes or cause cracks and damage to foundations and underground structures.  Choosing the right tree can help to reduce any damage to a basemenjt wall, septic system or sewer connection.  

Many tree problems are accidental, by understanding more about the tree root system, these problems can be avoided.

Trees Suitable for the Home Landscape (shallow, non-invasive roots)

The list of trees below are safe to plant near a home foundaion.  Keep in mind they must be planted far enough away from the home to accomodate it’s mature width:

CherryPrunus
Crepe Myrtle – Lagerstroemia 
Hawthorn – Crataegus
American Hornbeam – Carpinus caroliniana
Lilac TreeSyringa
Magnolia (most)
Japanese MapleAcer palmatum
Paperbark MapleAcer griseum
DogwoodCornus
Fringe Tree – Chionanthus virginicus
BirchBetula
Golden Chain Tree – Laburnum
Beech – Fagus
Mimosa – Albizia julibrissi
Purple Leaf PlumPrunus cistena
RedbudCercis
Seven Son FlowerHeptacodium
SilverbellHalesia carolina
Snowbell – Styrax japonicus
Stewartia – Stewartia pseudocamellia

For more information on these trees, use our Plant Finder Tool

Trees Suitable for the Home Lawn (shallow roots)

The list of trees below are safe to plant in a home lawn area (not too close to the home).  Keep in mind they must be planted far enough away from the home to accomodate it’s mature width:

Sugar Maple – Acer saccharum
Tulip PoplarLiriodendron
WillowSalix
Red MapleAcer rubrum
ElmUlmus
SprucePicea
Silver Maple – Acer saccharinum
Norway MaplePicea abies
Dawn Redwood – Metasequoia

For more information on these trees, use our Plant Finder Tool

Trees with Lateral Roots

The list of trees below known to have lateral growing roots that may peak up through the soil.  Growing and/or mowing grass is usually tough under these trees:

MapleAcer
Ash – Fraxinus
Cottonwood – Populus 
Box Elder – Acer negundo

For more information on these trees, use our Plant Finder Tool

Trees with Agressive Roots

The list of trees below are known to have an aggressive root system.  Keep these away from the home foundation or any other structure, water lines, septic, etc…

PoplarPopulus
Dawn Redwood – Metasequoia glyp.

For more information on these trees, use our Plant Finder Tool

Trees with a LONG taproot

Taproots grow straight below the trunk of the tree.  Most trees will not devlop a lng tap root but will grow woody and feeder roots that sprawl across the footprint of the tree, sometimes up to four times the canopy size of the tree.  Below are trees known to have such root systems:

Sweet Gum – Liquidambar styraciflua
Sassafrass – Sassafras albidum
YewTaxus
White OakQuercus alba
WalnutJuglans nigra
Bald CypressTaxodium distichum
Black GumNyssa sylvatica 
HormbeamCarpinus 
OaksQuercus
Maidenhair Tree – Ginkgo biloba
Koelreuteria paniculata – Goldenrain Tree
Japanese ZelkovaZelkova
Most Conifers

For more information on these trees, use our Plant Finder Tool

Septic Safe Plants

The list of plants that are safe around septic systems is very short:

Non-woody herbaceous perennials
Small growing ornamental grasses

For more information on these trees, use our Plant Finder Tool