re: Fast growing shade trees

Red maple is a pretty tree that grows fairly fast and looks good.

River birch is popular, but it doesn't make much shade, and it is always shedding bark and crap in the yard.

If you go oak, don't plant a water oak. Dan Gill from the LSU Ag Center says they are a bad choice. I had one and had to cut it down.

Gill does recommend willow, shumard, and nuttall oaks.

LINK

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Water Oak. The fastest growing of our native oaks, it also is the shortest-lived. Most water oaks grow to be massively large (60 to 80 feet tall and 40 feet wide) in just 50 to 60 years. At that time, they tend to develop decay in their trunks and fall apart. Although they make nice shade trees early in their lives, this habit of decay and breaking or blowing over in high winds makes the water oak among the less desirable species to plant.

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