Landscaping tree with minimal mess

I had a drake elm. It dropped a mountain of leaves followed by a mountain of seed pods that tracked all over my damn house all winter.

Then, I had to take the tree down as it was leaning which is apparently a common problem with them if not planted properly. Partially due to the girdling roots.

I'd vote no on the elm. That said, great shade tree. I do miss that aspect.

Blue point junipers. Had those accenting my landscaping on my first house and loved them. Minimal mess.

To hell with Magnolias. They drop leaves all year long and they are large waxy leaves. Then when they get big enough they drop the petals of their flowers and the seed pod forms that is the size of a hand grenade and filled with little red seeds that the birds love to eat and then crap all over the place. Then the pods fall off the tree and can put a dent in your head if they it you.

Before Katrina I had a sweet olive tree in my front yard that hardly shed leaves and bloomed twice a year with sweet smelling flowers much like honeysuckle in aroma. I never replanted to take its place and went with some nice flower beds instead.

Vitex trees are beautiful when in bloom.

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for all of the reasons he stated above.

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I grew up in a house that had 2 huge magnolias right near the fence line of the neighbors house. His trees would drop huge amounts of leaves all year long and they are not good for anything but throwing away. They don't decompose quickly, even if chopped up with a mower.

As a kid with other things on his mind, I would have to spend at least 2 hours a week raking and bagging leaves from those trees. If you parked under them you could expect your car to look like the bottom of a bird cage when those seeds were ripening and the cones are totally useless for anything but hurting you.

My mom loved the trees-------until I moved out of the house at 17 to go to work out of state. It was then she had an uncle come by with a chain saw and cut a ton of the branches off just over the property line on our side of the fence. Pissed the neighbor off royally, but nothing he could do.

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Vitex trees

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Looks pretty. How bad are they about shedding leaves etc?

How much space do you have? Trees can be compact, medium, or huge.

Drake elms have never been a problem for me, small leaves.

Sweetbay Magnolias mentioned earlier are nice and medium size.

Do you want an evergreen or one that drops leaves for winter sun?

Sounds like you want evergreen—consider something like a savannah holly. It doesn’t shed leaves, has shiny red berries, and leaves are a dark glossy green. Junipers are also neat and tidy with upright shape

Aforementioned Vitex are pretty when on bloom but they too lose leaves in winter.

Anything that loses leaves in winter is gonna make you unhappy. Stay away from magnolias—they drop leathery leaves year round that act as notorious storm drain cloggers.

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Is it a shady or sunny location?

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Its pretty sunny. I'm looking at the Savana Holly.

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How bad are they about shedding leaves etc?

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They lose their leaves in winter but it’s not too bad of a mess compared to a magnolia or oak leaves.