I love all trees; unfortunately some are planted in inappropriate places. Whether live oaks or laurel oaks, the ones you say are planted 10 feet away from your house will not likely cause any foundational issues for another 30-50 years. Spanish Moss is airborne, and sometimes (not always) finds live oaks a suitable place to hang out. Yes you will have leaves and probably acorns over the years; consider them one of the best natural sources of organic fertilizer for your lawn and other plantings - like azaleas and camellias - that LOVE to live under live and laurel oak trees. The leaves can be used as a natural mulch around the azaleas and camellias. As the tree grows, the shade it throws will affect the lawn/sod/grass underneath, that's why shade-loving plants do so well around their 'legs'.
Having said all that, if you remove the young oak trees, other shade trees you may want to consider are: (deciduous) Drake Elm, Bradford Pear, and Red Maple - or - (evergreen) Ligustrum, Magnolia (several varieties), Japanese Blueberry, one of the Holly varieties: Dahoon, East Palatka, Oak Leaf, or Nellie Stevens.
Stop by Fairfield Farms Nurseries on 301 to see these if you'd like - your choice then whether to buy there or elsewhere.
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Originally Posted by Bob S
Our new house in Bonita is on a corner lot. It came with 3 fairly nice size ( about 3" diameter) Live Oak trees about 10 feet away from the house on the side nearest the corner. They are spaced about 20 to 25' apart.
Does anyone have experience dealing with this tree? I have heard that they are fairly shallow rooted and may kill surrounding grass or get under the house foundations. My wife is also not much of a fan of the moss that hangs from mature Live Oaks.
I hate to pull out trees, but was told that we need to do this before they reach a certain size or we will not be allowed to remove them. If we do remove them, does anyone have any good ideas about replacements. We like the looks but not the mess of palm trees.
Thanks for any advice.
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