[batman911]

Good for you Ohiogirl. I have large trees all around my present home and just love it. Yes, I pay to have them trimmed every few years but I can live without air conditioning all year. Birds are always in my yard and singing their thanks. Some of my neighbors, on the other hand, have rocks for a lawn and have large concrete slabs covering most of their back yards. Sorta looks like a house in a parking lot. You can imagine the heat the rocks and concrete retain even into the night and they run the air conditioners constantly, go figure. Their excuse is they do not want to do yard work. Trees and grass make any neighborhood nice no matter how inexpensive the homes are and yard work is great for your health.

[Ohiogirl]

Originally Posted by batman911

Good for you Ohiogirl. I have large trees all around my present home and just love it. Yes, I pay to have them trimmed every few years but I can live without air conditioning all year. Birds are always in my yard and singing their thanks. Some of my neighbors, on the other hand, have rocks for a lawn and have large concrete slabs covering most of their back yards. Sorta looks like a house in a parking lot. You can imagine the heat the rocks and concrete retain even into the night and they run the air conditioners constantly, go figure. Their excuse is they do not want to do yard work. Trees and grass make any neighborhood nice no matter how inexpensive the homes are and yard work is great for your health.

Thanks, Batman, needed someone in my corner here. We too love the grass and tree look - yes, a little more work, but worth it to us.

But once again, want to point out that most of these oak trees in residential settings (yards) are LAUREL oaks, not Southern LIVE oaks. The LIVE oaks are the big spreading ones such as those at Stillwater and Buena Vista, dripping with Spanish Moss. I think people get confused because both keep leaves on all year.

[samhass]

We feel blessed to have a massive live oak in our yard. Does it get messy? Absolutely....but it is also absolutely worth it to us to have this magnificent tree in our yard. An American Bald Eagle hunts from the tree with her mate and brings her fledgling around, also. Hawks, owls, herons and other birds come to the tree to hunt or roost.
I love the swaying moss hanging from the massive branches. The tree is a thing of beauty...a great wonder to me.. and I will be a good steward for the tree as long as possible.

[LovingLife]

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.

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.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by LovingLife

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.

Lets see it has been 2 years and 5 months since the original question has been asked. I bet them trees have grown a bit since then.

[mrdills]

I have lived here for 15 years and my neighbor has an very large Oak tree in her very small yard and the tree drops leaves and acorns all year long on my driveway. If you don't clean it up right away it will stain the driveway. I think it the dirtiest tree in Florida and I would never recommend on planting one, unless you hate your neighbors.

[downeaster]

Live oak, laurel oak, palm tree, etc., Ten feet is too close to the house for my liking. Did the developer put it there?

I think a mature live oak is as gorgeous as it is majestic but a little messy with fallen leaves, fallen moss and twigs. It will plug up downspouts in no time. I am speaking from experience. My oaks are far from mature and are thirty feet from the house. I wouldn't trade one of them for a dozen palms.