Most of what we build looks its best the day we finish it. A shade tree is the exception. It gets better every year, and on a fine Austin property it often becomes the feature people remember most. It is also the one part of a landscape you can't rush or easily redo. Pick the wrong species, or the wrong spot, and you find out fifteen years later.
Trees are a core part of our tree and shrub planting work across Austin and the Hill Country, and September is when we plan them. Here is how we choose shade trees, where we place them, and when they go in.
Which shade trees do we plant most on Austin properties?
We favor long-lived trees that can handle our heat, our soil, and oak wilt. These are the ones we reach for most.
Monterrey oak
Also called Mexican white oak, this is our most requested tree right now. It grows fairly fast for an oak, often reaches 45 to 60 feet or more, and stays nearly evergreen in Austin. It is a white oak, the group least likely to get oak wilt. Its native range starts in far West Texas and runs into Mexico, and it wants deep soil.
Chinquapin oak
A Texas native white oak that handles limestone and alkaline soil and grows at a moderate to fast pace. It needs deep soil and room to spread.
Bur oak
The estate tree. Bur oak can top 100 feet, handles clay and caliche, and is one of the most drought-resistant oaks. It needs a lot of space and is sensitive to construction damage around its roots.
Cedar elm
A tough native that grows in limestone, caliche, and clay and handles drought well. It grows reasonably fast. The trade-off is its bloom, which runs from July into October and can bother people with allergies.
Live oak
The Austin classic. For thin, rocky soil we use Escarpment live oak, which handles drought and cold better than the southern live oak. Live oak is also the tree most often infected with oak wilt in Austin, so we never make it the only tree on a property.
Lacey, Texas red, and Shumard oaks
Lacey oak is a slower, smaller native, about 30 to 50 feet, that grows on shallow limestone and resists oak wilt. Texas red oak and Shumard oak bring fall color, but both are red oaks, the group most likely to die from oak wilt. We use them as accents, not as the backbone of the canopy.
Whatever the mix, we plant more than one kind. A canopy made of a single species is one disease away from gone.
Is a Monterrey oak better than a live oak?
Neither is better. They do different jobs.
- Monterrey oak grows faster, stands more upright, and has larger leaves. It carries less oak wilt risk. It drops its old leaves in spring as new ones push out, and it can pick up small insects called oak phylloxera.
- Live oak grows slower into the wide, low, spreading shape people picture when they think of the Hill Country. It carries more oak wilt risk.
When a client needs shade over a new terrace sooner, we lean toward Monterrey. When the goal is a classic spreading canopy and there is room and patience for it, we plant a live oak. Many of our properties get both.
What is the fastest-growing shade tree that is still worth planting?
Fast and long-lived rarely come in the same tree. Texas A&M AgriLife's Travis County office calls picking a fast-growing species like Arizona ash the most common tree-planting mistake, because those trees soon cause trouble with surface roots, dropping limbs, and disease. Chinese tallow and chinaberry also grow fast, and Texas A&M Forest Service lists both as invasive in Central Texas. We don't plant any of them.
If speed matters, Monterrey oak, chinquapin oak, and cedar elm give you a good pace without the short life. Mexican sycamore grows fast and looks great, but it is not native to Texas, needs moist, deep soil, and may not handle hard cold. We only use it where the site is right. For true instant impact, the answer is a bigger tree.
Which trees fit your soil, from Westlake Hills limestone to Hutto clay?
Austin's soil splits roughly along I-35, where the Hill Country meets the prairie, as Texas A&M AgriLife explains. West of that line, in places like Westlake Hills, Lakeway, and Dripping Springs, you get thin soil over limestone. East of it, in places like Hutto, you get deep, dense clay.
- Thin soil over limestone: Escarpment live oak, Lacey oak, and cedar elm are at home here. Deep-soil trees like Monterrey and chinquapin can work, but only if we find or make a deep enough pocket, sometimes by breaking out rock.
- Deep clay: Bur oak and cedar elm handle it well. Clay holds water, so we test how a planting hole drains before we commit, and we skip trees that need sharp drainage.
This is why our site planning starts with the ground, not a plant list.
How close to the house should a shade tree go?
Farther than most people think. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center advises planting strong-wooded shade trees like oaks no closer than 20 feet from the house, and we give a bur oak far more room than that.
Placement is where design pays off. The sun hits hardest on the west side of the house and on outdoor rooms in the late afternoon, so that is where we aim the canopy. We keep large trees clear of overhead lines and septic fields, and we call 811 before we dig. Near the house, we skip weak-wooded fast growers that drop limbs and anything that will outgrow its space.
Can you plant a large tree for instant shade?
Yes, and for many of our clients it is the right call. Larger trees come in big containers or wooden boxes and give a finished look on day one. They also take planning. We map the delivery route before the tree is ordered, since a large tree may need a skid steer or a crane to get past gates, walls, and pools.
The honest trade-off is water. Texas A&M Forest Service recommends six to eight gallons per inch of trunk diameter each week for at least the first two years, so a 4-inch tree needs about 24 to 32 gallons a week. We build the irrigation around that.
We also look hard at nursery stock: a strong central trunk, a visible root flare, and roots that are not circling the container.
When is the best time to plant trees in Austin?
Fall. The City of Austin calls October through March Austin's tree-planting season, and Texas A&M AgriLife agrees: roots keep growing through the cool months, so the tree is settled in before its first summer.
That makes September the month to plan. Species, placement, and irrigation should be decided now so the trees go in during the best part of the window. We can plant in spring or summer when a project calls for it, but it means more water and more risk.
How do you protect the heritage oaks already on your lot?
Often the most valuable trees on a property are already standing. Inside Austin city limits, trees 19 inches or more in diameter, measured 4.5 feet above the ground, are protected. Heritage trees are 24 inches or more and include all oaks, pecan, cedar elm, and bald cypress. On a home lot, you need review through the City Arborist to remove a protected tree, prune a quarter or more of its canopy, or disturb its critical root zone. That zone's radius in feet equals the trunk diameter in inches, so a 30-inch oak's zone reaches 30 feet out.
Nearby cities set their own rules. West Lake Hills requires a permit to remove trees, with few exceptions, and Lakeway bans routine oak pruning from February 1 through June 30.
Then there is oak wilt. The City of Austin says the best time to prune oaks is July through January and to paint every pruning cut. We locate existing trees on the plan first and route irrigation and lighting trenches around their root zones. Our resort-style backyard guide covers building under old oaks on hillside lots.
What does a new shade tree need to get through its first Austin summer?
In our experience, most new trees that fail here fail because of how they were planted or watered, not because of the species. Our crews follow Texas A&M Forest Service guidance:
- Dig the hole at least twice as wide as the root ball, but no deeper.
- Set the root flare level with or slightly above the grade.
- Backfill with the soil that came out of the hole, with no amendments.
- Spread mulch a few inches deep out toward the drip line, pulled back from the trunk.
- Stake only if needed, and take the stakes out within a year.
Austin Water lets you water trees any day with a hand-held hose, a soaker hose, a Treegator bag, or an automatic tree bubbler. We usually give new trees their own drip irrigation or bubbler zone so they get deep water without soaking the beds around them.
Then there are the deer. Bucks rub their antlers on young trunks and can strip the bark. On Hill Country lots like our recent Dripping Springs project, we cage each new tree in sturdy wire until the trunk can take it.
We hand every client a written care plan for the first two years. And once the canopy fills in, a mature tree is the best thing on the property to light at night, as our landscape lighting guide explains.
Ready to plan your trees before planting season?
A shade tree will outlast almost everything else we build, so it deserves the same thought as the house. We'll walk your lot with you, read the soil, the sun, and the trees you already have, and place each new tree where it will do the most good for decades. Our planting installation team then builds the beds, irrigation, and understory around it.
Planting season opens in October. Schedule a design consultation now, and your trees can go in while the roots still have the whole cool season to grow.
