Selecting Landscape Trees with Special Comments on Invasive and Native Plants

Trees are among the most beautiful, useful, and permanent products of nature. Selecting the right tree or trees for the home landscape is an important decision. Your choice will impact not only you, but also those who inherit or buy your property in the years to come. Because trees are considered to be a more permanent part of the landscape and can take years to achieve the needed effect, planting trees is one of the first priorities when installing a new landscape or renovating an old one.

Trees come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. Many provide special features during the year like flowers, fruits, or leaf colors. Selecting the right tree for you and your landscape situation will involve many factors. For some, a tree that brings back childhood memories will go to the top of the list. For others, choosing a tree that will grow quickly and provide shade will be the top choice. Some may want an evergreen that acts as a windbreak against cold winter winds. Others may need a small or narrow tree to fit into a confined space. Whatever your reasons for choosing a tree, these pillars of the landscape will play a major role in the long-term beauty and success of your landscape, so choose wisely.

This publication will provide information to help you make the right tree choices. Whether you are planning a new landscape or renovating an established landscape, this publication contains plant characteristics and cultural information on many kinds of trees that grow well in Mississippi.

Publication 2679 (POD-07-26)

Reviewed by Jeff Wilson, PhD, Associate Professor, North Mississippi Research and Extension Center. Written by Victor Maddox, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Agricultural Science and Plant Protection; and Lelia Scott Kelly, PhD, former Extension Professor, North Mississippi Research and Extension Center. Landscape renderings by Richard Martin III.