Prepare Your Yard For Low
Now that you know the best low-maintenance trees for your yard, youre almost ready to head to the nursery. Before you choose trees, you should evaluate your current landscaping. Identify trees you want to keep but that might need reshaping or pruning. Also decide on trees and tree stumps that youd like removed. Call a professional tree services team to handle these complicated preliminary processes. Their work can give you the perfect canvas to design your backyard oasis.
When you finalize your new yard, select the trees that will become part of your landscaping for years to come. To keep maintenance low, hire a tree services team to provide on-going care for your trees. When someone else handles tree care, your yard becomes a place to relax, not a place to work.
Trees Under 10 Feet Tall: List Of 20 Low
Categories Trees
Not all trees are created equally. When searching for a small, easy-to-care-for option, everyone wants a tree that can be enjoyed day in and day out.
In landscaping, trees are chosen for a specific reason. Whether you want a tree to stand alone, create a privacy border, provide food, or dramatize an entrance, there are many varieties to choose from.
In addition to being the perfect fit for your landscape, being moderately sized, and being easy to take care of, we also want something eye-catching.
The trees listed below are just that unique showstoppers that are sure to satisfy.
Some Things To Consider Before Planting Your Privacy Trees
Your local nursery can also help you pick out the right tree for your space, but there are always several things to consider before choosing and planting the perfect privacy tree for your backyard.
Some of the links on this page have been provided as a convenience for finding materials. These links may also be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
I only recommend products Ive used and loved, unless otherwise stated.
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Prevention Is Better Than Cure
If you are a busy owner, you can reduce the maintenance by ensuring that while you grow your garden. Plant your garden in such a way that it requires less maintenance. Like for example, to avoid the growth of weed and then putting in efforts of weeding, plant crops in an area that has very little light. This will help retain water in the soil for a very long time. This process is called mulching.
Mulching can also be done by planting herbs. Herbs grow tall and block the sunlight from reaching the weed. Some of the natural herbs that you can grow in your garden are Lambs Ears, Periwinkle, Wooly Thyme, Plantinum sage, Sweet Violet, etc.
Some of the common weeds that grow annually are Sedge, Chickweed, Crabgrass, Knotweed, etc.
Plant An Unexpected Urban Garden
This narrow backyard is transformed into a remarkable retreat tucked into an industrial area. The black fence feels modern and minimalist, and its height offers plenty of privacy. This sense of seclusion is amplified by lush trees and ferns that circle the perimeter. Narrow vertical stone pavers and understated outdoor furniture feel streamlined, yet serene.
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Break Up And Brick Up Your Backyard
When filled with foliage, this massive yard is intimidating to care for. Laying down bricks over the majority of the yard reduces the area youll have to regularly tend to. Frame the more lushly vegetated areas with the bricks to create instant garden beds. This courtyard is large enough to sustain multiple seating areas. The lounge chairs to the left are perfect for soaking up the sun, while the cabana offers shelter on a rainy day.
Go Wild For Wildflowers
When you plant a neat and pristine garden bed with perfectly spaced flowers, youre setting yourself up for a lot of upkeep. People often have to spend time uprooting weeds and wildflowers to maintain that uncluttered look. If you fill your garden with wildflowers, you can just let them do their own thing. This yard gets pops of color from fluffy purple plume thistles and cheerful yellow black-eyed Susans.
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Private Piece Of Paradise
Vertical gardens also known as green walls are popular in urban landscaping, because they make a striking visual statement without taking up a lot of space. Here, a green wall is used as a partition to create a secluded escape in the middle of a city. Vertical gardens are incredibly versatile as they can sustain several different types of plant life. Certain herbs like mint, thyme, and rosemary are particularly easy to maintain as part of a green wall. As a bonus you can harvest the herbs and use them in your cooking, making this outdoor feature as practical as it is pretty.
How Do I Plant Low Maintenance Evergreen Shrubs
Take care of your plants while planting them to make sure that you wind up with healthy, good-looking shrubs. If you jump in feet-first without planning everything, you run the risk of missing a step or neglecting your shrubs just when they need you the most.
Before you plant, its a good idea to verify that the shrubs will thrive where you want to plant them. While they are still in pots, place your shrubs outside where you intend to plant them to ensure that theyll be happy there.
Give your shrubs plenty of water before transplanting them. Make your hole at least as deep as the pot and twice as wide, and after you place the shrub, make sure to cover the root ball wholly and firmly with soil.
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Something Old Something New
Towering shade trees add value to your home while bringing with them a sense of history and gravitas. However, they can be difficult to incorporate into a low-key landscaping plan. Create separation between the trees and the rest of the yard by constructing a custom garden boundary to frame them off. The tasteful gray bricks here are an excellent complement to the clean lines of the raw cedar fence. Artificial turf is a no-fuss alternative to grass that will stay verdant all year long.
Flowering Dogwood A Showy Low
This shrub or small tree has springtime star-like blooms that consist of pointed white bracts around clusters of tiny green flowers. This dogwood also bears round, orange-red fruit in the summer and scarlet and purple fall foliage.
It excels as a specimen plant or in a shrub border or a naturalized or woodland area. Propagate this tree using summertime softwood cuttings.
Partial shade is ideal, but it tolerates full sun. The site should have protection from the wind and fertile, moist, fast-draining, acidic to neutral soil.
During its first two growing seasons, water your dogwood once or twice a week in hot, dry spells. Apply all-purpose fertilizer in March and July. Distribute mulch in the summer.
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Little Gem Southern Dwarf Magnolia
If you are looking for small trees with big flowers, a Little Gem magnolia might be your perfect choice. These slow-growing evergreens do well in Hardiness Zones 7 through 10, prefer full sun, and have large, showy blooms from late spring through summer. If you have a spot in your garden that is part sun or part shade, this magnolia will still do fine, just know that you will see fewer flowers if you choose a shady spot.
Little Gem magnolias are not drought tolerant and require regular watering, so this is a better choice for folks looking for a tree for an area that already requires regular irrigation. For example, you might choose this magnolia for a flowerbed or border where you have a drip system. You can also grow this one in a container.
This dwarf magnolia can grow upwards of 25 feet in height, but the average height is closer to about 15 feet. It is a relatively compact tree and will spread to between about seven and 10 feet wide.
Where To Plant Easy To Grow Trees
A tree growing in a suitable location is easier to look after. Consider more than aesthetics when choosing a site. Read up on the trees requirements for hardiness zone, soil type, and sun exposure.
Check the trees mature height and width to avoid placing it too close to your house, a fence, or the sidewalk. Septic tanks and utility lines are other things to avoid. In the United States, call 811 before digging.
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Bring Up Your Borders
Emerald green Bermuda grass is remarkably hands-off in the right climates. In places like Florida, many people skip flowers and bushes for an uninterrupted stretch of lawn, but there are ways you can introduce other flora into your yard without losing a lot of lawn space. Here, a narrow mulch border running around the yard offers a place to plant colorful flowers and young willow trees.
Have Fun With Foliage
If youre looking for a low-impact way to freshen up a dated home, try varying your vegetation. Mixing and matching multiple types of plants and garden filler is a low-impact way to give your front yard a makeover. The simple shrubs and basic brown mulch at the rear of the garden complement the homes brick facade. A row of white landscaping stones filled with jagged giant dracaena sharply contrasts against the more traditional landscaping behind it, while the front gets a burst of color from a row of marigolds.
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Say Yes Please To Trees
Trees are a great way to make the front of your home feel more private while still honoring nature. Mature trees can be expensive and difficult to plant. Luckily, there are many fast-growing trees available you can incorporate into your landscaping. Hybrid poplars, quaking aspen, and pin oaks are just a few examples. The shade they cast as they grow may even lower your energy costs.
How Can I Help A Tree To Establish Strong Roots
‘People can be put off by the idea of planting trees, but the majority are low maintenance if you look after the roots,’ says Michael Buck from Form Plants. ‘This is straightforward to do. Before you buy or plant a tree, take time to prepare the soil, digging in some organic matter and doing everything you can to enhance whats already there.’
Organic matter means homemade or bought compost or well-rotted manure. This helps to improve soil structure which leads to healthier plants. We’ve got plenty of tips on composting in our dedicated guide if you want to learn how to make your own at home.
On poor soil, a sprinkle of mycorrhizal fungi will also help the tree to establish strong, healthy roots.
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Best Backyard Trees That Are Easy To Maintain
Shade trees are the best backyard trees and many are easy to maintain. Backyard trees that provide shade to cool your family and home are in high demand. Just one or two trees can add so much to your landscape. Most shade trees are fast growing especially for the first ten years. So they can quickly fill in and giveyou the look you desire. These trees are also good for the environment. They clean the air and provide sustenance and housing for wildlife. Large trees can even reduce your electric bill in summer by shading your home. Small shade trees can add beauty and shade to smaller yards.
The best backyard trees are fast growing, drought tolerant, and low maintenance. Native trees are excellent choices. They thrive in their native regions and contribute to the surrounding environment.
Here are some of our favorite low-maintenance backyard trees:
Design For The Yard You Want
If you have big design ambitions but a tiny yard, you dont have to give up on your decor dreams. Just scale back your vision to suit your space. Layer artificial turf over a paved concrete front yard to brighten it up. A sizeable umbrella offers ample shade, while its vivid orange hue amps up the vibrancy. The bold color palette is echoed in the planters which are filled with red cordyline and green ornamental grasses
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Small Trees For Your Yard Or Garden
Trees beautify your yard, provide shade, serve as wildlife habitat, and can lower the cost to cool your home. However, along with all these benefits, you often also get expansive root systems and towering canopies that may make fitting a tree into a small yard seem nearly impossible. The good news is that there are plenty of small trees for patios and gardens with root systems that are more compact and heights that are more manageable.
Sometimes, when you are looking for small trees for your garden, what you really need is a shrub that can be trained and pruned like a tree. For example, shrubs like hop bush or crepe myrtle make gorgeous trees and, since there is not much difference between a big shrub and a small tree, you will often see them referred to as trees and shrubs interchangeably.
So, to help you on your quest to find the perfect tree for a small space, here are 15 small trees and large shrubs for you to consider.
Low Maintenance Backyard Landscaping
The best way to create a low-maintenance backyard is to design an outdoor living space that features simple and practical elements. Your backyard landscaping should be aesthetically-pleasing while offering an outdoor area that is well-suited for entertaining.
Some low-maintenance ideas for your backyard might include building a wooden deck or a stone patio, planting evergreen trees and shrubs that are easy to care for, designing a small flower bed with brick edging, featuring potted plants and installing proper lighting to highlight focal points.
Youll want your homes outdoor area to complement your lifestyle. If you like exercising and playing games, a multi-sport game court might be a good fit for your backyard. These multipurpose paved courts can be used for a variety of sports, including basketball, volleyball, and tennis. They also take up a lot of space, so youll have minimal greenery to tend.
People who enjoy hosting family and friends can benefit from transforming their backyards into an outdoor entertaining space. You can construct a deck or use paving stones to stage discrete living areas. Set up a simple grill or a full outdoor kitchen, complete with a durable dining table meant for the outdoors. You can also group outdoor furniture around a fire pit for a more low-key hangout spot.
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Silver Maple And Red Maple
One of the most common trees in the U.S., the silver maple is native to the eastern part of North America. It grows one to two feet per year, reaching up to 100 feet tall and 70 feet wide. A common shade tree, it unfortunately has shallow roots and weak branches. Its cousin, the red maple, is also native to North America and is known for its stunning fall foliage color. Red maples grow smaller: 50 feet tall and 40 feet wide. Plant both these maples in full sun or partial shade with well-drained soil in Zones 3-9.
Design A Beautiful Terrace
Sloped yards are exceptionally difficult to care for, as they are prone to erosion. They are also difficult to mow and retain moisture unevenly. Installing terraced flower beds is a great way to create level planting spaces in a sloped yard. These beds are built out of massive natural stone slabs, which helps this stately structure blend into the landscape. As a bonus, these beds will help protect the environment by preventing fertilizer runoff.
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How Do I Choose The Right Low Maintenance Tree For My Garden
Trees are an investment, so its important to pick one thats going to thrive as part of your low maintenance landscaping plans. Before you make a final decision, it’s worth seeking some additional advice from the experts. ‘A specialist tree supplier or nursery will give you all the information you need,’ says Michael Buck of Form Plants. ‘You may be able to book a site visit, so they can assess the soil in your garden before advising you on what to plant.’
If this is not possible, when you go tree shopping, take along some photos of your garden showing the proposed site for your tree, including the distance from your house. It can also worth doing this if you’re shopping for the best low maintenance shrubs too, as it will help your supplier advise on the right option for your space.
Best Trees For Front Yards
When choosing the best trees for front yards, it is important to first work out what you want from the tree. Do you want the tree to offer privacy or do you want it to be a stand out feature in your front yard? Are you looking for something to bring color to your outdoor space, or would you rather something low-maintenance that doesn’t drop a lot of leaves come fall? Think size, too, since it’s likely that you’ll be looking for trees for small gardens, rather than ones suited to larger spaces.
It’s also vital to factor in the conditions of your front yard what sort of soil do you have, is it a north-facing garden or south-facing garden plot, do you have extreme summers and/or winters? All of these things will impact the long-term health and subsequent appearance of the tree an unhealthy, drooping tree is never going to be one of the best trees for front yards.
Make sure the tree you select will thrive in the growing conditions. This includes the type of soil, wind, rainfall, winter cold and summer heat. Check the tag for this information as well as the mature height and spread, advises certified arborist and garden expert Melinda Myers . Contact your University Extension service, local garden center, nature center, landscape professionals, certified arborists, or other more localized tree resources to find trees suited to their climate.
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