Best shade trees to beat the S. Texas heat
After several years of drought, we finally received a week of rain, with more than 5 inches falling in most areas in and around San Antonio. The Edwards Aquifer has not reached the average yet for this time of the year, but it has moved up 40 feet, and the soil has a good moisture level. It is a good time to plant trees. Here are some recommended shade trees to consider.
Large shade trees
For a large shade tree, consider one from among live oak, Texas red oak, cedar elm, Mexican sycamore, bur oak, chinkapin oak, Mexican white oak and anaqua.
Live oak: This is a droughttolerant species with an attractive structure with lots of horizontal branching. The evergreen species is long-lived and grows at a moderate rate. Live oaks are very popular, and mature trees add value to your property. To protect live oaks from oak wilt disease, paint wounds or prune cuts immediately after they occur and don’t limit all shade trees in your landscape to live oaks.
Texas red oak: This fastgrowing deciduous trees features a rounded crown and some fall color. Red oaks are part of the oak wilt complex, so paint the wounds on them the same as on live oaks.
Cedar elm: This is a deciduous tree that grows at a moderate rate to become taller than live oaks or red oaks. The leaves are small, so they decompose very quickly and don’t need to be raked up. Cedar elm is a good alternate to use in landscapes dominated by oaks.
Mexican sycamore: This deciduous tree has large, showy leaves and colorful bark that grows very fast. Use it in San Antonio landscapes instead of American sycamore because it is resistant to the diseases that regularly kill American sycamore.
Bur oak: This is a deciduous tree, with large leaves and acorns, whose size eventually tops red oaks and live oaks. It is droughttolerant and often drops its leaves early in the fall if rain has been scarce.
Chinkapin oak: This deciduous tree in the white oak family grows at a moderate rate to reach a large size. White oaks can get oak wilt in a lab setting but rarely in nature.
Mexican white oak: Also called Monterrey oak, this is an evergreen oak in the San Antonio area that is drought-tolerant and grows relatively fast.
Anaqua: This tree usually appears in the small and medium tree category, but if you give it time, it can grow over 35 feet. It is evergreen with a very dense crown of small leaves that have a sandpaper-like surface underneath. I like the species because it makes a good shade tree and is attractive to birds for its dense crown, blooms and berries.
The moisture and cool weather make this a great time to plant shade trees. If you are a CPS Energy customer, you can also take advantage of the utility’s $50/tree rebate as long as the money lasts and if you plant one of the recommended species on the north, south or east sides of the house. All the trees listed in this column are on its recommended list. Your favorite nursery or the CPS website has more information about the rebate program.