Perfect shade tree?

[chug-a-bug]

What kind of tree would you want to keep your airstream under year round? I'm looking to plant the perfect shade tree to give me a break from the afternoon sun. I was wondering if anyone had an opinion as to the best tree to park a trailer under. Is there a strong shade tree that does not drop leaves, nuts, etc?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by chug-a-bug

What kind of tree would you want to keep your airstream under year round? I'm looking to plant the perfect shade tree to give me a break from the afternoon sun. I was wondering if anyone had an opinion as to the best tree to park a trailer under. Is there a strong shade tree that does not drop leaves, nuts, etc?

The best shade tree, without a doubt, is a canopy. All other trees may drop something, especially a branch during a good wind.

This Forums has many posts from owners who had their Airstream under a tree, when oops, a branch broke and fell on it. That usually causes far more than just cosmetic damage.

Andy

[richinny]

you could try one of those cement palm trees they have in miami.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by richinny

you could try one of those cement palm trees they have in miami.

In most of the world, aren't they known as parking garages?

[69AmbassFl]

I agree with Andy, I have a large dent in two panels on rear top from an oak tree branch. All trees drop something,acorns,leaves,nuts,pine cones,branches, pollen, and the worst next to a branch or the tree itself is sap.

[cameront120]

Any tree worthy of what you describe would be slow growing. A slow growing tree is strong and less likely to drop its branches. That's not to say it wouldn't happen though. Fast growing trees are typically shorter lived and not as sound. If I were intent on a tree rather than a man made shelter, I'd want something like an oak or elm. The problem is, that by the time a tree like this is large enough to provide coverage for my Airstream, I'd probably no longer be of this Earth.

[richinny]

Originally Posted by overlander63

In most of the world, aren't they known as parking garages?

no, besides those! last march i learned that the trunks were concrete. i don't know it the tops are small real trees or also artificial.

[chug-a-bug]

That's the wrong answer. I was not asking for the safest place to park my airstream, I was asking for suggestions for the least worst tree.

[vswingfield]

A palm.

The other answers have been pretty good. I need shade here in Little Rock, but man, the fallout from trees is huge.

From another ’83 triple owner. We should get in touch, neighbors and such. Trees have a lot of discharge issues. I have planted a couple of Crepe Myrtles in tree form in the yard, but positioned them away from the trailer. I hope to put up some form of canopy, as Andy suggested, or a metal RV carporch.

[Sky]

I have 90 year old Norway spruces in my yard. Over a 25 year period, I have seen very little fall from them (except for needles and cones). Pine tar may be a problem, I'm not sure. When they are 100 feet tall, you don't need to park under them for shade.

[overlander64]

We have a number of different species of trees on our property, and the one that has been least likely to experience limb loss during a storm is the Gingko Biloba -- the down-side is that they are very slow growing -- four that I planted thirty-two years ago are only about 15 feet tall and spread about 12 to 14 feet (I have two senior Gingko trees that are likely more than 100 years old on the place as well). A nurseryman who is familiar with Gingko trees is a necessity as you wouldn't want to have the fruiting (female) tree near an airstream as the fruits can be almost the size of a baseball. Evidently the nurseryman who sold me my trees must have known his business as none of my trees are bearing fruit and they are now old enough that they should be bearing if they weren't correctly identified.

My Overlander is parked about 10 feet from the largest of the younger generation of Gingkos on my place, and the tree didn't loose a single limb during this past winter's ice storm (we had ice covered branches for nearly a week and were without power for more than four days). The senior Gingko trees also escaped the storms unscathed.

Kevin

[chug-a-bug]

Kevin, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I will need quicker growth. Steve.

[tetstream]

Think in terms of casting a shadow on your parking place, not parking under a tree. That may make it easier. Fruitless Mulberry grows like a weed and gets big and broad, but bleeds and drops stuff. Nevertheless, it casts a big shadow. What you need is multiple shadows cast onto an open space.

White birch also grow very fast. Some needle evergreens do too, with lots of water.

My bambi is parked about 3 feet away from an older oleander shrub that is about 14 feet tall. It's trimmed away from the trailer and is on it's west side, so it casts and afternoon shadow. If my mulberry were closer on the east side, i'd have better shade

[flamingo-kid1]

I agree with the Gingko 100%.

We have one that is ten years old and the tree is beautiful.
It's about 15 feet tall, on the edge of my patio, and the fan shaped leaves are soft and when the leaves do fall the tree empties it self on the same day.

The gingko is prehistoric. It has a feel and aura to it that makes me sort of understand why the Druids worshiped it.

Mine, also is male, I was able to order it that way. It came from a chapo mail order catalogue an dsreplaced a messy apple tree.
PM me if you'd like a picture.

BUT the best thing for your trailer woudl be a fiberglass canaopy.

Originally Posted by overlander64

We have a number of different species of trees on our property, and the one that has been least likely to experience limb loss during a storm is the Gingko Biloba -- the down-side is that they are very slow growing -- four that I planted thirty-two years ago are only about 15 feet tall and spread about 12 to 14 feet (I have two senior Gingko trees that are likely more than 100 years old on the place as well). A nurseryman who is familiar with Gingko trees is a necessity as you wouldn't want to have the fruiting (female) tree near an airstream as the fruits can be almost the size of a baseball. Evidently the nurseryman who sold me my trees must have known his business as none of my trees are bearing fruit and they are now old enough that they should be bearing if they weren't correctly identified.

My Overlander is parked about 10 feet from the largest of the younger generation of Gingkos on my place, and the tree didn't loose a single limb during this past winter's ice storm (we had ice covered branches for nearly a week and were without power for more than four days). The senior Gingko trees also escaped the storms unscathed.

Kevin

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by chug-a-bug

That's the wrong answer. I was not asking for the safest place to park my airstream, I was asking for suggestions for the least worst tree.

We are surrounded by live oaks. The biggest issues are the green pollen and acorns, and the acorns are not big enough to cause dents. The shade is great, and the pollen washes off with soap and water.

[flamingo-kid1]

Originally Posted by overlander63

We are surrounded by live oaks. The biggest issues are the green pollen and acorns, and the acorns are not big enough to cause dents. The shade is great, and the pollen washes off with soap and water.

Acorns might not cause dents but they do ping ping ping all night long :-)
We park under an oak at our favorite forest preserve. It's sort of cool :-)

[digger bear]

My wife tells the child hood memory of some campers (not her family) that set up under a hedge apple tree. She says you could hear the drum roll al night long!

[cameront120]

Originally Posted by chug-a-bug

Kevin, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately I will need quicker growth. Steve.

Again,fast growing trees are not what you want. They are shorter lived and their structure is not one that withstands windstorms well.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Hey folks, none of us are thinking right this long weekend.

The VERY BEST shade tree, is a money tree, well almost perfect.

Everything it drops, is very welcomed.

Makes a person pray for daily wind gusts, so they can scoop up the money the tree drops.

Gotta be very careful though when you fertilize the tree. Not enough and you get dollar bills, and too much and you get the out of circulation thousand dollar bills.

When you get it just right, you get hundred dollars bills, with a few 20's tossed in for good measure. You know, new growth.

Rumor in California, is that Home Depot is adding that tree to their landscaping essentials.

Problem is that they are trying to figure out a way to restrict the purchases to Airstream owners only.

Home Depot says that they will start selling it as soon as California passes it's already 60 day late budget. Hmmm.

Sounds political to me.

Andy

[Minnie's Mate]

We planted six Chinese Elms along our driveway about 12 years ago. They are about 15 feet from the edge of the concrete and they shade the drive way and our Airstream. The branches are very small and if they break in the wind, they are small enough to not do any damage.

After 12 years of growth, they are about 25' tall. The down side is that they branch out low and require a good bit of pruning early to keep the drive way open, the roots are very invasive, and they do shed a lot of small limbs. The upside is that they have a very dense shade and the limbs that fall are very small.