The Best — and Worst — Trees to Plant in the Mid-South

What you are planting into

Memphis-area conditions are specific: heavy clay that swings from saturated to concrete, hot humid summers, real drought stress in August, a long growing season, and a storm pattern that tests structure every year. A tree that thrives in Nashville or Little Rock may sulk here.

The trees we recommend

Large shade trees

• Willow oak — the classic Memphis street tree for good reason. Fast for an oak, tolerant of clay, and it makes those beautiful high canopies over the older neighborhoods. Give it room.
• White oak — slower, and worth every year of it. The strongest wood, the best structure, and a tree your grandchildren will be glad you planted.
• Nuttall oak — excellent for wet clay, faster than most oaks, and much better suited to bottomland sites than people realize.
• Bald cypress — genuinely wind-resistant, handles both wet and surprisingly dry ground, and drops its needles rather than fighting ice. One of the best trees in this region.
• Southern red oak and shumard oak — strong, drought-tolerant natives.
• Hackberry — unglamorous, tough as boots, and it grows where nothing else will.

Medium and ornamental

• Southern magnolia — evergreen, storm-tough, and a genuine Southern signature. Give it room and let the lower limbs stay.
• Eastern redbud — native, spectacular in March, right-sized for a front yard.
• Serviceberry — spring flower, edible fruit, good fall color, small footprint.
• Chinese pistache — tough, heat-proof and outstanding fall color.
• Crape myrtle — excellent when you pick a cultivar sized for the spot and then leave it alone.
• Blackgum (tupelo) — native, well-structured, and the best red in the fall.

The trees we would not plant

Where you put it matters more than what it is

• Look up. Never plant anything that will exceed about 25 feet under a power line.
• Give it real room. A large shade tree needs 20 feet from the foundation, minimum. The mature canopy, not the sapling, is what you are planting.
• Match the water. Bald cypress, Nuttall oak and river birch for wet spots. Post oak, cedar and Chinese pistache for dry ones.
• Do not plant into a stump grinding. Decomposing chips tie up nitrogen and a new tree will sit and sulk. Pull the chips, bring in soil.

How to plant it so it lives

1. Find the root flare before you dig. Nursery trees are very often too deep in the container. The flare goes at or slightly above finished grade — this is the number one cause of slow death in landscape trees.
2. Dig wide, not deep. Two to three times the root ball across, no deeper than the ball.
3. Do not amend the backfill. Native soil. An amended hole in clay becomes a bathtub the roots refuse to leave.
4. Cut the circling roots. Score the root ball. Roots that circle in the pot will girdle the tree later.
5. Mulch flat, in a ring, never touching the trunk. Two to three inches, out to the drip line if you can. No volcanoes.
6. Water deeply and infrequently for the first two full years. Deep soaks beat daily sprinkles.
7. Stake only if you must, and take the stakes off after one year. Trees need to move to build strength.