I haven't checked to see how they do in your climate, but you might want to
consider one of the thornless varieties of honeylocust (glyditsia or
something like that). They throw a light dappled shade, have a pretty
texture and leaf color, and the leaves are very small, so they don't make
big piles of messy looking stuff when they drop in the fall. They're planted
in my climate, which is also a dry summer climate, and seem to do fine,
although I'd think they'd need a fair amount of irrigation the first 2 or 3
years until well-established. Although they might get taller than you were
thinking, they grow slowly here, and have the more delicate structure of
smaller trees.
"Pete Nelson" wrote in message
...
In our backyard, we have (I believe) a large willow tree. A couple days
ago, half of the
tree broke off and is laying in the yard. Take a look...

http://www.petenelson.com/temp/tree06.jpg
http://www.petenelson.com/temp/tree09.jpg
http://www.petenelson.com/temp/tree10.jpg


Been doing some research on the net and I see that the previous owners
made a big mistake
in planting a willow this close to the house. It's about 5-6 feet away
from the patio and
maybe 20 feet away from the house. This is much too large of a tree to
plant in such a
small yard and the wide-reaching, shallow roots would have eventually
caused problems with
the patio and possibly the foundation. Someone is coming this morning to
give me an
estimate on its removal.

My guess is that it's been cracked for a while based on the weathering
near the top of the
break and either wind or weight finally took over.

A few questions...

What kind of tree is this? Here is a better look at the branches (where
it took out a
planter). http://www.petenelson.com/temp/tree07.jpg It's about 30-40ft
tall and grows
extremely fast.

What should I replace it with? I'd like to have a tree that will provide
decent shade and
not grow too large. We have a small suburban backyard and the tree would
be planted in a
sprinklered lawn. We live in northen California, about 40 miles ENE of
San Fran. Very
little rain between May-Sept with temps in the mid 70s-80s, couple inches
of rain/month
between Nov-April with temps in the mid 50s-60s.



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