james said:


http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/12097489_CJMFu
You can hover the mouse over the photo and select original
The second photo is a close up of the leaves showing the distinctive reddish
area.

I tried using tree identification web site but I can't answer some of the
questions

Anyway there is a distinctive red area on the leave, perhaps that is enough
clue for experts to identify the tree. It's been growing for 2-3 years and
was planted by a neighbor who moved away. Now nobody is maintaining it.


This tree had largish flowers before the leaves came out, yes? Because when
I click on the close-up photo, I'm pretty sure I'm looking at a magnolia.
(Check the tip of the branch.)

I want to know what tree it is because I want to know

(1) How big is it going to grow to. If more than 15 feet I might want to
remove it. There was a maple tree there previously and had to be remove
because it was breaking my driveway.

It appears to most likely be a hybrid ornamental variety of magnolia and
not a potential giant tree like M. grandiflora (southern magnolia).

It could possibly reach 15 feet in 10 years or so. Much, much MUCH less
likely to be heaving a driveway than a maple would be.


(2) whether to prune the bottom branches so that there is only one main
trunk

Better off left multi-stemmed and low-branched, but that's a matter of taste.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..." --Largo Potter, Valkyria Chronicles

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