I have an area that is about 15 x 15 that I want to put a small tree into. It gets West sun in the afternoon and is often in the upper 90's during the summer. It is a more shady spot in the winter but it is also pretty sheltered. I do use a drip line hose frequently especially in the hot weather. I see a lot of people around here put in Japenese Maple but that worries me with the West sun in the afternoon. We are in zone 6a.

You should be able to grow Japan maple in 6-A, if you can suppliment its water needs.

A crepe myrtle would do nice or maybe an elderberry (black sambuca) evening sun will make both happy

Katsura (beautiful foliage both in spring and fall), crabapple (hot pink blooms, fruit for birds), serviceberry (great fall color, fruit for birds)

I too was looking for tree reccomendations

The next door neighbors have a dying boxelder tree they will have to cut down in the next few years opening up lots of light for a small native tree under 40 feet I was thinking MN native hawthorns downy, cocksper and fleshy but heard they loose leaves too soon and don't know which to pick.

Is there a way to get them to keep there leaves what's fall color. Is seedling rate high with hawthorns

Here is a list from the University Extension of Minnesota. Hope the list helps some.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/g...

I planted a sand cherry in a small area like that around my porch. They can be pruned to shape. The reddish foliage is pretty.
In my experience you will not be happy w crepe myrtle. Every few years we have a really bad winter and they die back and regrow from the bottom forming a bush, you will not get a tree shape to last long term.

my new favorite small tree is Physocarpus, also known as ninebark. The variety is Golden Jubilee. it is native to North America, beautiful colored leaves, spring flowers and very tough. Im not sure why I never heard of them before.

It depends on what your looking for...Maybe a flowering Crab...They are semi compact and beautiful...

chili said:I have an area that is about 15 x 15 that I want to put a small tree into. It gets West sun in the afternoon and is often in the upper 90's during the summer. It is a more shady spot in the winter but it is also pretty sheltered. I do use a drip line hose frequently especially in the hot weather. I see a lot of people around here put in Japenese Maple but that worries me with the West sun in the afternoon. We are in zone 6a.

I have a 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple (zones 5 - 8; 15-20 ft. high by 15-20 ft. wide) that gets afternoon sun and a lot of wind in my hilltop zone 6b garden. It is a beautiful tree (intensely red leaves in spring and fall).