I posted this in the tree forum and hope to get your input as well:
Hello, my wife has recently challenged me to cut down our Larix laricina since it's in the middle of our yard and makes a hinderance to playing in the yard. I planted it when we didn't have a child and hadn't thought at the time of the future. Without it, the yard would have a nice open space for our daughter to run around. Being a tree lover, I really don't want to cut it down because I like it. So I said to her I'd consider cutting it only if it was replaced by another tree somewhere else in the yard. The problem is that we don't have much extra space and the surrounding trees have already been planted for 7-8 years. So I'm looking for a tree that doesn't mind competing with a sunburst honeylocust (to the south), red maple (to the north), and sweet gum (to the east), which are all 15-25' away from my proposed planting site. The tree would need to have a decent growth rate so it can stand a chance in competing with the surrounding trees. We live in Lancaster PA and our soil is limestoney clay. I was thinking a Shumard Oak. What are your suggestions?
