In August, the west wall of a Mesa house can get hot enough that you feel it from a few feet away. A well-placed shade tree is one of the few things that fixes that, and it keeps fixing it for decades. SRP says carefully positioned trees can save up to 25 percent of the energy a typical household uses.
“Carefully positioned” is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Put the right tree in the wrong spot and you end up with a branch on the roof, roots under the patio, or a tree that shades the driveway and nothing else. Here’s how to get it right.
Pick the right side of the house
SRP’s shade tree program asks customers to plant on the west, south or east side of the home. If you can only plant one tree, the west side usually pays off the most, since that’s where the late afternoon sun lands just as your AC is working its hardest. South is next. East helps cut the morning heat.
Get the distance right
SRP recommends planting about 15 to 20 feet from exterior walls and windows. That feels like a long way when you’re holding a five-gallon sapling. But a mature mesquite can spread 30 feet across, and at that distance the canopy will reach over and shade the wall without branches scraping the roof or roots crowding the foundation.
A few other things to look up and around for:
- Power lines. Go with a smaller tree, or plant somewhere else.
- The pool. Thorny or messy trees near water mean a lot of time with the skimmer.
- Walls, sidewalks and irrigation lines. Give the roots room.
- The neighbors. Today’s sapling is tomorrow’s limb hanging over their fence.
Choose a tree that fits
For the East Valley, desert-adapted trees are the smart pick. They handle the heat, use less water and do better in our alkaline soil. Here are the trees SRP offers through its program, with the mature sizes SRP lists:
- Native mesquite. About 30 feet tall and 30 feet wide with a dense canopy. Has thorns.
- Thornless mesquite. Same size and wind tolerant. SRP suggests keeping it away from pools.
- Palo verde. About 30 feet tall with gray-green foliage and yellow spring flowers. Has thorns.
- Desert willow. About 25 feet tall and 20 feet wide, with fragrant trumpet-shaped flowers. No thorns.
- Lilac chaste tree. Up to 20 feet tall and wide, with purple flowers. Drops its leaves in winter. No thorns.
- Willow acacia. About 40 feet tall and 20 feet wide, and a good fit near water features. No thorns.
A tree that loses its leaves in winter, like a desert willow or chaste tree, has a nice bonus: shade in July, and sun on the house in January.
Want more options? The Arizona Municipal Water Users Association’s Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert and University of Arizona Extension’s Tree Reference Guide for Maricopa County are both good places to check water use, size and growth habit before you buy.
Wait until fall to plant
As tempting as it is to fix the problem in the middle of a heat wave, hold off. Fall is the best time to plant in the Valley, and SRP holds fall workshops for customers who want to earn free shade trees. Check SRP’s shade tree page for current dates and eligibility. When you’re ready, our guide to when and how to plant a tree walks through it step by step.
Get help choosing and planting
Heartwood does tree planting and tree consultations across Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, Ahwatukee and the rest of our service area. Once your shade tree is up and growing, regular tree trimming keeps it strong and off the roof. See all of our tree services, request a free estimate, or call (480) 269-5636.
Related reading: how to trim mesquite and palo verde in Mesa.
Sources
- SRP, Free trees to shade your home
- Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert
- University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Tree Reference Guide for Maricopa County
