Trees near hardscape?

[GSVA]

What general rules do you follow to garuntee the roots will not disturb the hardscape? Some trees throw their roots down and out, some go out and down and some are all over the place. Pick and chose wisely.

[cgland]

Typically, most ornamental trees root systems stay fairly in check (unless it gets to be 50 years old). The trees you want to stay away from are oaks, maples, etc. They tend to have shallow root systems and they need to travel out pretty far to stay outside the canopy. But to answer your question, I try to keep any tree at lease 8' from my hardscape.

Chris

[GDK]

Be aware of River Birches.....They have a very shallow root system and can disturb hardscape.

[lawnkid]

Ditto on the river birches. We ripped one out that was about 15' tall this summer that was grong under a patio on one of our maintennance customer's home.