NEO Native Trees

About a year ago, my wife and I were eating lunch beneath a big beautiful tree at a county fair. While we were admiring its ancient size and unique appearance, we were told by a nearby gentleman that it was a bald cypress and was one of the only conifers to lose its needles each year. Less than a year later, we planted one in our backyard. The original bald cypress that inspired us to plant one in our backyard. I admit this was the first tree I planted where I felt like I actually knew what I was doing (whether that's actually true...we shall see). While it's only been four weeks since planting, I get the impression it's been the quickest to start acclimating to its new spot. However, that's probably less a testament to my planting skills as it is to a combination of location, timing, and size:  Location : We planted this tree near a fence that runs east-to-west on the south side of our backyard. Both our yard, and the adjacent neighbor's yard, slope to the fence so

The Eastern Redbud was the first tree we had planted on our property, right in the middle of the front yard. It was planted on 5/13/22 and has done very well in its first year.  Our Eastern Redbud tree the day after it was planted (5/14/22). Top half starting to leaf out and bottom half still showing those beautiful buds. We chose this tree because it's native and can tolerate our clay soil, it seems less common than other front yard ornamentals such as dogwoods and magnolias, and it adds some really nice late winter / early spring color with its purplish-pink buds. At 10' - 12' tall with a 3" diameter trunk, it was also well developed so it could provide immediate interest to our otherwise bare front yard (we were re-doing the landscaping at the time). Location : As the only tree in our east-facing front yard, it definitely receives a full share of sun. While many sources say it prefers full sun, I think it could probably benefit from a little less especially since it