At what distance from the house is it safe to plant trees?

If anyone can provide some advice on this matter, it would very much appreciated:

1.I want to plant some trees or shrubs in my frontyard. The specific area I want to plant in is around 2m to 2.5 distance from the house and has underground water main and sewer pipes. What kind of plants would be safe to put in that area? I do not want to plant anything that has the potential to cause structural issues to the house or damage the underground pipes.

Are shrubs/hedge such as Viburnum varieties safe to plant in this area?

How about bigger trees such as magnolias or Japanese maple in this area?

2. I also want to plant some bigger trees such as magnolias and Japanese Maple in my backyard. About 7m-8m away from the house. Is that a safe distance to avoid the trees from causing structural damage to the house?

My soil type is clay.

Thank You.

I think you'll find magnolias and Japanese maples prefer free draining soil. You can make holes big enough in the clay to create enough space for the tree to establish, but once it starts to hit the clay, they wont do as well. I pulled my maples out of the ground for this very reason. They are no in jumbo pots throughout the garden and love it.

7-8 m away from the home for those tree varieties should be fine. Ideally what you want is trees/shrubs that don't have extensive root systems. I believe there are many diagrams online that will illustrate different variety tree root systems and how far they spread from the canopy, so you can make a call on what trees would be "safe"

If you want to plant trees in the front, consider building a raised planter box about 1cubic meter for any trees you want to plant to minimise possible root invasion

given your preferred mention of plants, this might be a hard sell, but have you considered Australian natives? These are generally bombproof in clay and ultra low maintenance. On a side note, also generally bird attracting if they flower.

So Japanese maple is fine in pots? If that is case, then I will just do that.

Are shrubs like Viburnum not okay for the frontyard 2m-2.5m from the house? Do shrubs need to be planted in a raised planter box to minimize root invasion?

maples are fine in pots, if you have them out the front, make them heavy. They get stolen quite a lot. Mature trees are expensive and people always like a bargain. We've had one in a wine barrel almost stolen. But thanks to how heavy it was and the fact that the crooks spotted the camera it got left alone. We moved it to the back after that.

dint kno wanything about Viburnum. youll have t o do some research.

SHrubs should be fine in the ground inside of 2- 2.5m, just dont plant anything against your house

I will look into natives. What it is about natives that make them bombproof in clay?

quite often the natural soil type for many of them. Doesnt mean they dont tdo well in other soil, but Ive found Grevilia, and callistemon thrive in it. Theses so many varieties of them too. Everyone ive planted has gone gang busters.

I have some Murraya paniculata near the house. In front of the porch.

The plants are around 2-3 years old. They were planted when the house was built.

Here is a current picture of them:

https://i.imgur.com/bBavWgm.jpg

They were smaller and now have grown around 150cm in height.

Do you think they are too close to the house and could cause issues?

probably fine. but i dont know anything about this plant.

Who would I need to consult to figure out if the plants are problematic or not?

To be honest it seems you're looking for one stop shop for a silver bullet answer via a path of least resistance.

It doesn't exist.


Do some research on the plant. Google things like root structure/spread. Dig one up and have a look. Keep an eye on the levels of of your path, are they changing. I mean you could consult an engineer and discuss matric suction, arbourists to discuss growth patterns and all other matter of topics with all manner of experts, but the answer you're looking for isn't found at the end of a single question.

In my opinion, it's probably not worth getting worked up about given their size and proximity, but the caveat is that I don't actually know.

General rule. Don't plant large trees close to your house. Trees root systems typically spread the distance of their canopy when fully grown (some more, some less). Some root systems grow down don't plant those over storm water or sewerage lines. Some grow outwards, don't plant those near your slab. Just google this stuff and make an informed decision based on what you learn.

Engage a services of landscape designer/architect/ horticulturalist in your local area. It all depends what will be the purpose of the tree. For example a decidous tree can shade the windows in the east and west for summer sun but exposes it duriing winter like japanese maple. You can have columnar trees for privacy. Some trees have a big root system and others dont.