Why do people think that the Southern areas of Houston are treeless? (Pearland: house, buyer)

[fnh]

It's the height of the trees. The northern metro has those numerous taller pines mixed with the shorter oaks etc to give a layered and more 'forested' impression compared to the southern metro. It really does feel much greener to me on the north side.

I'm off to the PNW y'all, where there are lots of really tall trees.

[soletaire]

I dont know about Pearland, but Sugarland actually has a ton of trees where it hasnt been clearcut for development. To me, there is no shortage of trees in Cinco Ranch either.

[Prey521]

When we moved here from NY a little over 2 years ago, one of the reasons we preferred the Northeast section of Harris County was because of the tall, established trees that reminded us somewhat of NY. We're now building a home in a new community in New Caney called Tavola, from the same developers that built Friendswood and Kingwood and we love that they're not clearing the tall, established trees, to keep with that same tradition.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jerbear30

I think when I drive through Sugar Land that there are too few trees. The newer suburban developments all seem to lack trees though. Katy is the same way. Sometimes I wonder what the upside to living where I live (Spring Branch) is: I'm a little closer to the city but it's still a 25 minute commute, the schools are questionable and Spring Branch certainly isn't a hipster haven. Then I walk through my neighborhood in the heat of the day under a canopy of mature trees and I remember.

Well west of Houston was largely rice fields and cattle farms 60 years ago, so they had removed most of the trees. The new developments started without many.

[ButterCup81]

Originally Posted by NewYorkiforniainHouston

I went to school here for a year in the 8th grade (late 70's), i'm from New York City. I was scared to come down here because i thought there were just open plains, tumbleweeds and no tv

This pretty much describes where I grew up.

[marksmu]

Probably b/c all master planned communities except the woodlands & Kingwood clear cut 100% of the trees, then replant small oaks when the houses are completed. Newer neighborhoods do appear for at least 10-15 years to be devoid of trees & mature landscaping b/c they are.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by NewYorkiforniainHouston

I went to school here for a year in the 8th grade (late 70's), i'm from New York City. I was scared to come down here because i thought there were just open plains, tumbleweeds and no tv

I have a friend who moved to Houston with his family when he was in elementary school. He told me he was was crying because he didn't know how to ride a horse and wouldn't be able to make it to school. (If any of you were My Name Is Earl fans - that would be Crabman).

[Yn0hTnA]

Kingwood, Woodlands, and other such areas of the Houston metro are, without a doubt, very forested, the most tree-filled areas of the Houston metro, bar none. Honestly, I don't know why the tree density isn't continuous like that throughout the entire Houston metro, all the way to the coast. It's very strange to me.

With that said, the southern parts of the Houston metro do have areas of dense woodlands. From Fort Bend county onto Brazoria county, there exists a significant tract of subtropical bottomland forest along the Brazos River known as the Columbia Bottomlands. It is an old-growth forest, meaning that the ecosystem has the rich biodiversity, and climax communities from attaining great age without disturbances. Many species of tree exist, such as green ash, and hickory trees, along with live oaks, bay trees, southern magnolias, and other evergreens to keep an evergreen, exotic through the depths of winter; such a look is underscored by the significant presence of palmettos in the understory, including the Brazoria palmetto, a palm species found nowhere else in the world but in this Houston metro ecosystem.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtwilliams10/8570805152
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtwill...-rLSnsa-qHv5pB
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtwill...-9KV3T4-rLSnsa
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mabuck...-86Mi3t-4Wue4b
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtwill...-eW3NbU-eVRoqK
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtwill...7622783439303/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jtwill...7622783439303/

[Prey521]

Originally Posted by marksmu

Probably b/c all master planned communities except the woodlands & Kingwood clear cut 100% of the trees, then replant small oaks when the houses are completed. Newer neighborhoods do appear for at least 10-15 years to be devoid of trees & mature landscaping b/c they are.

Yeah, I don't like that.

Below is a pic of the house we're building at Tavola. One of the reason we choose them is because they're the same Dev's as K'Wood/Friendswood and they were not clearing tree's en mass, to mimic those 2 communities:



Those are small trees in comparison to others in the community.

[crone]

The piney woods of East Texas meet the coastal plains in Harris county.