# Popular trees that struggle in Middle Tennessee

Published November 2, 2026 by Arboras.

Leyland cypress, blue spruce, white birch, and Bradford pear sell well across the country but often fail here. What goes wrong, and what to plant instead.

Some of the best-known trees in American landscaping were made for cooler summers, drier air, or milder winters than Middle Tennessee gets. They often look fine for a few years, then decline. Here are the ones we'd steer a client away from, and what to plant instead.

## Leyland cypress

**The appeal:** the fastest evergreen screen there is.

**The problem:** in our heat and humidity it's prone to canker diseases that kill branches and whole plants, and bagworms love it. Many Leyland screens look ragged within 10 to 15 years.

**Instead:** ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae, ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ holly, or a mix. See [one plant or a mix?](/blog/pool-privacy-screens-one-plant-or-a-mix/)

## Colorado blue spruce

**The appeal:** that silver-blue color.

**The problem:** it needs cool summers. In Middle Tennessee it tends to lose needles to fungal disease and thin from the bottom up.

**Instead:** for a blue-gray evergreen, Arizona cypress or deodar cedar handle heat better, given good drainage.

## White and paper birch

**The appeal:** bright white bark.

**The problem:** these are northern trees. Heat stress leaves them open to the bronze birch borer, which kills them from the top down.

**Instead:** river birch, a native, which handles heat and wet soil. ‘Heritage’ has the lightest, peeling bark.

## Bradford pear

**The appeal:** a fast, tidy shape and a cloud of white flowers every spring.

**The problem:** its tight branch angles split apart in storms, often just as the tree reaches full size. Its offspring, Callery pear, has also become one of the worst invasive trees in Tennessee, spreading into fields and roadsides.

**Instead:** serviceberry, Eastern redbud, or native fringe tree for spring flowers.

## Ash

**The appeal:** a fast, handsome shade tree.

**The problem:** the emerald ash borer is established in Tennessee and kills untreated ash trees.

**Instead:** willow oak, Shumard oak, black gum, or a disease-tolerant elm such as ‘Princeton’.

## Eastern hemlock

**The appeal:** soft, graceful evergreen for shade.

**The problem:** the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect, has devastated hemlocks across Tennessee, and Middle Tennessee summers are hotter than it likes anyway.

**Instead:** Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria) for a soft evergreen, or American holly in shade.

## Southern live oak

**The appeal:** the classic Deep South shade tree.

**The problem:** Middle Tennessee winters are colder than it reliably handles. A hard winter can damage or kill it.

**Instead:** willow oak, which has the same fine leaves and grows fast for an oak.

## When a plan calls for one of these

If a plant on the schedule is a poor fit for the site, the quote says so and proposes a swap with its price. Nothing is ordered until you say yes. [Send us the list](/#send) or [browse what's available](/plants/).