How far from the house, the wires and the drain field: planting distances for every species

How far from the house should a tree go? The table below gives the answer for every plant in the catalog, A to Z, as the planting-distance tool works it out. The columns are the distances a plant wants from a wall, from overhead wires, from a septic tank or drain field, and from a sidewalk, driveway or fence. The last column is the space between two of the same plant, and a name opens the plant’s page.

How to read the table

Where a plant page states a distance, the table uses it. Where it does not, the figures follow the tool’s rules, which Blue Whale Trees took from the extension sources the tool names.

The house figure is half the mature crown, and never under 15 feet for a tree. The wires figure follows the ISA’s zones. A tree that matures at 20 feet or under can stand right under distribution wires, one up to 40 feet needs 15 feet from them, and a taller one 50.

The septic figure is the mature height, never under 20 feet for a tree or 10 for a shrub. It is three times the height for the willows, poplars, elms, birches, beeches, magnolias and red and silver maples that Clemson and Georgia say to keep well away from a drain field.

Pavement takes the page’s figure where it gives one, else Maryland’s driveway distances: 10 feet for a tree under 20 feet tall and 20 for a taller one. The boundary figure is half the crown, rounded up. The hedge figure is the spacing in a hedge or screen for the 39 plants whose guide gives one.

Distances, A to Z

The table holds the 414 trees and shrubs we grow, with two figures to a cell where the column pairs them. A blank means the page and the sources give no figure for that spot.

Jump to a letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

The table as a file

Download the table as CSV or JSON: 414 rows, one for one tree or shrub the nursery grows, with the columns below. The figures are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence: use them with a credit to bluewhaletrees.com and a link to this page. Updated 2026-10-22.

What each column means

• slug: the plant page’s address, https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants//
• name: the common name the page uses
• botanical: the botanical name
• form: shrub, small-tree, medium-tree or large-tree, the page’s size class
• height_max_ft: the high end of the mature height the page gives, in feet
• crown_ft: the mature crown width, in feet: the page’s own figure, else an estimate from the height, the full height for a shrub and 90, 80 or 70 percent of it for a small, medium or large tree
• crown_from: page where the crown is the page’s own figure, estimate where it is estimated from the height
• house_ft: the least distance from a house or wall, in feet: the page’s own figure where it gives one, else half the crown, and never under 15 for a tree
• wires_ft: the least distance from overhead distribution wires, in feet, by the ISA’s zones: 0 for a plant that matures at 20 feet or under, 15 for one up to 40 feet, 50 above that
• septic_ft: the least distance from a septic tank or drain field, in feet: the mature height, never under 20 for a tree or 10 for a shrub, and three times the height for a plant in a group the sources say to avoid
• septic_avoid: the group Clemson or Georgia name to avoid near a drain field, where the plant falls in one: willows, poplars, elms, birches, beeches, magnolias, red maples or silver maples
• pavement_ft: the distance from a sidewalk or driveway, in feet: the page’s own figure where it gives one; else 10 for a tree that matures at 20 feet or under and 20 for a taller one, and half the crown for a shrub
• pavement_least_ft: the least between the trunk and any pavement, in feet: 2 for a tree under 30 feet tall, 4 under 50, 6 above; half the page’s figure where it gives one; 0 for a shrub
• boundary_ft: the distance from a fence or property line, in feet: half the crown, rounded up
• spacing_ft: the distance between two of the same plant, in feet: the page’s own spacing, the low end of a range, else the crown width
• spacing_high_ft: the high end of the page’s spacing range, where it gives one
• spacing_from: own where the spacing is the page’s own sentence, others where it comes from a sentence about related plants, crown where it is the crown width
• hedge_ft: the feet apart in a hedge or screen, for a plant labelled Hedge or screen whose growing guide gives a spacing

How the table is made

The figures are the planting-distance tool’s own for each plant, computed from its page’s height, crown and spacing by the rules the tool states. Where a page gives no figure, the tool applies the University of Maryland Extension’s wall and driveway distances, Clemson’s and Georgia’s drain field rules, Iowa State’s pavement clearances and the ISA’s zones by wires. The files are written from the records and checked at every release.

Cite this page

Copy a link or a reference. A press on a box copies it.

<a href="https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-distances/">Planting distances: how far from a house, wires, a septic field, pavement and a boundary, by species</a>, Blue Whale Trees, updated October 22, 2026.

Blue Whale Trees. (2026, October 22). Planting distances: how far from a house, wires, a septic field, pavement and a boundary, by species. https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-distances/

Common questions

How far from a house should a tree be planted?

At least half its mature crown, and never under 15 feet for a tree; the widest crowns in the table want 50 feet. A shrub can stand at half its width.

How far should a tree be from power lines?

By the ISA’s zones, a tree under 20 feet tall can stand under distribution wires, one up to 40 feet needs 15 feet of distance, and a taller tree 50 feet. Transmission lines on towers are a utility’s own matter.

How far from a septic drain field?

At least the tree’s mature height, and never under 20 feet. The 27 plants in the groups the sources say to avoid want three times their height, up to 300 feet in the table.

What spacing between two trees?

The page’s own spacing where it gives one, otherwise the mature crown width, so two crowns just meet. A grove can go closer, and a hedge closer still, as the last column shows.