Frisco Tree Care Home › Tree Age Chart
How Old Is the Tree in Your Frisco Yard?
For most lots in this city the answer is on the closing papers. The year the house was built is the year the tree was planted.
Why the Build Year Works Here
Frisco's zoning ordinance requires canopy shade trees on new single-family lots: a number per lot that depends on the zoning district, at least three inches in trunk diameter when planted, with one street tree allowed to count toward the total.
The city went from 6,138 residents in 1990 to 200,509 in 2020. Nearly all of its houses, and nearly all of its yard trees, date from those thirty years.
A three-inch nursery tree is typically a few years old already, so add a little to the figures below if you want the tree's true age. For deciding what work it needs, years in your ground is the number that matters.
City of Frisco Zoning Ordinance, landscape and tree preservation sections; U.S. Census counts.
The Chart
- Built before 1990Tree may be 35 years or far older
Frisco had 6,138 people in 1990, so there are few of these. Large crowns, heavy limbs, deadwood and, on the oldest streets, overhead wires.
Large-tree trimming · Trees near power lines · Rail District
- Built 1990 to 1999Tree about 27 to 36 years
Full-size shade trees. Limbs well over the roof, roots at the sidewalk, and the first removals of trees that outgrew the spot.
- Built 2000 to 2009Tree about 17 to 26 years
A very large group: the city grew from 33,714 to 116,989 in this decade. Trees are reaching roofs and streets, and two-stem forks are getting heavy enough to split in wind.
- Built 2010 to 2019Tree about 7 to 16 years
Established and growing fast. This is the window when structure can still be corrected with small cuts, and when the crown first needs lifting off the sidewalk.
- Built 2020 or laterTree under 7 years
Still settling in. Stakes that should come off, trunks planted too deep, summer scorch. Mostly a matter of watching, with a first light pruning once the tree is growing well.
What Changes as a Planted Tree Ages
Fast-growing species run ahead of this table and slow ones behind it. A crew will adjust on sight.
When the Rule Does Not Hold
- The Rail District and other pre-boom lots. Trees there were planted over a century, one at a time.
- Creek corridors and greenbelts. Subdivisions built along creeks kept some of what was growing there. Those trees are older than the houses and usually belong to the association.
- Replacements. If the original tree died and a later owner replanted, the tree is younger than the house.
- Extra trees. Anything an owner added after closing: fruit trees, crape myrtles, a second shade tree out back.
- Volunteers. Self-seeded trees along a fence can be any age and are rarely where a tree should be.
If you are unsure, say so when you call. A crew can estimate age from trunk size and species in a minute.
What the City Says Grows Well
Frisco's parks department runs a commemorative tree program and names the species it plants because they grow well in the city: bur oak, cedar elm, ginkgo, thornless honey locust, lacey oak, red oak and Texas redbud. The zoning ordinance also refers to a list of approved plants kept by the city. If you are replacing a tree, those are the places to start. Frisco has held the Tree City USA designation since 2003.
City of Frisco, Living Legacy Tree Program page, read October 2026.
Know the Year? That Is Enough
Call or send the form with the build year and a sentence about the tree.
Call (469) 200-6710 Use the Form