I'm the proud owner of a new yaupon (pride of houston) thats only 3 feet tall. I really like the look of mature yaupons. I put it in my flower bed in front of the house, only about 2 feet from the foundation. Did I plant it too close to the house? My intention is to encourage it to grow up and fill a blank space in front of the house, but are yaupon roots going to adversely affect the house's slab foundation? I saw one in my neighborhood that was huge - the canopy looked to be 10 feet in diameter. Doesn't this tree grow by sprouting new suckers from the roots? If I trim the suckers, can I better control the mature size of the tree?

I live where yaupon is native (Robertson County) and yes, it grows suckers. It is almost impossible to get rid of; if you cut one down it just send up dozens of new sprouts. When we first moved here I asked a local nurseryman how to get rid of it and he said "Move." But I know many people encourage the use of yaupon in the home landscape and I've never heard anyone complain that it is taking over their yard (like it would mine if I was gone for a month); can it be that the "domesticated" version that is sold in nurseries is different from the wild kind?