If you have the time keep the tree, if not then buy another one or move it to a less important location. Norway spruce in some states is considered invasive, so check out if that is so in IA. You need some really big generational type trees London Plan, oaks.... lots of choices really. Some nice "boring" green trees will help to balance out the color of the Norways and the seasonal color of the others. The only question left then is the actual layout of the trees. Usually that should be decided upon first before any trees are bought. Also consider what is the purpose of the tree screening, enery conservation, wind break, etc.

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, we'll be out of town this weekend so we won't be able to make the botanical gardens sale. Thanks for the info though. We live in West Mobile. My wife likes the Red Maple, but the new builder in our neighborhood has been planting a lot of those. Am looking for something a little different but not too extreme. Fast growing though is pretty much a requirement. Does anyone have any experience with the Autumn Purple Ash?

I do LOVE my red push pistache and I recommend them to many clients who want a beautiful shade tree. I do not think they are messy. Of course they go dormant so you need to be ok with no leaves in the winter. But each tree will act different depending on the temp where it is planted. I saw 2 today full of leaves! The pistache requires more water than our desert trees. The difference with the citrus is that you will want to do deep watering often in the summertime. You must be careful though and make a well around the trunk as you do not want the citrus trunk to ever get wet. You also want to fertilize the citrus and be sure to paint the trunks in the spring so they do not get burnt in the summer. I would stay away from the sissoos. Once you have them they will spread roots looking for water. If they reach grass you can bet on little babies popping up everywhere! I am an arborist and I cannot tell you how many we have removed in the past 5 years. Once removed none of the root system can have any water or sunlight or you will be sure to have babies everywhere. You definitely have room for the swan hill olive (fruitless variety) and I agree that they are super clean. They will send suckers up at the base all the time and you will want to cut these back. I really like the tipu tree also. It does get very large, has beautiful leaves and small yellow flowers. it will defoliate late winter and immediately send new leaves out again. Below is a baby and a close up of the leaves. I was really glad to see you have the trees spaced far apart. So many times trees are planted too close and end up competing for sun. I hate removing trees for this reason. Good luck!

The tree to the right also looks like a candidate for removal. Sorry, in Wilmington there's no reason to mess around with native Ilex opaca unless you have some political preference for native plants. Any of the various non-native hollies you could get at say, McLean Nursery in Baltimore or Patuxent Valley Nursery in HoCo., MD would have a glossier, showier leaf and - if correctly pruned - often a more desirable shape too. Recommendation might be Koehne Holly, 'James G Esson', or English Holly 'Lewis' if you like the traditional Christmas decoration look. (I think 'Scepter' might not be quite hardy enough.) Even a SE native hybrid like 'Longwood Gold' will be a better looking plant, long term, than a randomly-purchased-somewhere-in-Delaware Ilex opaca. Remember to get a suitable pollinator. I have huge native Ilex opacas in my yard, and various other hollies I've planted...the non-native ones just look better. And btw watch out for the nurseries there, the one in Hockessin isn't bad, per se, but back pre-recession it had the most breathtakingly high prices I'd ever seen at a "local garden center." Same with the new, urban-outfitters owned Styers. I can give other recommendations offline but don't want to seem to be be advertising. If you have money to burn, sure, shop at those places! OTOH, McLean in Baltimore has outrageously _reasonable_ prices. (it's different to recommend the couple places I did specifically for hollies, vs. plants generally) PS I personally do not recommend any maples other than Asian ones, but that's just me! An Acer griseum, for example, might look nice off the right, replacing the tree with a split trunk.