Common Witch Hazel shrub (I believe it's technically a shrub that can be grown into a tree form). Aromatic, and leaves turn a nice yellow in the fall. Web shows that it tends to grow taller in sunny areas, but nursery informed me they perform well in shade, and well suited for our zone. I believe my neighbor has one of these as well, planted in full shade, a nice dense attractive shrub. I would have gotten one for myself except that this is the copy-cat neighbor, so I'll lean towards anything they DON'T have. LOL

I would be concerned that a plant that attracts butterflies is also going to attract bees and wasps in all likelihood. So you may want to stay away from those. How about a clumping bamboo (foliage is soft, no flowering); a thornless rose; camellias (bloom in winter); blueberries (pretty shrubs that produce a wonderful fruit and bloom too early for most bees-plant two different cultivars for pollination and plant in almost pure peat-some maintenance with acid fertilizer but not much, and they turn a beautiful red in fall and for DD you've got purple fruit!). Not sure about how much sun you will have there, tho. You could also turn it into a veggie experience by planting asparagus, if you have enuff sun; may take a couple years to get estaablished, but after that you have that wonderful airy foliage that is so beautiful and soft. Just a thought or two. Susan

Ken.. it is an honor to have you reply to my thread. I will take a picture and post it later. May I ask you an unrelated question? I want to plant four 10' Black Hills Spruce around my house. They are B&B from Dutchman Farm in Northern Michigan. I am in Howell, by the way. So the nursery who will be obtaining and planting the trees says they cant plant til early June. I am worried about the trees thriving and living if they are planted too latr. The nursery (Mayhews in Fowlerville) told me that since the trees are coming from up north where the weather is still cold, they havent experienced new growth yet, and can be planted at my home anytime as long as its not extremely hot out. What do you think, Ken? These will be expensive and they dont warranty their trees. Should I wait til next year?

ok yeah I don't know the verbage lol and I am sadly not a knowledgeable source of plants or trees. I call anything that is an evergreen a pine. I was just curious about the tree because it's so big and we love it. A lot of people cut down the big beautiful trees because of fear they might fall on the house which does sometimes happen (wind storm blew the tree on her house). We have quite a few big ones (a extremely large sugar maple over all of our bedrooms) but love all the trees and the shade they provide. The town is in East Aurora NY and ...a very quaint town with many beautiful old trees. The town also has a grant to give trees to homeowners that are in need of trees. We received two for the front lawn. As far a summer yes, it's nice and private and quite shady in the summer due to large trees get their leaves back. We do get a lot of snow. The neighbor is game for anything as long as it doesn't get too big so I will do a variety most likely safe bet. Can never have too many. Thanks for all the info.