Marric, Re Japanese Maples - this surprises me because the Japanese Maple Bloodgood thrives in Zone 5. (but I guess it depends on how close to zone 4 you are). Vil- First of all, be aware that trees suck up a lot of moisture daily and so plants like roses will compete with them for water. Some trees have far reaching roots and can destroy basement,underground pipes etc... In planning groupings, always think in terms of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9.. etc.. For some reason, it's a good feel. Best you choose 2 of something, 3 of the other, and such... Next, try to envision what those trees will look at ground level from the view of your window, door, porch, patio I suggest taking photos from that point of view, print it and draw directly on those pictures. I take inspiration from such magazines like Garden Design and Fine Gardening to just get a feel of the kind of view that would suit. There should always be one focus tree or grouping of trees. Do you want to create a tight screen or do you want it to feel spacey? Have your privacy and yet not feel as though you have been imprisoned by the trees. Trees need to be planted a certain distance from each other (depends on the tree) in order for them to be healthy. That means if you plant young trees, it will take years to make the place feel like a forest. So add your in between plants for the meantime until the trees are mature. Also, a well planned forestry garden is something that makes you want to discover things. So you walk up a path and then see something else that leads you to yet another surprising corner. - So add the element of surprise. Maybe walk up a path to find a fountain in the corner. or maybe walk up this path and find trilliums and woodland phlox.. or maybe a tiny stream.. - little things like that. You are correctly looking into tree shapes, behaviour and then reviewing each tree that fit that description. I have to tell you that most trees can be susceptible to diseases. While I love service berries because I do have one, they are susceptible to fire blight and to mildew. Still it's a favorite. I love Pagoda Dogwoods. You should look into that. Great as an under story tree. I like pines too because of that refreshing fragrance they give out, but pines when mature can break easily. It also acidifies the grounds around it because of falled pine needles. One thing you would want to consider is to avoid planting so close to your house that a falling branch or tree trunk can destroy your home. If you must plant a tree close to your house, keep it to a small size. I also love junipers -the ones that produce those blue berries. They just look like pearls on a tree. Love it. I also love beech, mature beech have these awesome trunk. Consider too Oak trees for their lovely acorns(if you can stand squirrels and chipmunks). I just love oaks.

Living in Wisconsin I do adore so many different trees. But my Mom had a gorgeous flowering mini crab apple tree that in spring would smell so wonderful, like almost a musky Hibiscus type scent that would last about 4 weeks. The fruit on this tree was about as small as a pea and was very abundant as the tree itself in bloom would look like one big huge flower on it's own. But most of the pea sized apples that would never have any issues with scabbing or insects would stay on the tree through the winter that would be a #1 staple of the bird life that never flew south for the winter time as my Mom would also have bird houses and Cardinals would stay along with Red Winged Black Birds and others. When the trees were flowering they would attract so many butterflies, humming birds and honey bees, that the next door neighbor would surly get his fill from, and even offer up honey to my Mom, otherwise he wouldn't have had so much honey and bees wax to sell at the farmers market. But unfortunately in 2012, my Mom's condo association voted on removing her wonderful bird and furry ground fellows tree (Yes! Also the squirrels of at least 3 to 5 different kinds would take advantage of all of the tiny apples that had fell to ground, along with chipmunks and some other furry ground animals, so I never did see what the big deal was. They had said that tree had made a mess. Well I beg to differ, and the closing vote was neighbor that actually got kicked out by the banks foreclosure no more than 4 months later. Now my 2nd favorite tree would be the lilac tree, not the bush but the actual tree. I remember when I had one right outside my bedroom window and the scent of lilacs would come in through out the lilac season, and my Dad had planted them to flower 2 weeks apart from each other, so I had that scent in my bedroom going for a good 4-6 weeks long at least! Now Wisconsin has a law in place that no one is allowed and will be fined if they are to plant any sort of troublesome tree. One big one being the darn Cotton Wood Tree. And for those that have them on their land that are in neighborhoods that clog up gutters and fly over to parks in which the fire departments HAVE to do a controlled burn to keep them from growing out of control every single year. This junk get into your air filters and in your cars, garages, homes and all over the place. I really hate these trees, and I just don't understand why people would take advantage of free removal by the city, especially if they have a fire place, free wood to burn for them for the winter time. And now these trees are huge! It's just unreal what you pull out of your gutters every year. Even though we want to enjoy our spring times and not have our usual floods as that is what usually happens here, but when you have Cotton Wood trees, you almost beg for rain every day so these seeds will only drop on the owners home and not yours when floating through the air and causing allergies with watery eyes, sneezing and being all stuffed up from just trying to enjoy the outside, which is impossible when you have a cantankerous neighbor that just won't take down that damn tree, even though it almost looks like it's 1/2 way dead anyway. Maybe some day it will get hit by lightning, and then he will have to use his home owners insurance to fix what ever damage it has caused and Karma will win in end. Just because he didn't do right by others. I know if I bought property, I would surely call the city and have them come and take it down as soon as they were able. And one more tree I don't care for all that much for at all either, is the Maple tree and for some reason, the seeds or what some people call whirly birds or helicopters I think they are a real pain in ars and for some reason the are falling off all year long and are green and slimy. Leaving the steps and landings all stained with this slimy mess so you can't even sit down and dry your hair naturally in the nice weather. And sometimes they even drop in clumps but when they do that they are too heave and drop onto the lawn, or what ever is left of it, when it rains it's a muddy mess on that side. I am doing my best to get the heck out of here, but I have some issues I need take care of right away! Heath issues that are stopping me from doing the simplest tasks. I never thought I'd need to be calling the HDRC for help like this. But I need to get out of here. Plus I just got a letter from my land lord that my rent is going up (only by $5.00) but still, I've been here for 14 years now. And I have been so unhappy and haven't had a single update done since I move in here. Sorry for over sharing, but she knows she has me over a barrel here, I have 3 auto immune disorders and many other medical issues that she used to be very empathetic to and I don't know what's happened to her now. She just no longer cares anymore at all! Now my Thyroid is effecting me. I knew years ago they found a nodule on my thyroid, but I went to a specialist and he said it's very common. My Dr. then always kept up with the testing. He now moved and I'm left with this flippent woman of a GP that is only in it for the money. Need to get rid of her now, and see if I can get a blood test tomorrow while I'm at the hospital anyway with 2 appts. back to back. I did feel so sorry for my Mom, she not only had a shade tree that she loved watching her birds every morning, but it was also a tree that gave her some privacy from her kitchen window and I think that was totally unfair for them to just take that away from her. She loves wildlife and birds, and loved waking up to it, watching and hearing the Cardinals and seeing all of the beautiful butterflies and other germinating creatures. Even the honey bees seemed very docile and as if they were trained to be non violent and just be busy worker bees along with all of the humming birds of every color of the rainbow that would stay still just long enough to make out their colors, I even saw a turquoise one, my favorite color. I went on google maps and they really need to update their pictures. That tree is still there on Google maps. I couldn't believe that when I saw that. Oh well, It's been awhile and they must have taken that picture right before they took that tree down. All I see is people raving about how much the love those trees and how glad they are they chose them. Mom moved in when that tree was a bit young yet. I wish I could turn back time, and announce her neighbors were being kicked out by the bank. That would have changed things a lot back then. They wouldn't have had a voice or a leg to stand on. And I believe the bank would have said "Keep that tree!" It only adds to the curb appeal and beauty for the next buyers. Oh well, to late now, Thanks for taking the time to read this. And God Bless to all those that have or have chosen the Mini Crab Apple Trees, you know what I'm talking about!

All your comments and advice are terrific. I'm not involving the police on this one. I have involved them before though. A "neighbor" (such a benign word for a family of human miscreants) decided he could cut branches off my trees and dig up plants hanging over my backyard fence. He believed in his tiny brain that he had a property right to do so. Behind my house we have a large public alley, basically a road. He lives across the road and he and his dad clean all organic matter out of their gravel with a tweezer. Of course, my yard is an affront to their sterile GRAVEL-WORLD. After he cut branches the first time, I got him to agree to not do it again without my permission. Of course, he couldn't help himself, because the voices in his head kept telling him to cut. That's when the police told him to stop or they'd arrest him. They told him what he thought was his right was only in his imagination, not actual law. After I worked for several years to get chicanes (2 half traffic circles) installed on our street to slow traffic, I was labeled a property rights thief by a psychotic neighbor. She convinced the neighborhood drunk and others that I had violated his property rights. Even though most neighbors liked having the chicane, the evil-doers (Rumsfeld would have called them "a group of dead-enders")vandalaized the chicanes, my property, and even took the lug nuts off one of my car wheels (under cover of darkness). Anyhow, I lived here in a hostile environment for about 4 years. yes, that's how long the anti-chicane activists persisted. Their evilness and inability to get their way ate away at them and they all moved away. It's now really quiet and nice here. So, this cherry thing is small potatoes. A couple days after this cherry incident, a man was killed in an altercation around his caring for plants in a traffic circle.

Thank you so much Flo Mangan! You have given me such amazing ideas! I am going to transplant the redbud in front of the oak trees for sure. I also have a pink dogwood I'll put in somewhere. An idea I had awhile ago came back to me. The idea I had with the fence posts was to create some sort of secret garden for the kids or maybe Mr. McGregor's garden. I could do a combination of both. I even wanted a hook to hang a little blue jacket on (lol). So I might have fencing put back up with an opening in the middle (I probably won't put a gate up, but could put the narrow pine bushes up at each edge) and then I can put trees and bushes in front of the fence. Inside the secret garden I could have a bench with some other plants (maybe a crepe myrtle). The kids really want a space where they can garden so they can do it in there.