Golden weeping willows are not long lived. I don't have any hard data, but I think at 100 yeasrs, or a few years earlier, they will begin to deteriorate. It depends on the site and some other factors. My favorite "legacy" trees, are the eastern white oak, and the baldcypress. Both of these are underplanted. I think Oikos Tree Crops has the golden weeping willow, but they offer several other willows, so be sure you get the right one--the second paragraph of my original post includes the names I have seen it sold under. But if you can find one nearby, you can easily propagate them from cuttings--there are different methods, and I think they all work. Here in the Winchester area there are not many around--most weeping willows are either the Babylon weeping willow, which can be a fine tree also, but I don't like it nearly as much as the golden. And there are one or two other cultivars "out there." If you find one with twigs as golden as those in my pictures, that's the one. Some others have some yellowish, or partially golden colored twigs, but unless the golden hue is strong, and goes back up the twigs for two or three years growth, at least, that's not the one you want. --spruce

I see the original post is over 14yrs old, but last post was 7days ago so clearly others are like me and still reading this post. Sad the OP never commented what they ended up doing. I'm in a similar situation but the area I'm looking to fill isn't near the house. Have deep yard and apx 10yrs ago planted a maple apx 7-10ft from our back fence that was supposed to be a fast growing tree but has only grown maybe 2-3ft tall in that time and mere inches in width. Talking to the place originally got it apparently had poor choice in where planted it as we planted it in the natural drainage section of our yard and we get a lot of runoff from the houses that sit higher then us. However being in Texas its dry more often then its wet. When it is wet its like the original poster posted can be wet/marshy for close to a week. Tree farm had some recommendations for the maple, my preference of their recommendations is to move it to a drier part of the yard. We have the room to do so would just bring it closer to the house and an established red oak we have and has handled the water well. Not looking to "fix" our drainage issue. Its doing what its supposed to keep the water from building by the yard and have a french drain that carries the excess water between the houses. The only thing the water impacting the maple does is impact this maple and make the grass a little swampy for a few days after heavy rains. Just looking for a tree that can handle this "temporary swampiness" and also our largely hot & dry climate and clay soil. Would like to put something in the hole digging the maple out of so asked the guy looking to have do the work for recommendations and he recommended Bald Cyprus, River Birch & Sycamore. In researching these three I found Weeping Willow which he said could also work. Which is why I'm posting here. Pretty much between the River Birch and the Weeping Willow. LIke the long growing season of the Willow, but think prefer the look of the River Birch. Didn't rule the Sycamore out but don't care for the seedlings it will drop as the red oak already makes a mess with its acorns. Several recommended the bald Cyprus and would like to note for those that don't have experience with an established Bald Cyprus. They are nice looking trees however in my opinion they are one of the messiest trees. Needle leaves & seedlings they drop are mess and worst of all they have what people refer to as "knees" that are the tree roots that pop backup in the yard which are a real hassle when cutting your yard. I would highly recommend against just for the knees, which would also be a hazard for anyone walking or playing in the yard. Reading others comments think might be now leaning the river birch or the sycamore. Several commented relative short life of the weeping willow which is a concern, though don't plan to be in the house long enough for that to be an issue. I think for our situation River Birch or deal with the seedlings from the Sycamore and go that way are the best options. Hope my post might help others. I'll try to remember to come back and post picture of the results once we buy and plant our new tree.

The link is just to some random company with a decent website that lists sizes for different cherries. Any of those I would be comfortable planting. If you pick a full size one in twenty years when it is huge and glorious you may have to cut it down as its hugging your home. The dwarf ones might never be too big. Your decision. I have some arborvitae close to my house. If the snow does not get them during the next several years I may have to consider removal as they are outgrowing their space. Then again they have provided a decade of usefullness already. Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.kinseyfamilyfarm.com/nursery-plants/cherry-trees.html

cookieleevr: A weeping willow is not a good tree for next to a pool. First of all, they get very big, very quickly, trunk will be get to 2ft, tree will be 50ft high and wide in about 10 years. Secondly, they drop leaves, flowers, seeds and branches constantly which will land in your pool. Third, due to size they will shade the pool (ok if you don't want to swim in sun). And the roots may damage the pool walls. Here is a link that might be useful: Weeping Willow