We don't know what kind of plumbing interference you had, but usually the problem is roots infiltrating drain pipe that is not of the best quality. The fix is usually with the pipe instead of the plant. If that's fixed and the drain pipe is completely sealed, roots will not penetrate into it. There are many shrubs that work well in the tree form. Usually, shrubs prefer to be multi-trunked so having that type of tree will be the easier to maintain. PG Hydrangea is one example that comes to mind. What pink blooming large shrubs grow in your neighborhood?

I grow most of my shrubs in more or less that format. They may not all perform in your area but they are leatherleaf viburnum (V. rhytidophyllum), Hydrangea aspera, Philadelphus, elderberry (Sambucus nigra 'Guincho Purple'), Disanthus cercidiphyllum, and one that naturally grows in this shape, Leycesteria formosana. And, for that matter, some of my rhododendrons. The primary criterion for success with this form, it seems to me, is that the shrub has to not sprout too aggressively from the base once it has relatively mature stems. This rules out grafted shrubs, or at least, it does if you don't always want to be pruning suckers from the base. In fact my contorted filbert (Corylus avellana 'Harry Lauder's Walking Stick') would also qualify, and Hamamelis cultivars such as 'Diane' could do so, but there are always suckers. And even on others, you have to ruthlessly remove new growth from the base unless you want one to grow into a replacement stem - and I do prune out old stems from time to time. I also failed to achieve this form with Vitex, because mine sprouted aggressively and very laterally from the base - but that could have been because we cut it back severely at one point. I'm just working on converting it to a single stem tree form. The Vitex's history actually brings me to another criterion for success, which is that the reason we cut it back hard was that we were moving it AWAY from the house wall where it WOULD NOT grow upright - it leaned so far out that the adjacent patio became useless. It, and all my deciduous shrubs, now are planted away from structures and fences so that they get light from all sides, and they grow nice and straight )although if shaded by each other or other trees they also grow their bulk toward the sun). Next to a structure or wall, any deciduous shrub will lean away. If the garage is fairly low and the plant can get light once it grows above it, you can train it upright until it gets there. If the garage is taller and you can determinedly tie to the garage even as the plant grows to its full height, then of course you can grow whatever you want there - just don't expect it to happen naturally. I finally had to ask on another forum why conifers don't seem to have this problem... turns out conifers will grow upright even next to walls because they grow against gravity rather than toward light. Deciduous shrubs, on the other hand, grow toward light. Geotropic vs. phototropic, I think it was. Broadleaf evergreen shrubs, like rhodos and the Viburnum, seem to have some mix of the two properties, but don't quote me on that. I base this on noting how they grow in one-sided light conditions. Karin L PS another good candidate might be Hibiscus syriacus.

Thanks for your input. A picket fence definitely is not our style and would not blend well with the neighborhood. We will be putting a few skinny trees in at the uphill corner of the lot towards the street. They will be set back several feet so the line of sight isn't destroyed for our neighbors backing out of their driveway. Underplanted will be various drought-tolerant perennials. I'm not a huge fan of annuals. I'm not sure why I need to "frame the grass" with bricks? At some point we may put in a mowing strip of natural stones, but that is not a priority at this point. I'm considering putting in a dry stream bed leading to something of a rain garden to help deal with some of the water issues that we are currently experiencing and that I expect to compound with removal of the junipers.

Can anyone provide the name of a great book or local garden store for information about pruning? I'm specifically interested in learning how to prune a weeping cherry tree and some other shrubs in my yard.