Redbuds cast a great deal of shade and often make it impossible to garden under them for that reason. They don't get too tall, but their branches will eventually strike the house at the distance you are contemplating. Serviceberry has the nice drooping florets and later the delicious berries that many birds love, so you could observe them feasting on them close up if a window looks out on that spot. It does well in partial shade and seems fairly adaptable; I see no reason why you couldn't keep it in shrub form if you are able to find one trained that way. However, I had some revert to small-tree form when I failed to keep them clipped, so you may be able to find a more trouble-free shrub for next to your house, and save your serviceberry planting for along your driveway or other opening from the woodsy areas. Pieris Japonica comes in many forms these days and is an interesting shrub that grows fairly slowly, so requires little attention. Some of the larger Rhododendrons would also do well in that spot, and the color choices and flower forms are wonderful. Of course Forsythia would also grow there, and there are several size choices. Witch Hazel is often difficult to get established, especially if it is a graft. It has a wonderful fragrance when the tiny flowers appear, but it grows very slowly and takes a long time to fill out, in my experience. If you don't mind thorns you could try Bitter Orange, but eventually it will probably crave more sun. The flowers have a nice fragrance and it has beautiful dark shiny leaves...but it also grows quite slowly. The hazelnut tree or shrub is not often thought of but is worth checking into. There is probably not enough sun for a lilac but the hibiscus can tolerate more shade and has flower choices that range from white to a soft pink to a lovely lavender color. All that said, Viburnums are available in many kinds, and the viburnum in any form makes a good wood that stands up to abuse quite well; they are one of the sturdiest shrubs out there, imo, unlike the hydrangeas, which make a very soft stem. However, oak leaf hydrangeas are capable of eventually getting fairly large, and have the interestingly shaped leaves and flower clusters. I believe their color change in fall is also attractive, and they do quite well in partial shade. Here is a link that might be useful: Pieris Japonica references

To me, the bigger question is why is this black walnut seedling the only one? Since you have a tree that produces nuts, I would expect you to be so tired of digging up all the black walnut starts..and for most of the year, since here I notice the new ones spring and summer, but eventually by fall I find the sneaky ones that hid from me earlier in the season. My 'across the street and down one house garden' had one of the largest BW trees around until recently ( many of us are sad it ended up having to go ). Such a beautiful tree. But the darn nuts the squirrels forgot still are a neighborhood pest. This is the third or fourth year post-BW tree and while I'm getting fewer than before, there are still enough I do an eye-roll and a sigh as I go for the spade. Regular weeding tools don't go deep enough, you have to get all the way down to where the nut was planted. If you have whacked at any of these seedlings repeatedly with just a sturdy weeder, the problem only becomes a much bigger project getting rid of monster,, twisted, deep root. The ninebark is a beautiful plant, one you paid good money for and have invested time and effort towards. BW seedlings are a dime a dozen and grow FAST! Personally I would look around a bit more and find a different seedling. If that fails, and you are the tidiest gardener ever, after you come over and help me try to keep up with the garden ;) , you can plant some nuts this fall, then pick the one that is truly outstanding in the group to save for your future tree. Seems like that tree would be the winner in many ways and you can say I started this as a nut ! Be sure to take a picture of the nut for the baby book. Just think how the size of the new BW tree will be in family photos over the years. :) This post was edited by plaidbird on Tue, Jun 25, 13 at 2:49

Karin, the info I have been collecting has to do with people who prune their type IIs back either prior to the first normal flush of blooms/those who prune them back later in the season and still get blooms. It was a thread we had going earlier this year and I decided to elicit responses from people to record the information. So if anyone out there still has info they would like to contribute, you can send it to me and I will be willing to add it to the info I have and share it with anyone who might want it. We also had a thread about the general pruning rules for clematis that are floating around out there and how they truly are just guidelines to get people started and how after one gets to know the growth habits of their clematis, they can modify the rules as it suits each individual person and their gardening environment. Leslie, don't give up on your type IIs just yet. Many people report their type IIs outgrowing wilt eventually. There are some who think wilt affects the LFH who grow and put on too much top growth as compared to the size of the root system. The plant wilts and causes some of the top growth to die out so the roots have a chance to become more established. If this truly is the case, then it lends credence to the idea that clematis should be pruned back severely after their first year in the ground regardless of which pruning group they fall into. Don't despair because we had people in zones as low as 4 report that they have trimmed their type IIs back to 18 inches or so in the spring and still had them to bloom later in the season.

Entling, after reading about Pagoda dogwood I was smitten. Beautiful form and nice flowers and berries. I ordered 40 native seedlings from a nursery in NH, including 10 Cornus alternifolia. But these are going to be little baby 1-2 year old seedlings! I'm impatient and want to buy something that's already 6 feet tall at least. Gcreek, height is not so much an issue, but width is (this location is about 8 feet from the driveway). Something that grew about 15-20 ft high would be great but not as wide. Red chokeberry is probably too short and shrubby (but great for the other side of the yard!) Cornus florida would be beautiful but would probably eventually get too wide. Amelanchier seems to grow more vertically than laterally. Kind of a rangy multi-stemmed habit, but maybe with good pruning it could be shaped nicely. I also read that it casts fairly light shade and has well behaved roots and perennials can be planted underneath (which is good because I already have peonies circling this burning bush).