Thank you all for your suggestions. Gardengal is correct about the pH - I did try to alter it in this area at one time and it failed miserably, after much work. I have 3 Physocarpus 'Centerglow' on the east side of the house. I have never seen them trained up as a tree, but that is an interesting idea. I have 5 Sambucus 'Black Lace' and 2 Sambucus 'Black Beauty' on my property and and 5 Sambucus 'Black Lace' at my clinic. The 'Black Lace' is my absolute favorite shrub. It certainly meets all of my criteria, which is why I have so many. Sadly, it would hardly be a specimen "tree" amongst all its brother/sisters and these plants gets so huge on our lot that it would obliterate any view from that north window. I have already had to remove one that was in front of the bedroom window. Following Gardengal's excellent suggestion, I did post on the tree forum. One poster wrote, "If you're in Wen/Yak/Chelan/TriCities area the birch won't work (pests, water), the apple will be a lot of work, the Katsura wants a lot of water (best on wet side), and the mountain ash can tolerate that soil but has several pest issues that may need your attention. Best out of that bunch is the mountain ash IMHO." I discovered that in our area the county can come onto your property and spray any type of apple tree if there is a pest that threatens the apple crop. Thus the Malus Velvet Pillar is probably not a risk I will want to take. At this point I am still favoring the Katsura, since I grow Lingularia in this plot of land and they need a lot of water. I am still waiting for the nursery to reply and will post back as to what they say in case anyone else is following this thread for their own needs.

Many of the magnolias would work for you. A "saucer" magnolia is an incredible sight in the spring and they have large, pea green leaves the rest of the growing season. Some of the yellow magnolias would work for you as well like "Elizabeth", "Yellowbird" or "Butterflies". The little girl series of magnolia are outstnding trees as well. "Ann", "Jane", "Susan" and others have purple to pink flowers that are 6 inches across with a medim sized magnolia leaf. You could consider a Stewartia as they have a wonderful white flower that will cover the entire tree. They also tend to form a round tree and are excellent as a specimen. You could consider a Paperbark Maple. They are an excellent smaller tree with cinnimon colored peeling bark that draws attention. The Tri-florum Maple is a relative of the Paperbark and is a fine tree with very deeply groved bark. They both have a trident leave and show well. There are many crab apples that would work for you in this spot. Consider "Candymint", "Coralburst", or the weeping crab "Louisia". The best of luck.

Steve-I go back to the first two postings in this thread and mean no disrespect in doing so. The picture of the two rows of Lancifolia does not do the cultivar justice. It is a common mistake made by people who have to many and no garden disciplines. I see it all the time heroe in Wilmington. The hardiness of Lancifolia, U. Albo or U. Un should not be a detriment to their status as hostas, in my opiinion. When viewed as specimens they are truly very nice hostas and the views expressed here show my opinion is well shared. I have tried with little success to grow Great Expectations and some of its progeny. I am not thrilled with my Cherry Berry! But I agree when grown they are beautiful hostas. Just because the common ones which are the topic in this thread are so darned tough that anyone can and do grow them should not be held against them - in my opinion. Then when I add to this the memories of how I became a hostaholic I simply melt. In my eyes these three hostas should be at the top of every hostaholics list of favored hostas. It's a weakness of mine. I also go back to all of the species hostas and feel the same way. Before we collect the many cultivars we should be striving to collect all of the species and preserve the heritage. If it were not for them, we wouldn't be where we are today. I only have clausa, plantaginea and ventricosa and all three have outstanding flowers - truly outstanding! None have outstanding foliage. Yet in this year of drought I am thankful for my plantaginea family of hostas. I would not be without them in my gardens any more than Lancifollia and the Undulatas. I thank everyone for coming forward. It only shows what makes our hobby so great. I, for one, never wants to forget my roots. I will have at least one Lancifolia, U. Albomarginata and U. Univitatta in my gardens in a place of honor. When displayed as an honored cultivar they all show their merit for being there - in my opinion. I hope we never forget this! Les

You are beyond awesome, texasflip!!! I've been using your list to do some research into these different types. You've saved me a year of wondering what to expect from each unknown species. I can now start developing an overall gardening plan for my property, and am better able to decide what to keep and what to replace. Since I bought the place, the largest Photinia turned completely brown and looks dead, so now I've figured out it might be fungus not drought. Better get me some antifungal stuff for it... I have a lot of Photinias, so I'm thrilled to find out they are a flowering shrub. I just read how big hackberries can get, and I don't want full size trees right up on my fence or under my soffits, where they are currently. Therefore, I'll be giving them the boot. It also makes me realize that even though it's so much taller, tree #5 is probably also a hackberry. Not enamored of the Nandina; I'll have enough red berries with the pyracantha, and no flowering to look forward to. I have them by my garage and around 2 bedroom windows. I'd prefer thorny things near the bedrooms, and taller things to draw attention away from my electric meter and circuit box. They look decent though, so as I find other things to put in my flowerbeds, I'll probably move the ones by the bedrooms to a rental property which could use some more shrubbery. The name "Box Elder" rang a bell; that is what the house inspector told me tree #4 is. If so-called shrub #9 is going to get the size of tree #4, I'll want to move or cut that out too.