Thanks for the replies, I will move the q alba tommorrow, the ground is far from frozen here it's raining buckets now, I just moved an Acer palmatum today. The Q alba would be too big. I have a Q Rubor 20 ft from the house across from the Q Alba already, so I really don't need to add anything, eventually it will shade the whole south side of the house. I planted the Q Rubor from seed and don't want to move that one.I planted 4 Q Rubor from seed and one of them is 3 ft tall and the others a ft tall all from the same tree. I just thought that was interesting. All my searches on Q Marilandica said max 40 ft. I guess trees are individuals to some degree. I should've checked the Pa big tree site but I didn't think about it.I am going to put the Blackjack where the Q Alba is The seeds of blackjack that is.If I move the seeds to about 8-10 ft out even if it gets tall the branches won't be large and heavy and the trunk in my Petersons field guide maxes out at 4 ft.I am glad toranado showed the pic of ginormous alba. The champion alba from McClellandtown Fayette county is about 7-8 miles from me but I've never gone to see it.If the blackjack gets too crowded I'll have to move it, the Oikos northern live oak was too small looking. I'll look at the site again and pay more attention, but I will probably give the Blackjack a chance 8-10 ft from the house.The alba has the fiberous roots from those grow bags air pruned so it should fare well.Thanks for the opinions even though I didn't completely take the advice. If I screw up it's my fault but shouldn't be too big to undo.

Josh - looks like a good I.d. for macnabiana. The only other thing it could be is a sargentii, and I don't think there are any groves of sargentii that far inland. You're looking for resin dots on the foliage, foliage occuring in flat sprays here and there, and cones with prominent umbos ("horns"). Do you have a close-up or any more pics?

Well some of the Highclere hollies are either thornless or mature to being thornless, so you can't hold that against them. I feel like these must be common in many English public spaces? So I'm surprised you are asking me about them and not vice versa! Your charming little churchyards, city parks, or even urban roadway verges always seem to be brimming with attractive plants, often BLEs, compared to our weed strewn American equivalents. In fact thinking about the churchyard in Rye has made me think of the Sorbus tree there...and I wonder if perhaps the deciduous plant in berry overdrive (clearly, turned up to 11) in the picture above is some fecund local species of Sorbus. Of course it helps (or hurts...) that even some of your invasive weeds are gorgeous. I understand why those in the UK want to get rid of Balsam there...but good heavens. I have fond memories of seeing those along the Leith in Edinburgh. They are absolutely beautiful. (the Himalayan I. glandulifera...which probably wouldn't survive our muggy summer nights.) BTW your point in the pear thread about us having "land to waste" while western Europe does not, is well taken. It was very amusing for me to see that in northern Italy or Switzerland, little patches of land in the space formed by railroad wyes* - no more than an acre or two - were used for farming. You wouldn't see something like that in the US, ever. What's even more remarkable in the US is how vast swaths once used for farming, are no longer even needed, and reverted to un-managed woodlands. Much of New England, and much closer to me, the entire Elk Neck Peninsula. The yield for standard stuff like corn just couldn't compete with Midwestern farmers and their richer soils. I don't think something like that has ever happened in western Europe, and quite to the contrary, the Dutch turned a lot of a non-arable land into arable land. (Or just seawater - the ultimate non-arable land!) * - apparently, triangular junctions of railways in British English LOL

there is a world of difference between someone how claims some expertise on trees... usually called an arborist .. a certified arborist ... and some monkey with a chainsaw ... if the intent is to cut down a tree.. there is no need to hire the expert .. price alone matters .. [also INSURANCE] but if the issue is safety and health ... pony up for an expert ... call your county extension or Ag office ... and find out if EAB is a problem in your area ... neither tree looks very healthy on these pix ... based on how lush the rest of the trees are ... are they far enough from the house to not be a threat ... that said.. you need an on site inspection .. ken