I was just thinking how nice a large local Ginkgo in southwestern KY would look in the center of that yard, but they're not fast growing. If Ken were here, I think he'd warn you large maple trees have dense, fibrous shallow root systems and it's often not practical to garden under them (e.g.: hostas), if that's your thing. That can be a hassle with most any tree, I suppose, but especially the large maples (e.g.: red maple). An oak tree would offer some options. I recently planted a Blackgum tree near our house, as something to tolerate a wet area and be perhaps big but not huge, strong-wooded since near a house, and while not rare, a bit unusual and with nice fall color (some cultivars have reddish new foliage and are preferred over regular species for this reason). If you want tall, one of the better regarded fast-growing trees, with a somewhat pyramidal form (if memory serves, at least young) and deciduous/broadleaf, a Tulip Poplar (a.k.a. Yellow Poplar) could fill the bill. There's a variegated cultivar available; I saw some recently - think yellow margins around a green center, if memory serves. If you want something to compliment the river birch, perhaps you could squeeze in a paperbark maple tree somewhere. If you could heavily customize your tree, how tall would it get, how wide would the canopy spread be, do you like broadleaf (e.g.: maple, oak) vs. needles (e.g.: pine) or something else, and how dense would the shade be? Richard.

For rustling leaves the best is aspen. Root barrier would have to be installed to keep it from growing where not wanted, and some bacterial blackening of leaves may be seen - as with other plant problems, this varies between sites from rather nasty to pretty much absent. And the crown shape would be right. It can grow tall but is not a chunky tree with heavy, broad branches. Otherwise you could try French pink pussy willow. No rustling leaves effect but you get fragrant catkins in winter and the crown shape is right. Both trees grow on damp ground and have been prevalent at local outlets in the recent past. This area is part of the very large natural range of aspen, bona fide native patches here seem to be mostly confined to bogs and similar locations.

well poo. posted an update and just now checked in and see i never actually did post it. So went to store today and did find out about warranty. 1 year, which will be extended to 2 if i have Miele install (as opposed to store install). I saw three machines: W3033 ($1999)- the smallest capacity, and this machine looked most like my dead Bosch (compact, can be stacked) W4802 ($1699) -this one looked huge compared to the previous one, but i still like the way it looks W4842 ($1899)- two hundred $ more, for the few extra options and display. I really like this one. Now i have to figure out what i want? My Bosch dryer is a condensation one. If i want to stick with that, i will have to go with the $1999 Miele, and stack the Condenser Miele dryer on top of that. If i want to go vented dryer, will have to move things drastically around in laundry room, blocking the side door (we wont be able to use anymore), to allow the vent to go outside. Which may totally be worth it, i am confused and dont know which Miele I should want.

The pictures help a little, but they are mostly individual shots and taken from long, sideways angles so can't convey the scene of "the-house-in-its-setting." Nor are they much useful for providing feedback to you, if that's a possibility. I'll try to explain again. You would need to position the camera roughly in line with the center of the house. (Maybe that lines up closely with the existing birch ...? It would help if you trim it first. :-)) You would need to be close enough to the fence that when aiming straight at the house, at least the far edge of the city sidewalk shows up in the viewfinder ... but we don't need to see much more of it. Then begin taking pictures by (while standing at the same spot for all pictures) aiming the camera toward your left-side neighbor's house. Pivot the camera rightward taking sequential, slightly overlapping pictures of the house (the border next to the walk will be showing in the pictures) until you have taken the last picture aiming toward your right-hand neighbor's property. Then people can see the entire span of your front yard as if they were standing at the same spot from where you took the pictures. And we can see how things fit together since all the pictures overlap a bit.