I posted on your Plant ID forum thread; here is my reply. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/namegal/msg0121502231960.html?15 That's probably Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) given the very limited information provided. wgreenlee1 could assist by saying WHERE these plants are growing. From your post here on Trees, I'm going to surmise Missouri - where Red Mulberry would be perfectly at home. I am pretty sure that there are no Tilia sp. with this kind of bark characteristics. It doesn't fit any of the birches either. Not even close on poplar or cottonwood (Populus sp.). Since these plants have been observed by you over a long period of time, I'm certain you would have observed Tilia flowers in passing. You should have seen Mulberry flowers, too - whether male or female. This tree is plenty old to have flowered. Those leaves look large enough, within the range of morphology, and appear coarse enough (along with the written description) to fit right in with Red Mulberry. Lobed leaves are just one expression of Mulberry species leaves, but not the only expression. Your location is significant in answering your question, and additional images of the dormant features like buds, stems, and - be still my heart - the WHOLE tree, make a huge difference in offering lucid opinions to the identity of this tree. Here's an old Red Mulberry trunk for comparison.

There are many species of Epilobium, some of which have had name changes, like the fireweed. Some are native, some are introduced weeds. There's only one fireweed though, by whatever name. Watson's willowherb is a common garden weed, I think it's Epilobium ciliatum now, used to be Epilobium watsonii. Dry or damp, sun or shade, tall and rank or short and sparse. Seeds, no runners. The one in your garden is probably the Watson's although you may also have others like Epilobium minutum in dry spots. I'm sure bboy is much more knowledgeable about the various species than I am, I usually do well enough just going by 'Epilobium species'. What you have in the photos on the Weeds forum sure look like Watson's willowherb gone to seed. They've done really well this year with the cool damp spring. But the photos do need to be larger to really see. I'm just guessing from the silhouette.

Thanks, dchall -- I try really hard never to allow any weeds to go to flower (not always successful, but I try). Given how widespread this got, I'm not detecting any budding/flowering at all -- is that even possible? Some of the 'older' patches had actually started to yellow/brown and go dry -- no flowers. We live in SW Houston. During the summertime, DH mows at the highest level (so, 3"?). We had so much beneficial rain once a week last spring, the sprinklers never went on. During summertime, we've got the zones set to 60 minutes twice a week -- starting 4 a.m. It's not as though we've had much of a winter this year -- I think we woke up to less than a handful of mornings when there was visible frost on the neighbor's rooftops. But the grass has definitely slowed to a point where DH is mowing only a couple of times a month -- I don't think he's lowered his mower.

If a goal is to make the entrance "welcoming," I'd suggest returning the streetside of the walk to turf and keep other plantings to the house-side of it. To look inviting, the walk has to look accessible and uncluttered. I think the big tree would be better appearing as a shelter for the house, rather than an obstruction to viewing it. It's helped to remove what limbs you did, I'd immediately add the lower right limb to those removed. And then I'd have a goal of removing limbs to the second story eaves over a period of time. In general, I'd recommend an organization where shrubs underscore the window sets and various perennials, annuals and groundcover and possibly accent shrubs, fill in at other places. I'm showing various colors to differentiate one material from another. You can invoke your personal tastes to choose the colors and textures that appeal to you. I love the burning bush as a small multi-trunk tree. But yours is planted much too tightly against the building for that to happen. You could start over with one placed at the correct spot and it would work. They're fast growers. As a shrub against the building, I think your existing one is too large. Once you get everything where you want it, you'll also need to get the turf in good condition in order for the whole picture to look great.