Winterberry is the only native choice, so I would be partial to that. But hollies are male and female so be sure to buy a labeled female (males have gender specific names like Southern Gentleman and Jim Dandy) and you'll need a male somewhere in the vicinity for pollination to get the berries on the female. A native viburnum might also be an idea. Or ninebark makes a nice arching vase. All these would look better left unpruned so your idea of not having to prune them is good.

OK...I HAVE had sand cherries and they were wonderful. However, at the time, I lived in Montana! One of the advantages to having a DH that gets transferred around a lot is that I've had a lot of different plants in different environments, albeit for not very long. The area of MT I lived in was zone 4, probably 4a. We could have sub-zero temps and the next day it could be 50. It was very windy all the time and quite dry as we were on the east side of the Rockies. There were normally 2 weeks in summer with 90+ degree heat. The sand cherries I had were planted in full sun, flowered beautifully in spring and grew maybe 1-2' in the first year. I don't know if they could be limbed up. I believe they kept their leaves during the growing season. We had all our plants on drip irrigation. If I can locate a photo of our landscape back then, I'll post it. I know the sand cherries were in at least one of those photos.

Ive had a Sunsetter power retractable awning over my deck for about 8 years. It's about 20 feet wide and can extend 10 ft out. With a motor drive and remote control you can extend it any amount you want in less than a minute. This requires a power outlet near it's right hand end (when you are facing the house). It also can be extended or retracted with a manual crank. Installation is somewhat demanding and while I did it myself with a couple of helpers it is not a quick or easy job. It is a heavy assembly and It took the best part of a day to install. It is very well made (in the USA) of rugged aluminum extrusions, forgings or castings and good quality fabric. We have had no trouble at all with it. One caustion to be aware of - it can act like a big sail in a wind and will try to lift up when the wind gets strong. I fashioned a hold down system to anchor each outboard end to my deck rail when I wanted it extended on days with 7-8 knot or above winds. When retracted it is tolerant of 70 knot winds at least. Here's a link to their site- www.sunsetter.com

Sure, if the price is right. The major hurdle has just been finding a place to buy homeowner quantities. Down here Ewing sells it by the pallet, but that's a serious chunk of money for soil amendment, or to add on top of the cost of a sod or aeration project. If I could have just bought a few bags off the shelf I would have tried it by now.