Magnolias are surprisingly tough. I have seen plenty of star magnolias doing well in commercial landscapes with lots of sun and wind around here.

Any of the many deciduous magnolias would work, as would any of the many Viburnums. V. pragense is nice and evergreen as well.

welcome to the forums...

nothing wrong with clay ... its usually only a drainage issue .... and getting it transplanted.. but once established.. its not a bad soil ...

im a visual type of guy ... a pic of the front of the house.. will get you the best ideas.. imo ...

ken

Ok...i'll get a pic up in a couple days. I'm out of town at the moment.

Not real fond of the pics I seen of the V.pragense. Seems to look more like a hedge Viburnum. As I searched through this forum, I recall old posts speaking of Judd and Mowawk having nice specimen character. Any thoughts?

I stopped by a nursery in the town I'm working in this week. The owner there was singing the praises of Royal Raindrops crabapple. Specimens there looked great. Any real world experience? I'm hesitant of another crab though.

What about Acer griseum, paperbark maple? A little bigger than some shrubs but a beautiful small tree.

I like smoke bush in a tree form. Especially the native species if you can find it. I've started growing a nine bark in a tree form. It's one one of the orange leaved cultivars. I've plans to do the same with a "Diablo" none bark I picked up at a box store recently. I expect them to make 12-15' tall trees within 5-7 years.

Smoke tree can range from gangly to stately. It’s just depends on the set of stems you find.

I’d second the paperbark maple. Maackia ends up at the higher end of the size but an overall carefree stunner.

Hybrid Korean maple is another choice...so many options!

Most nurseries praise crabapple as they are high margin trees. Royal Raindrops is ok but out of the trees I have wouldnt be high on my list

For lilac consisted Perkins lilac. It’s more refined and has more ornamental bark.

Great suggestions.

In regards to smoketree...royal purple shrub form is common in the nurseries here. Cotinus coggygria. Is tree form the same plant, just trained/pruned as a tree? I’ve read a lot about verticillium wilt...is it a common problem with them?

I’ll look into Perkins lilac as well...and paperbark maple is high on the list as well. Any issues with scorching in full sun? Like I’ve mentioned, drainage can be a little bit of an issue but I can plant high and mound up a little.

Look at some of the larger Hydrangea paniculata cultivars. They can be pruned to tree form, either single or multiple trunks.

How trees end up as adults is largely a product of their owners care throughout their young life. One has to have a vision of the desired form of the end product, and then perform maintenance that achieves it. Part of achieving the goal is selecting a species that has no objection to becoming that form.

Other than that it has winter, I don't think we know where you live, which would have an impact on the tree you choose.

I'm guessing 'Perkins' lilac is a crazed predictive text attempt at Persian Lilac. Syringa x persica.

I find flowering crabapples to be some of the best early flowering trees for not hugely large landscapes. And Prairie Fire has excellent disease resistance!! (Royal Raindrops does not rate as highly). But young crabs do tend to have a lax, lanky growth habit. They need some time to grow into themselves :-) Once that happens, most tend to be well formed, tidy and highly ornamental.

I like both suggestions for paperbark maple or the hybrid Korean maples. However, both are quite slow growing.

If you want a flowering choice, I'd also consider Japanese lilac, Syringa reticulata, for early summer blooms, Amelanchier x grandiflora for early spring blooms and great fall color or the tree-form hydrangeas Babs referred to for all summer flowering.

For a small, multi-trunk tree with the vase (V) shape trunk pattern, clean foliage, an overall tidy shape with spectacularly strong red fall color (so long as it is in the sun) and is generally long-lived, consider Burning Bush: Euonymus alatus -- not the compact variety.

Yet again, a very poor suggestion of an invasive species in your area. There are SO many other, better choices available that will not contribute to a very wide spread problem.

A big "no" on the burning bush. I spent last summer cutting down and digging out the stumps of about 8 huge burning bushes around the house. I'm not a novice...I know what good plant material is and what's not:)

I planted groupings of limelight and quickfire hydrangeas around the house last year, so I've got enough of them. I'm kind of leaning towards Royal Star magnolia or Royal smoke tree. I like the idea of multi trunks and being able to slowly prune away lower branches to expose the trunks as it grows. Smoke tree would give me some color which would be nice.

Have you considerd confiers? Lots of specialized varities with intersting, standout forms.

Think about Conrus Kousa if you have any interst in dogwood with nice form and resliant foliage.

Lots of viburnum options that are pretty much bulletproof, carefree. Viburnum burkwoodii, Lentago and Lantana all come to mind.

Dwarf River Birch (Betula nigra 'Little King') or Hamamelis might work. The first will give you ornamental bark, while the latter has interesting flowers and fragrance.

BTW, my experience with Malus 'Prairie Fire' mirrors yours. It's a highly rated crab, but has not done well for me and now finds itself in the botanical doghouse.

Some others to consider:

Tricolor Beech

Japanese or Korean Stewartia

American Hornbeam Firespire JN Upright

Gingerbread Paperbark Maple

Sourwood Tree

I know you don't want a dogwood but some of the kousa or hybrids are nice.

Venus(White)

Stellar Pink( Blush Pink)

Will

Like Will, I was also thinking Stewartia. Also, have you looked at Heptacodium miconioides, the seven-son flower (tree) ?

Thanks everyone for all these great suggestions. I have honestly googled everything that has been mentioned in this thread, learned a lot, and have canvased every major nursery in my area. Even though there are some nice nurseries here, they all are pretty much the same. Many of these suggestions are not carried and not available from the suppliers for these nurseries.

The American Hornbeam sounded interesting, however only Europeans are available and is a much larger and different tree. Stewartia looked great, but once again I couldn't find a source. Could only find 1 very poor paperbark maple specimen, maybe better stock in the fall. So just because of what's readily available, I'll probably be going with a Star Magnolia, a paperbark maple, or a viburnum of some sort...maybe Burkwood, Judd, or Mohican. Yeah, may seem kinda bland but with what I got available nearby I feel one of those might be the most reliable option.

I do have a question about Star magnolia...I read it is one of the most susceptible magnolias to magnolia scale. However, what are we talking when we say "susceptible"? Do i have a good change of maintaining a healthy tree for many years, or is it a forgone conclusion that within a few years I'll have to deal with that?

Thanks again everyone, I got some other threads I'm going to start with more questions.

Joe, have you tried Rosie’s in Indianapolis?

http://rosiesgardens.com/

Agree that star magnolia is one of the more susceptible to magnolia scale, probably moreso under stressful growing conditions, so that would be a concern if drainage is somewhat poor, or the site is not irrigated and gets very dry in summer.

For viburnum, have you considered Allegheny? It has larger, clean, dark green foliage that holds late into fall/early winter.

Another possibility is Corneliancherry dogwood. Nice early bloom, resistant to pests/diseases, and not too fussy about soil conditions.

"Perkins" lilac whaas referred to above is (I assume) "Peking" lilac. China Snow has attractive bark, but habit may be a bit more loose/natural than what you're looking for.

If you are seriously considering one of the Peking lilacs, go find one in bloom now and make sure you can tolerate the odor. If find them a unappealing pong similar to privet, and unfortunately have them right outside my office window.

Finally getting around to purchase time for the tree/shrub that will go in this corner. I'm adding some pics to illustrate. I think from all the great suggestions, I had decided to go either Paperbark maple. royal star magnolia, or a viburnum (maybe mohawk?") But as I was looking at it yesterday...I got to thinking something tall and columnar...maybe it doesn't need to small and ornamental. Regal Prince oak crossed my mind. You can see in the pic, that scrawny crabapple that's getting dug up is 12 feet from the house. I could easily put a Regal Prince 15' or more away from house. But does a tall slender tree work with the shape of my house? I'm not good with shapes:)

All the beds are a work in progress and newly planted, so everything is small. Along the side of the house, those are limelights that will eventually get some height to them.

Plus I just got a roof replacement last week so everything is beat to hell of course.

Regal Prince will get too large/tall for that location, and will look out of proportion compared to the house IMO. See estimated mature size at the end of this article.