Paige, I have been just where you are and spent about a year and a half going over small tree choices. For year round niceness and a knockout spring flower display, you can't beat dogwood. But they are so ubiquitous around my neighborhood I wanted to have something different. I went round and round with most of the choices mentioned here. Also musclewood, Carpinus carolinia, and Cornelian cherry, Cornus mas, which is really in the dogwood family and has early, small yellow flowers that cover the tree, interesting bark. But I've never seen it in a retail nursery. What I went with was Styrax japonicus. I was intrigued by pictures of the flowers and hearing that it was "secented." For me, this choice has been ho hum. The tree isn't doing all that well, the flowers are OK, but definately not scented very much, and I wouldn't want them to be because the don't smell all that great. Not a terrible choice, but a little lackluster in the "year round" appeal category. Fortunately I planted two other favories nearby, grey birch and a stunning japanese maple, "fireglow" or something like that. Grey birch doesn't get as large as some of the others. There's a pretty variety called "Crimson frost" I've seen in a few places. Having said that, if I had to do it over again, I would go for a magnolia. This spring I was on campus at MSU one fine day, and was blown away by the delicate lemon scent of magnolias drifting over the breeze. I do not know what variety they were, they appeared med. sized, and were a cultivar I'm not familiar with. Not star magnolia, not a grandiflora either. I just wanted to hang out under them all day! Another tree I might have gone with is a crabapple. That's one tree that can deliver the umbrella shape you might need with a patio. I've heard rumors that some of them smell nice. I'd only be a little concerned about bees and wasps with them. I have a small one planted that's yet to bloom. The musclewood is a fine shaped tree too, but nothing in the way of showy or scented flowers, just cool form and bark. I have a fringe tree outside my office. Fine flower show in spring, ubiquitous otherwise. I like the blue fruits in fall on them though, they look like little navy blue olives. I bought a Viburnum carlesii but gave it away to a friend. I asked about it on the shrub forum, training it into a tree form, but I couldn't find out much about that so I chickened out. They smell fab though. We have them here too, they get to be huge balls. Huge balls of heavnly scent. I've heard the witch hazels are nice too, and I'd planned on trying one out, but since I'm moving I opted to plant something more well known in my yard, alas.

For something different, I recommend Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga'. The tag on mine states that the mature size is 6-8' tall x 6-8' wide, but it could possibly grow twice that much. It would need to be planted at least 4' from the driveway. It is cold hardy to at least -30 degrees F to -20 degrees F. The foliage is a dark green, and it has a very dense, upright, rounded shape. The flowers are the stunner, they consist of inner fertile flowers that are reddish with outer sterile flowers that are white. The contrast is quite striking. It blooms in early summer here in IL. My tag states that "the young maroon leaves change to red-purple in fall" but I haven't had mine long enough to comment on fall color. As previously stated, it would need a pollinator in order to fruit; not sure that you'd want that near your car anyway though! Another option that might work is Viburnum plicatum 'Summer Snowflake'. This sounds more like what you both have in mind, I think. The growth habit on this one is more layered, definitely upright, with more mature shrubs exhibiting a tiered effect that is also quite striking. The summer blooms are pure white, and look like lace-cap hydrangea flowers. And the bloom is extended all summer long. Mine are under a maple tree, and can you believe it, they're still growing and blooming. I do plan to move them, or possibly trade one for another variety. I think viburnums make great specimens!

I'm probably the last person who should talk to you about drought tolerant plants since I garden in heavy moisture retaining clay and seldom water any perennials. Also you don't mention what kind of soil or other growing conditions (such as sun/shade) that individual plants receive and this can make a huge difference. FWIS, here are some notes on your list based on my experiences. Viburnums tolerate damp clay soils well and are planted in full sun in my yard. After establishment they seldom need watering. Hydrangeas like it in my yard in somewhat drier areas in part shade. Roses like rich soil and sun, but seem fairly tolerant of dry conditions, especially the shrub ones I grow (no hybrid teas in my garden). Joe Pye grows much taller and lusher in wet areas, often seen around the outside edges of ponds and such. Grows shorter and more manageable nearer my house (in drier soil) but would probably need watering in dry spells. Clematis and hostas grow best with a nice steady water supply. Depends a lot on sun/shade amounts and the individual variety. Hosta Guacamole grows in hot afternoon sun on the west side of the house for me but others would fry in those conditions. Super vigorous clems like tanguticas and Sweet Autumn do fine in poor soil and little water for me, but most like really rich soil and some fertilizer along with adequate watering. Clethra and Sambucus (a cutleaf all green variety) shrubs grow in my wet garden in full sun. Clethra is often listed as a shade/part shade plant for damp soils, but does great in full sun in my wet soil and zone 5 sun. Sambucus is tolerant of most soils but I have no idea how sensitive to water needs your gold and black ones are. Mine grows like a weed in quite wet conditions. Astilbes like quite a bit of water. I grow some in part shade to heavy shade with drier soil & some in full sun in my wet garden. Primulas vary by type. I can easily grow the water loving candelabra types, like japonica or the P. x bulleesiana & P. pubescens, but P. vulgaris wastes away for me in my wet soil, can't keep it at all. Can't grow asclepsias at all. Hate my yard. Lilies are mostly planted in the top garden near the house in as loose a loamy soil as I can give them. Don't seem to mind water during bloomtime, but like it dry over winter. Asters love my soil and seed around in the duff everywhere. I never seem to get any mildew on any, so maybe the extra wet soil makes a difference there. The same with phlox. I plant them in drier areas but in lightly amended clay soil which retains moisture well and seldom have mildew. Ferns depend on type. Gray ones like Japanese Painted fern seem to like it on the dry side, while my Cinnamon Fern and Ostrich ferns like it really wet. I did have some burning on my Cinnamon ferns planted on the east side of the house in part shade this summer when we had no rain for five weeks. Ostrich ferns live in my wet garden & had no problem. Another favorite fern, Lady fern, is in shadier and somewhat drier conditions in my yard & appears to be in the middle somewhere in water needs. Siberian Iris, although it likes water much more than bearded iris and can tolerate more shade, actually prefers the slighly drier spots in my garden. I had a bit of trouble finding just the right spot for them. I think I was giving them too poor a soil. They are currently going gangbusters in a RAISED full sun area with rich garden soil and getting some extra watering from overhead lawn sprinklers. So go figure... I have three 10 plus year old hollies (Ilex) doing well in a raised, dry, full shade bed almost under the eaves. Ilex glabra (deciduous) likes the wet shrub area of the yard. Virginia Bluebells are a great spring ephemeral for my type garden. Easily tolerates the wettish soil (not standing water) around my wet garden. I grow it in full sun, but it also likes woodland shade. Japanese Maple (the cutleaf type) is somewhat iffy for my garden, having died out even in a raised bed here. Had a really large beautiful one in another house in an in-close suburb here that did beautiful. I'd said moderate only moisture. Lady's Mantle loves my garden, in sun, shade, wet, dry, droughts, floods, everything. Also seeds everywhere. No problem at all in heavy soils that hold water, but have no idea how it holds up to drought in dry soils. Lobelia, again, depends on the type. Red cardinal flower no variety name planted bare-root from a nature group, loves my wet garden, however a named nursery variety rotted out. Queen Victoria, a dark foliaged variety, lived quite nicely on the top of the hill above the wet garden in quite a dry spot, but again in amended clay soil. Various bedding lobelias (annuals) have also had mixed results in the ground here. Have not yet tried blue lobelia (syphlitica), supposed to like dampish soils. Pulmonarias seem to like somewhat dryish soils in part shade, but I did have some small scorching on Excalibur, an almost all silver variety this year during the drought. Shasta daisies only grow in my yard in very dry areas near the house. Mums also like it dry, especially over winter, but are not as fussy for me as is shasta daisy. Becky has done well for me, as has a small dwarf variety, both growing and spreading well. Alaska won't even return one year for me. Hope this helps. Leslie

During my NH Master Gardening classes, we spent a week on pruning. Not enough but it at least got me started and over my fears. We did "in the field" pruning on state owned properties including the University of NH grounds. Having an expert right there guiding us really helped. I'm no longer phobic about pruning in general. But, I'm still confounded with the pruning of a weeping tree! I've got a 'Snow Fountain' cherry that needs pruning. The lower branches are growing into the ground and the tree refuses to gain any height...just wider and wider and wider. I had an aborist out last year to see if we could save a declining sugar maple (answer was no, we can't) and while he was here, I asked about my cherry tree. He showed me what to do but I missed the timing this year due to all the early season rains. Next year, after bloom, I'm going after that tree! It's going to look odd for a couple years but five years from now, I'll have the tree I envisioned when I planted it. My biggest pruning phobia was lilac pruning. I knew they needed annual pruning to perform at peak but was always afraid of ruining their natural shape. I started with just deadheading the spent flowers...then watching what results those cuts made. The next year, I pruned a little more and watched the rest of the season. After 3-4 seasons, my lilac was blooming twice as heavily and fit in its space perfectly. I also like stuff you can prune to the ground periodically! But, even with that I get nervous...like with my caryoptersis. It doesn't suffer winter die-back and leaves out early in the spring. It's hard to cut down all that live growth. I didn't do it this spring and now the darn thing is humongous and crowding its neighbors. It's just starting to bloom now. The lack of pruning didn't seem to reduce the bloom which is what I'd been expecting. This is the type of pruning I really don't like. What do I do? Do I just make heading cuts straight across the shrub at about 18"...or, do I do something more tactful? I'm afraid it will grow funny from the straight across pruning cuts since the shrub doesn't winter kill. Can anyone please help me with my caryopteris? Help!