Elm (Ulmus) Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) Soapberry (Sapindus drummondii) Mesquite. (Prosopis glandulosa)

Around the fringe of a swamp: (this is for my area but you can look up which will work for you) Coast Redwoods Sequoias Western Red Cedars of many varieties (but they don't like standing water for long) Shore Pine (Pinus contorta var contorta) Leylands Blue Atlas Cedars Gingkos Red Horsechestnuts Purple Robed Locust (Robinia 'Purple Robe') Giant Dogwood (Cornus controversa) Quaking Aspen Catalpa Sugar Maple Raywood Ash Green Ash Nellie R Stevens Hollies Himalayan White Birch Japanese Maples Quercus virginiana Quercus myrsinifolia In the swamp: (6-11" pooling water in winter) WILLOWS -- Prairie Cascade Willow -- awesome, truly amazing tree Babylonica Weeping Willow Curly Willows Blue Arctic Willows Rosemary Willows Nishiki Dappled Willows Red Barked Willow (Salix alba 'Chermesina') Violet Willow (Salix daphnoides) Lapland Willow (Salix lapponum) Bay Laurel Willow (Salix pentandra) Swamp Tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) American Sycamore Buttonwood (Platanus acerifolia 'Bloodgood') London Plane Tree (Platanus occidentalis) Sweetgum Black Cottonwood Bald Cypress Blueberries 2 kinds of swamp Eucalyptus Swamp White Oak Swamp Red Maple Swamp Magnolia River Birch Alder

From your photo, it looks like an ash tree, but it's not close enough to tell. Other possibility is a hickory maybe? Same with the disease issue. Too hard to tell from the photo. But, if it is an ash tree, it's probably Ash Anthracnose. It's warm and very wet in Chicago this year, right? Perfect conditions for this: "Ash anthracnose is probably the most common disease of green ash. It is caused by a fungus and occurs during cool, rainy weather. It can be confused with ash plant bug and herbicide damage. Individual trees vary in their susceptibility to anthracnose to the extent that some trees may be infected every year and others only rarely or never at all. Initial symptoms on green ash include very small (grain of sand-sized) purple or brown spots, sometimes with a cream-colored center, on young leaves. These spots may enlarge and coalesce forming brown blotches. Leaves often become distorted and drop and young shoots may be killed. Defoliation and leaf browning cause homeowners a great deal of concern, but treatment is generally not warranted. Affected trees usually put out a second flush of leaves and make up for lost time later in the growing season. However, trees that have been defoliated three to five years in a row might benefit from chlorothalonil, mancozeb or thiophanate treatment at budbreak to prevent infection. The fungus can overwinter on the ground in infected leaves and twigs, so raking and disposing infected material may help reduce infection the following spring." Your main link didn't work for me -- brought up a screen, but no photos, looks like you have to create an account to view them, and I didn't want to do that. Here is a link that might be useful: Pamphlet where I got the Ash Anthracnose info:

If you want a weeping willow, I would recommend the golden weeping willow. I am sorry, but I am confused about the names of some of the weeping willows. I have seen golden weeping willows called Salix alba "tristis" or Salix albs ""Niobe," and "Salix sepulcralis chrysocoma." I am sure I have seen one or two other names for it. One source suggests there are more than one cultivar involved, another says it is just name confusion--I don't know. But don't let the confusion about the names of this tree confuse you. The one I am recommending has golden color winter twigs, golden color catkin bloom in spring, and if the weather is half-way favorable, wonderful long-lasting gold leaf color in the fall. It is very fast growing and gets quite large. The popular Babylon weeping willow can have some bad dieback in Z6 or 7 during a cold winter. It has greenish twigs. In the south where it is not damaged by cold, it is a fine tree. As for soil and moisture--if you have a good soil that is not too sandy, your willow will do fine. I planted two from a cuttings 5 years ago out in a field that used to be an apple orchard--nothing about the site suggests that it is any more moist than any average site. The largest is now about 20 feet tall and 5" in diameter--the other is almost as large. If you have a willow growing that you really like that has golden twigs and can get some good strong cuttings from fairly high up, come back here and ask me for instructions. --Spruce