Details of trees starting at upper right:

Lodgepole pine, 12' tall, 2.25" DBH. I like it and it has finally gotten tall enough to catch some sun. I will keep it but will remove in a few years before it gets too big to take down myself

AV=arborvitae, approx 12 feet tall, my neighbors junipers are larger. They all provide just enough screening of the neighbors deck

Norway Maple, 28' tall, 7.25" DBH. I like it but it is close to the house and I have started corrective pruning to slow it down and get it to the shape I like

Narrowleaf Cottonwood?, single trunk coming from ground, but immediately splits into two trunks, each about 30' high and 4.5" DBH. Nice fall color, narrow trees now, but they send out lots of suckers many feet away and I will take it out once I get some other trees established. I have already started cutting it back.

Pussy Willow? tree. 32 stems from about 0.5" DBH to 4" DBH. 22' high. I really like this tree but everyone has warned me it won't last long, and last year it looked pretty sickly. I'm not sure that it's a pussy willow or what exact pussy willow it might be, but it's something similar. It doesn't seem to sucker very much or form new shoots when I trim it. This one will go eventually also. No good fall color and the flowering in the spring isn't that great.

Corkscrew willows: 20' tall/ 5.5" DBH and 30' tall, 6.7" DBH. I like these a lot because they provide good screening of the neighbors yard, they don't take up much room towards the ground, and they are indestructible/don't show effects of storm damage and pruning. I have started cutting them back to keep them below 25' but eventually I want to replace them with something more interesting.

Plains Cottonwoods: 33'/7.25"; 35"/6.6"; 30'/3.5". Nice fall color and narrow trees but they will get very large. They are already too big to take down myself, especially because they are bending into my neighbor's yard.

Ponderosa pine, 9'/1.25, If this tree gets bigger it will provide some nice green in the winter to break up the view of the neighbors' houses. It is in a lot of shade but I cut back my neighbors small crabapple tree that was right on top of it and maybe it will do better.

Autumn Purple white ash? 33'/10.5" This is the main shade tree in the yard and very nice. I like the later orange fall color better than the earlier purple fall color. But emerald ash borer was found in Boulder, Colorado last year, 15 miles from here. I will try to keep and treat this tree as long as I can.

Colorado Blue Spruce, 30'/8.5". It's now clear that the ash has won and is topping this tree, they are very close together but the spruce looks good and provides good privacy from the neighbors. I cut off the bottom three feet of limbs three years ago and am very glad I did.

smaller clump of Aspens (near the ash), tallest is 30'/4.3", two other trees a little smaller, and one only 12'/1.25". Great fall color.

larger clump of aspens near deck: tallest is 40'/6.8" and is the tallest tree in the yard. Wonderful fall color. People have warned me that aspens don't last a long time but these seem to be doing great and I will keep them as long as possible.

There are also four ornamental trees/shrubs less than 8" tall, not sure what they all are, one is an Amur honeysuckle that I don't really like, and the others are also flowering and not very impressive (of course they are in a lot of shade).

Also lots of potentilla bushes which I really like, and a mounding juniper which I like, and roses, peonies etc which are in too much shade now.

Here's a view in mid fall of the aspens, ash and spruce

This post was edited by olreader on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 15:32

My goals:

1) eventually remove trees that are unsuitable/too big: especially the plains cottonwoods, narrowleaf cottonwoods. Keep the norway maple under control, replace corkscrew willows once some replacements have grown

2) add interesting trees along the east and north fences and near deck. I'm especially interested in trees with good fall color that comes early and lasts a while and will do ok in my Denver area yard with 7.7 pH, low nutrient, slow draining soil. Also fruiting trees and flowering trees.

3) Maybe add a shade tree to eventually replace the white ash? It would have to tolerate shade for now. Where should it go

4) It would be nice to have more conifers in the SE corner near the 9' ponderosa pine. The purpose to break up the view of the neighbors' houses especially in winter. I don't need complete screening, just something closer to my house to look at. But there is a lot of shade there and maybe the ponderosa pine will be the best bet.

The yard is mainly something nice to look at from the house and the deck, a nice shady green spot in our hot summers, and a place to run around with the dog. I really like low branches and foliage at eye level (6-12' above the ground). I would be happy with skinny understory trees with great fall color that only get 10'-12' tall until space in the canopy opens up for them, like something you would see in an eastern forest. The center part of the yard between the pussy willow and the ash is all grass, and there is an irrigation system throughout the yard.

i think you are posting right now.. i hope you go for a real pic of the place ...

you said: Norway Maple, 28' tall, 7.25" DBH. I like it but it is close to the house and I have started corrective pruning to slow it down and get it to the shape I like

==>>> start by getting rid of this monstrosity .... you will NEVER grow anything under it ... and its too close to the house.. and its mis-shaped.... etc ...

same with the ash.;. if EAB is but 10 miles away ...

then you can rethink whats getting sun ... and what further removals might be sought...

i know its hard.. but always start with removals ... it is the base way.. to really redo your garden ...

will mull the rest tonight during the hockey game ...

ken

ps: with no insult to the roots.. pruning a maple.. will SPEED growth.. NOT slow it down ...

My ideas:

1) Plant a large shade tree in the NE corner (but not within the 8' underground utility easement). Last fall I planted a 5' bareroot Kentucky Coffeetree, I thought it would have an interesting silhouette eventually, like the pussy willow I like so much. This will give needed shade during summer early mornings I hope, somehow the sun makes it around the cottonwoods and pussy willlow

2) Plant many fruiting trees, fall color trees and flowering trees along the north and east fences and near the deck. ideas:
Red Mulberry
Serviceberries
Redbud
American Hornbeam
maybe fruiting trees that may be hard to grow around here, like american persimmon

3) plant some ornamental trees/shrubs in the area where the pussy willow is. Between the pussy willow and the north fence is kind of a hidden garden area, but there's nothing very interesting there now. I had the idea of cutting the pussy willow and letting it come back as a bush for now. Another idea is to plant a multistemmed Yellowwood, I have seen a nice one in the neighborhood, eventually it would get too big.

I know I have given a lot of information thanks if you have managed to read it all. Any suggestions, especially for trees with good fall color that will work in my area?

Here's a picture out of my dirty window showing branches at eye level close to the house, I really like that kind of thing.

This post was edited by olreader on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 15:41

A picture or two is worth a thousand words and a lot easier to comprehend.
Mike

Thanks Mike, I have added some pictures and you can also see more from summer/fall here:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/trees/msg1122030313594.html
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/maple/msg1016535027210.html
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/conif/msg1214034913591.html

In the summer it's a lot of leaves and hard to pick out individual trees which is great with me.

Here's a picture in the winter looking southeast, you might be able to make out the 9' ponderosa pine, if it gets a little taller the yellow house wouldn't be so prominent.

Here is a link that might be useful: my earlier post about the maple (one of the three threads listed above)

This post was edited by olreader on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 17:28

Thanks Ken, I do want to take out some of the trees--the ones I am most worried about are the cottonwoods shown here in the southeast corner I can see them getting taller each year and in heavy winds the one at right gets close to the yellow house. And I will take down the smaller cottonwoods next to the north fence sometime soon.

The other one that will probably come out soon is the big pussy willow, especially if it has problems again this year.

The ash I would like to save and treat as long as possible.

About the maple, you can see more of it at one of the posts linked above. Because there are so many other trees and no window directly overlooking the top, we don't notice the top of the maple (above the bottom 15-20 feet)at all, either in summer or winter, and I don't think our neighbors or anyone else does either. I have a plan of how I'm going to prune it each year, we will see how it grows back this summer, if I keep cutting (parts) of the top over every year it will either die or look more beautiful or look so ugly that I take it down, or maybe I will wait too long for the next pruning that it will get too big and I will have to hire someone to take it down.