you might want to consider an princeton american elm instead of the zelkova. It would grow faster. Or you could look into lindens. Here in my part of the country they easily have the deepest shade of any tree. The Ostrya doesn't strike me as a tree capable of making deep shade. The ones I have seen are pretty open. How about a cotinus obovatus? unbelievable fall color. Or how about a parrotia persica?

Thanks for the tree suggestions. The Princeton American Elm is a really good suggestion.

I'm okay with the Ostrya not having a lot of shade. It is more of a second line of defense to catch the filtered light. The hope is that the Zelkova or Elm would grow over it. That being said, the overstory trees that I'm looking for have to be somewhat tall and wide.

For the smaller trees that are going to grow closer to the house, I'm afraid that the cotinus obovatus and parrotia persica won't be able to survive under the shade of the zelkova or elm tree since they are not shade tolerant like the Ostrya is.

The linden is a nice choice, but it doesn't have the spread that I'm looking for in a shade tree.

This post was edited by SirSibs on Mon, Jul 29, 13 at 8:16