The cherry tree we have produces a lot of flowers every spring, followed by a lot of cherries. But the cherries never make any mess because the birds get them as fast as they ripen. My wife dislikes the other fruit trees (the peach is now a former tree) because of the mess, but likes the cherry.

I'm not sure whether that makes it a good choice for your lawn, but it works well for us.

Depending on where your house is and what the view is, you may not want to plant a tree in front of an east facing window. We have an east facing picture window in the front of our house, and one of our challenges in deciding where a tree can be planted is how we can have a decent tree without blocking the view of the mountains. I don't think any tree could be a better view than the mountain view we have.

For a decorative tree, closer to the house...

Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) is a good window tree (they can be in bush or tree form) you can plant it close to your home These are great in our area and flower early summer through fall!, and you have probably seen the weeping/flowering cherries available now and you might also consider Hawthorne. Flowering and a naturally more manicured form.

I know the honeylocust is overplanted, but for a backyard tree giving filtered shade and no leaf mess (leaves are so small they literally disappear). It is hard to beat the wide canopy and it is also fast growing and not weak wooded. That is probably why they are so popular. The Golden Rain (not chain) tree is also faster-growing, not weak wooded and has year round interest as the seed pods look like little laterns that hang on over the winter.

Consider Linden, crabapple and the other trees recommended in the other thread if "not messy" is a priority. These don't get that large that quickly. Bur oak takes on a wonderful form with age, but I am probably not patient enough to recommend it as the centerpiece of the yard if it will take a 30+ years before it gets substantial. I still might plant it with another faster growing tree that it can replace in time. Same goes for Ginko. A beautiful tree that glows in the fall and can get quite large in time. Leaves seem to drop in one day, but they are not messy. There is a red maple that is being extolled elsewhere here. It has the Silver Maple as one of its parents, and not quite as weak wooded as the Silver with wonderful fall color.

There was a poster here who has mentionedl the dawn redwood in the past. They have a great Winter sillouette. These are decidous conifers and I understand they grow quite fast. You could also try a redwood if you have the room for it. I can't comment on the messiness of these trees, but that could be a problem.

There is a white flowering crab that has no fruit. I have one and it is beautiful in the spring. I also have a paul's scarlett hawthorn that blooms pink in the spring has small berry fruit but not messy. These are my 2 favorite trees followed by the honeylocast shademaster. Only 3rd because it doesn't bloom. I live in Ogden

Laurie

If you're looking for shade, get a Chitalpa! Mine grew pretty darn fast at first, despite the fact that I tried not to water or feed it too much, but even so it has stood up to a number of heavy snows now - it just looks a little "stretched out" in the middle. It flowers like crazy around Memorial Day and continues more lightly all summer. You may actually get tired of the fallen blossoms, but it's sterile; no "bean pods" or other fruit. Gets about 25-30' feet high and wide, drought tolerant, and is hardy to minus 20. And they are a tap-rooter, so you can plant them close to sidewalks, foundations, etc. The only down side is no fall color; the leaves just get duller and dryer until they fall off. There's only one pink-flowered and one white-flowered one to choose from that I know of, but what flowers...

As far as flowering weepers, there's a weeping crabapple that would be tougher than a flowering cherry. Little harder to find around my area, though. But if it's on the east side of your house, with afternoon shade and some wind protection, then you've got a relatively good situation for a flowering cherry (and many other things).

Someone mentioned the locust - we have a black robe locust and I love that tree. It is so beautiful when it blooms and it doesn't make a mess and it faster growing.

Cool, somebody else has a Chitalpa! I understand its parents are the Catalpa and the Chilopsis/desert willow and it was not even named until 1991.

They do grow really fast. Despite being told they are not brittle, I lost the top of mine in a microburst, but it regained what was lost in no time.

jkcooper, you don't mean the Purple Robe locust do you? Black locust has white flowers, Purple Robe and Idaho locust have pinkish-purple. Like the Chitalpa, they don't have good Fall color but they are extremely brittle and also prone to borer attack, but worth it for the flower display!

Do the Chitalpa blossoms smell as nice as those of the Catalpa, or was that sacrificed in the hybrid? Sounds like a wonderful tree... the fragrance would be a nice extra.

Since both parents are fragrant trees, I would say at least equal.

I have noticed how fragrant the Chitalpa is but both my Catalpa's (bignonioides & Purple (rubescens ÂPurpurea Northern?)) flower up higher and for a shorter period, so I had not noticed the fragrance as much. I would also say the Chitalpa branches are not as brittle as Catalpa even though it grows faster.

I have cherries and plums and crabapples and I get some of them sprayed when they are in bloom to keep them from producing fruit---the plum especially, which drops fruit in the pool. If you want a flowering fruit tree and are worried about the mess, that is one way to have it.

Delray, Yes it is the purple robe locust....not the black. Mine has the beautiful purple flowers that remind me a bit of lilacs for some reason.

You can eat those purple flowers! they taste just like chickenÂmaybe not, but they do taste ok. I would still rather look at them than eat them ;-)