Not sure if serviceberry will take all the shade. Yew will, but they grow so slowly, you might be waiting a while. Not sure if you care if they are evergreen. If so, maybe canadian hemlock? if not, maybe redbud, dogwood, amur maple (maybe). Of course, buckthorn grows well in the shade, but that is an invasive disaster waiting to happen.

Seeing the swing I assume you have young children. Most likely what ever tree you plant will not be big enough to provide what you want before they leave home.

There is one tree that may hid that area within about 10 years. That tree would be an untrimmed weeping willow.

In response to all of the growns I just heard it can be a very nice tree. I always thought the light green of the willow against the dark green of the pines and similar trees created a nice back drop to a home.

I love redbuds. I've had several people tell me amur maples are invasive in MN. What are your thoughts on that? Would a pagoda dogwood do ok there, or just shrubs?

Another question...I've heard white pines are prone to dropping large branches. Is that true? It seems to be the one that drops the least. That might factor into how much I want to spend.

I like the Canadian Hemlock! That might be a good practical choice. I don't mind it growing slow, really. Just so it eventually gets there =)

If you need screening....Hemlock. It should survive your winters. Good luck!

AMUR MAPLE - while they are not as nasty as buckthorn and have very attractive fall color, amurs WILL spread by seed. I wouldn't call them massively aggressive - they don't get that big and tend to start falling apart after about 20' in height.

DOGWOODS - not sure which dogwoods will survive in MN. We had some red osier dogwood up on our hill, but not all dogwoods will make it - check zones.

White pine: As for white pines, my neighbor absolutely LOVED them and had them all over his property. I was never a fan, but they didn't seem to break apart excessively (the branches do weigh down in snow and ice) - just be aware they get to be BIG trees - don't plant them near anything important.

White pine drop larger limbs when they are crowded and they die out due to lack of sunlight.

Otherwise with proper light they do not drop limbs more so than any other tree.

Another question...I've heard white pines are prone to dropping large branches. Is that true? It seems to be the one that drops the least. That might factor into how much I want to spend.

White pines drop more branches in heavy snow because they can hold more snow than a deciduous tree. Winter storms, same deal, they have their sail of needles and the non-evergreens are leafless. Regular pruning will save you a lot of downed branches, though there's always a risk of breakage, as with every tree. Our white pines don't drop the most branches around here, but they certainly have the biggest to drop when they do. The neighbors' hickory and maple drop more branches (and I'm not talking about twigs), but they are not capable of dropping the 35' branch the white pine did in the last wind storm unless the whole tree came down. (It's a 100' pine tree.) The other two pines were unscathed, and plenty of other trees in the neighborhood had branches or the whole tree go in that storm.

I love the white pines myself. I have a clutter of scraggly confiers (black spruce?) in the middle of the yard. I'd love to replace those with some majestic white pines.

Anyhow. I have dogwood pagoda popping up around here. I had three of them. One I removed, one died, and the other uprooted in a storm. I could just stick a seedling over there.

I really like the blue beech idea! I've never heard of them, but the shape is perfect, and you can't beat a native tree.

And the Acer Tegmentosum looks like a showstopper! I would love to have that.

I didn't even think of Blue Beech. I suppose you could add ironwood too

Just an update. Something was really drawing me to the Blue Beech. But in the end, I decided I would love some yellow fall color on that line, and went with an Acer tegementosum. Hope I made the right choice. It went a bit against my instinct, because I really wanted that maple! I love this site and all your knowledge...I learn so much.

The golden yellow behind the Concolor fir is Acer tegmentosum. It gets sun from about 9-noon then in the shade of the cottonwood the rest of the day. Maple in the foreground is Firefall.

The two maples are beautiful together! The Firefall is a really beautiful color; I'm going to make a write a note in my gardening journal about that tree.

Firefall color will vary some from year to year but it is always vibrant from what I have witnessed. Some years it has more red and orange than others. I just planted one in my backyard a few weeks ago.

Yep seem to have the yellowish orange more reminiscent of sugar maple.

I like that they color up early so you get a long show.

I'm not sure if the OP is still fallowing this or not, but my comments:

Forget trees. You can't wait a whole life time to get the neighbors' offensive crap hidden so go with fast growing shrubs right away. I like Elderberry. They will go from seedling to full size in about five years, and provide bounteous crops for birds. There's two kinds: S. canadensis(suckering) and S. racemosa(non-suckering). Viburnums will grow fast too and they also provide lots of fruit. Cranberry bush is good and could eventually fill in the entire space in ten or more years. Dogwoods are hardy everywhere in Mn. I've been babying along some volunteer Pagoda type and I suspect it will take ten or more years for full size.

Choke Cherry will fill in the space in a hurry too, as will Black Cherry and Pin Cherry.