On the other hand, the river birches are running rampant, and shedding their nasty little twigs, branches, and dead leaves all over everything (not to mention dropping spring sap on my nice new deck.)
When we sell this huge house and move when the last kid graduates, my husband says he will personally destroy any river birch near whatever house we wind up in . . . . typical contractor trees, quick effect and then years of hassle.
LOL - around here they plant Bradford pears. Those clouds of pretty flowers smell like you're downwind of a waste management facility.
Back in Norman, we had a crabapple tree that looked pretty and smelled nice.