Have you considered adding some trees?

Paperbark maple (Acer griseum):

This maple tree is on the dainty side (reaching 20’ – 30’) compared with its more typical cousins, the sugar maple and red maple (40’ – 75’). Leaves of the paperbark maple have a delicate shape and are guaranteed to turn a blazing red in the fall. Its common name comes from its trunk — deep mahogany and cinnamon in color with curling strips elegantly peeling away from the base. Paperbark maple is nearly extinct in its home country, China. I recommend using it more often, if you can find it. Paperbark maple is hardy in Zones 4-8, and grows best in full or part sun.

Paperbark maple is worth planting just for its fallcolor. Photo by Jean Starr

Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum):

Cercidiphyllum japonicum qualifies as a three season tree that is hardy in Zones 4 – 8. In spring the new leaves have a pinkish tone. Over the course of the summer, the leaves become a bluish green. Come late fall, they gradually work up to a blazing gold. Shorter days and cooler temperatures causes these trees to drop their foliage which leaves skeletons of dramatic branches. This is especially the case with the weeping Katsura, a grafted tree which can have a larger spread than height. It can reach 15 to 25 feet high and 20 to 25 feet wide. This is not a tree you see very often. If you do, it will stop you in your tracks.

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba):

The colorful, fascinating ginkgo tree is one of the easiest to grow in the home landscape. One of the oldest known trees in the plant kingdom, this Asian native coexisted with the dinosaurs, its life traced back 200 million years. No other tree has the distinctive fan-shaped leaf, which turns bright gold in fall. Gingko is a long-lived, trouble-free, and beautiful tree that grows 50 to 80 feet tall. Shorter, dwarf cultivars are available.

Bright gold complements the beautifully-fluted leaves of the Ginkgo tree. Photo by Jean Starr