After lots and lots of reading about different kinds of trees, this is the one I chose to be the primary shade tree in our smallish front yard when our too-big ash died.

It's quick-growing (up to 4' per year), long-lived (can live over 100 years if not hit by a serious drought), and never gets too big for a smallish lot (max height 25-40 feet). Not a lot of trees share all of those features!

Also, it tolerates clay soil and moderate drought. It's not supposed to like poorly drained soil, but I placed a rain garden 3 feet from one in the backyard, and it's thriving in spite of the fact that the top inch or so of soil regularly gets anaerobic (PU!). I hear it wouldn't be a good choice for next to a permanent pond.

Will grow in part shade or full sun, so the backyard one was planted under the drip line of the backyard ash, just in case something happened to that ash.

A relative transplanted some big, 15-feet tall trees after digging up only about a cubic foot of root ball, and they bounced back just fine, so it's pretty tough.

The big clusters of white flowers bloom all summer long, when lots of other plants are sulking from the heat. Very showy but not gaudy, and easy to fit into any garden color scheme. No fragrance, unfortunately.

If I have any complaints, it's that this deciduous tree doesn't leaf out until April, which is pretty late for the subtropics. I always spend March wondering if somehow it died this year when it's the only brown stick in a sea of green.