Hello, Jay,
first of all I have to say that my front door faces one of my less good directions as well. I think that in that case you should at least sleep in one of your best directions (when in bed the head points into one of your four best directions).
My husband's kua number is 5, too. His total loss direction and yours are the same. The meaning of North is career, goal setting and thinking about the future (just rough summary) and my husband definitely has problems with goal setting and amitions :-). In one of her space feng shui newsletters Marie recommended to place the facet opal in the North to transform these issues.
My total loss direction is South and in my childhood I used to be very shy and timid which is no longer true for me because I worked on this issue. I believe that our less good directions offer wonderful opportunities to grow and to change our human luck. Nevertheless, my husband and I slep towards one of our best directions.
With respect to the trees I think it depends on the rest of the environment, the trees might as well serve as a protection against Sha Qi or poison arrows. If you have the feeling that the "phoenix" cannot fly out it might be possible to replace the trees by bushes etc.
If you do not like the direction your door faces then it might be an idea to draw the attention to the NW, i.e. to the beginning of path that leads to your door.
Another idea would depend on the correct reading of the facing direction, maybe it is close either to NE3 or NW1, then you could consult with one of the Feng Shui experts at Learning Strategies to change the facing direction to one of your good directions...
Love,
Astrid
