Cercis chinensis 'Avondale'

12'x12' profuse spring bloomer - gorgeous

Here is a link that might be useful: Google

Most deciduous trees I see with bare trunks still have a canopy over half the height of the tree, if grown out in the open (I'm thinking sugar maple, red & white oaks, maybe some others). So a deciduous tree with a bare trunk that's even 8' tall (& you wanted shorter!) would only have maybe 4 feet of trunk before you hit canopy (if grown naturally). Like an 8' bonsai tree, basically.

Here are a couple of options to consider.

1.) A narrow 'festinate' dwarf, with a narrow upright form (I'm thinking sky pencil holly, but it doesn't have bare trunk). A dwarf tree & had a pair of & really liked at our last house was a pair of dwarf golden Hinoki false cypress ('verdoni,' as I recall). They had a target height of 3 - 5', were fairly narrow & upright, beautiful with a grace about their form & coloration that's ornate, and quite nice. There didn't have the 'lollipop' bare trunk look, but had a more open form and visible trunk that some conifers, like emerald green arborvitae.

2.) Get a more shrub-like small conifer and prune the branches off the bottom half of the trunk. People mutilate boulevard false cypress to get the 'pom pom' look, which can be hard to maintain, but people sometimes just prune lower branches off trees to get the 'pine tree look' instead of, say, the Colorado spruce look (where the canopy goes down to the ground).

Option 2 might open up some choices for you.

On the other hand, a flowering, under 8' tree that's mostly bare trunk and handles zone 5b winters sounds like a tall order to me. Got a feeling you're going to have to compromise on some of that.

Would you be interested in slow-growing dwarfs that'll take a long, long time to clear 8 feet? Problem is, trees that little usually don't grow fast; you could get a 2' tall tree that might not be tall enough to satisfy you for a few years.

Richard.

P.S.: Trying to garden under a tree is going to disturb its root system. I was going to ask if a Japanese Maple 'Fireglow' would be of interest (if it can handle your winters), but maple's are infamous for dense, fibrous root systems. Dwarf (not regular) Chinkapin Oak could be of interest, but even they get a good deal taller than 8'.

Thanks for the detailed reply Richard.

Right now the "Dward Korean Lilac" (tree form) seems to fit all my criteria:

- less than 8 feet
- easily hardy at zone 5
- 'lollipop' shape ie skinny upright trunk with ball shaped foliage at the top
- flowers in the spring
- able to accommodate simple annuals near its base

(I was hoping I could get an hydrangea tree so as to get summer long flowers but the size, especially the spread was much too great.)