What would your zone be? I am tempted to say to get an Osmanthus Fragrans (fragrant tea olive) but if you are below zone 6, it won't work.
The Osmanthus Fragrans gets to be about 10-20 feet tall and can be pruned into a tree form, but grows more like a shrub. It doesn't need pruning, is evergreen, and has tiny flowers that smell oh-so-sweet. They don't need pruning, except for dead branches, or if you are training to make it a small tree. They don't seed prolifically, if at all.
Best of all, there aren't any diseases or pests of major significance.

I am waaaay north. US zone 5, if I am not mistaken. I doubt that Osmanthus Fragrans will survive here. Thanks for posting!

An upright Japanese Maple, Paperbark Maple, Serviceberry, Redbud (short life is relative...it'll be there long after you've moved), Dogwood (Pagoda, Kousa/Chinese, or Flowering), Japanese Tree Lilac.

Those are easy to get. There are LOTS of other species to choose from for zone 5. Some of the other potential options require a little more work in locating a garden centre that stocks them.

So many Trees to consider that will meet your need. The Dogwoods and Redbuds are some of my favorites. Also there are numerous flowering Cherries and some perfect smaller shade Trees as well like Paperbark Maple - clean and pest free, slow growing - low maintenance. I like the Magnolias as well. All will make great living spaces.

As a grower I see homeowners struggle all the time with making the right choice and I sense the fear in making the wrong choice. Many Trees we grow today are improved selections with much lower pest problems. I wish I could take the time to talk to all homeowners and encourage them to plant more - so many choices today that are great choices for you.

Check out Bower & Branch site and 'find your match' - they ask a few simple questions and then present Trees that best meet your needs.

My encouragement is to plant without fear or worry once you have made your selection. A healthy Tree will grow and perform for a life time.

I considered Ivory Lilac before, nice tree, the problems with them limbs are too fragile. I am big fan of some of Japanese maples, but ones I like are generally part sun and I want to plant in full sun. Serviceberry has seeds.

In northern climates, Japanese maples can tolerate a lot of sun, especially those with red leaves. Full sun placement in your climate - other than those with variegated or very pale gold foliage - should not be a concern.

My favorite small trees are apples and ornamental flowering crabapples. They do very well here in Vermont. I have never pruned mine, but they do drop apples or crabapples in the fall when they have a good year. The apples just fall into the grass and disappear by spring. The blossoms in spring are lovely.

I love Autumn Moon Japanese maple, but the one I saw in Edwards Garden with southern exposure did not fare well - leaves were sun burned in the fall for whatever reason. We have quite a lot of crabapples in the neighborhood - probably planted ages ago and quite a lot of diseases and pests. I love when they are flowering in spring, but walking on seeds is annoying - we have a few near sidewalks.

Did anyone tried Hally Jolivette Cherry in Toronto? I noticed that it is 6-7 USDA hardiness zones, so not sure if it could grow here. Or anyone with first-hand experience can describe positives and negatives of the plant?

Cornus alternifolia (pagoda or alternate leaf dogwood) is small, pretty hardy (zone 4, winter lows approx -30F or -35C), has relatively good drought-tolerance for a dogwood, an outstanding form, and the flowers, pedicles, and berries are ornamental.

I have several of these trees, but my favorite one is out in the front garden which gets blasted with NW and SW winds from the farmland across the street. It doesn't even blink. Yes it makes berries, but they're gorgeous dark purple-blue and the birds GO NUTS and eat them up as soon as they ripen. They have reseeded a bit, but not aggressively by any means, and they've only required light pruning.

Fall color this year was not too good, and they've lost their leaves earlier than the other dogwoods (C. florida and C. kousa have much better fall color).

Perhaps the variegated cultivar 'Argentea'?

Thanks, pagoda dogwood sounds good. What is the actual size of mature tree and is it more wide-ish than tall-ish?

AlexUnder

I believe Toronto, Ont. is zone 6a, some parts 6b (I used to live in Etobicoke, z6a). Check map here:

see zones map

(If the tree in Edwards Gardens was sunburned, it probably needs some protection on south side...they should know, right?)
Many Japanese maples do pretty well in TO, I had few & my friend (lives n. of 401) has few we planted about 6yrs ago - Autumn Moon & Butterfly + another one I can't remember the name of.

Rina

This post was edited by rina_ on Mon, Nov 10, 14 at 22:17

Japanese maples are great, but I have one and it is growing very slowly - do any of them grow more than a few inches a year?

Hi Alex, my pagoda dogwoods are all grown from seedlings, so there is some variation in their form (as well as other characteristics, such as onset of flowering, etc.). The one in the front garden spreads out a bit more than the others, with a beautiful flowing branch structure. And it isn't suckering at all, while some of the others are suckering a bit (not aggressively though, easy to clip off).

Here is a link with more info -

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornus alternifolia on Plant Finder

PS. Check out the other dogwoods on Plant finder, C. florida and C. kousa are also outstanding small ornamental trees.

If you like birds, the C. alternifolia is a real treat in mid summer, the berries attract an assortment of birds, including some that I don't see that often in the yard like Kingbirds and Warblers.

Here's a pic of the berries, taken in 7/31/13 -

{{gwi:260420}}

striped maple....Acer pensylvanicum...small growing hardy tree

Hi Rina,

I want to plant it in full sun, so some of the trees that were recommended will not fit - at the end I may consider reasonable shrub - some of them are quite high.

Terrene,

I will look into it.

However, at the moment I have too much of wild life - squirrels are driving me crazy digging everywhere. Rabbits are fine as long as they are not destroying planted flowers. And cleaning racoon poop is not my fave:)

I actually saw bluejay, cardinal and a bunch of other birds in my yard this morning. It was nice.

Rather than joining in with endless lists of trees, I would first ask you why you want a "smaller" tree in that spot? Large trees, like for example, the maple you've got, act as the "ceiling" to the outdoor room that is your backyard. All of the crown of large-growing trees is up and over your head, out of the way of human activity. Your smaller trees, on the other hand, are all in your way, the crowns developing right at our level, so to speak. It sounds to me like you're wanting to move in exactly the wrong direction here.

Very simply put, large trees=plenty of room underneath their crowns, small trees=no room whatsoever, their entire growth taking place in "our" layer of the landscape.

This is a common problem in landscape design today, the appearance in plan view (overhead view) of a large-growing tree mistakenly being taken by too many designers as taking up all the space represented by the big circle depicting where that tree's crown would be, all the while not taking into account that all that business is up high, over our heads. The result is what you see all over pleasantville today-big, big house, little tiny plants that will never be in scale with each other.

Some time ask me how I really feel!
+oM

1. shade over my garden patch
2.extremely annoying roots - bulging from the ground and already taking over the patch that I made in spring
3.if I want to cut it in a few years time I have to pay for permit AND for a visit from arborist
4.won't be able to handle it in 5-10 year by myself - professional help is not cheap
5.my neighbor's trees are good enough - probably chinese elm from south side - around 100 ft tall ( costs a fortune to trim it - happy that it was not mine ) - last winter a few limbs came down on my hedge and looks dreadful - and a blue spruce from north - around 70 ft tall at the moment.

And it is just in the centre of the back yard AND my wife wants it's gone asap.