I have two Serviceberry pruned to a single trunk, or tree form, in my garden and I love them. Not sure if it would fall under the "with a lot shape" category you are searching for, but you might Google for photos and info on this shrub/tree. One of mine is planted in my stone courtyard and provides light shade which is what I was after. There will be white blooms in Spring followed by red berries in summer which the birds love. Also in Fall the foliage turns a beautiful red or orange.

How about a magnolia virginiana? Another possibility is a Vitex (Chaste tree). I pruned my two Vitex to tree form. They are lovely
and bloom in the summer.

What are the conditions? Sun, shade, etc. A shrub I have pruned into a small tree is Heptacodium. I wouldn't be without it in the garden. It is flowering now. Flower is followed by bright, dark pink calyx. Glossy green foliage all season with exfoliating bark. Would do well near a house.

I think an overlooked small ornamental tree is hawthorn. Mine gets white flowers followed by orange berries and flaming fall foliage. Berries can be a bit messy though if the birds leave them on.

Fringetree and Stewartia are also understory trees. What about a japanese maple. 'Bloodgood' is beautiful and gets gorgeous fall color. There are many other japanese maples that might fit your size requirements.

I would look at the smaller Japanese Maples, maybe Fireglow which gets about 12' and is a beautiful tree. Also the Crabapples have some that stay under 15'.
Cher

Chinese Fringe tree - gets a little taller than you want, but not too much so!

If you dont want berries and you have sun, there is tree hydrangea and the old fashioned snowball bush, which is a type of sterile viburnum, I think.

There are dwarf crabapples, but make sure you do some research to find a variety that is relatively disease free.

What are the requirements for the annuals you use regarding sun, etc.? This may also dictate which type of "tree" to use. I love heptacodium, they are a really great all-around tree, with great mottled bark, nice foliage, great late season flowering, and they can be shaped easily (but they grow very, very quickly depending upon conditions). I think that Japanese maples are nice, but they are entirely over-used; they are everywhere. Perhaps a hibiscus variety in tree form would work, like Althea (Rose of Sharon), or maybe a Korean Lilac. As far as surrounding a tree with annuals, you really cant go wrong with a small, evergreen--even though this is somewhat out of fashion with some, the flowers of annuals against the stateliness of an evergreen are simply unmatched, and depending on variety, they shouldnt shade out your area. Good Luck.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. My husband is wanting to put a weeping cherry in, but everywhere you look there is a weeping cherry. The area is shady in the morning with sun in the afternoon. I usually use petunias there. We have a blue spruce that I think we may try to transplant.

Thank you.
Debby

Think four seasons of interest and don't settle for less than three. Not only do the cherries bloom once but they don't look like much the other three seasons. I really don't remember the heights of these but check out paperbark maple, franklinia, sourwood (now this is a beautiful tree), pagoda dogwood, dogwood "wolf eyes" though this may well scorch in the pm sun) katsura tree. And as previously mentioned, the smaller japanese maples....avoid "Bloodgood" as it is as common as weeping cherry.

Whild you are looking up trees, please check the ultimate height of that blue spruce. If it is aiming to grow up to 60 feet it will dominate your landscape, shade out everything else including the sunlight in the interior of your house. Transplant while you can. Depending on the size of your property, you may not want it at all.