Size always depends on growing conditions :-) Better conditions = larger size. But "really big" is a bit of a stretch. This is typically considered a large shrub or small tree - 10-20' tall and equally as wide for the species. Mine in my old suburban Seattle garden was about 12-15' tall and wide.

Does it take a lot of pruning maintenance to keep it as a tree? Rather than being a large shrub?

Are there other flowering trees you might suggest? Looking for something other than that stinky white flowering tree (flowering pear I'm told) and other than crepe myrtle. And not weeping in habit. :D Oh, and not the purple leaf plum that every neighbor around here has. :D

Thanks garden gal, I always appreciate your advice. :D

I have one here in suburban LA. I planted it 10 years ago, a one gallon from Theodore Payne society, it was just a 10 inch twig. It is now a multibranched shrub about 8 feet wide and 10 feet tall. I wanted multiple trunks so I never tried pruning it. I have very sandy soil, it sits near the base of a slope. I never water it but it grows and looks great.

You can keep the redbud to a more tree-like form by selecting one with a single trunk, rather than multi-stemmed. btw, 'Merlot' is a cultivar of the eastern redbud, not the western.

Other spring flowering trees you could consider are almonds, ornamental cherries, crabapples, deciduous magnolias or dogwoods.

Is it better to choose the Western one? Would I be setting myself up for failure if I choose an Eastern variety?

I was going to suggest a flowering cherry too. We had one in inland Orange County. Although it was an ordinary looking, vase shaped tree for most of the year, it was spectacular in the spring. It was a lusty grower on very little water as well.