Define "small" :-) Do you prefer deciduous or evergreen? Flowering? Full sun?

Photo of the area would be very helpful.

Japanese Maple, Saucer Magnolia, Kousa Dogwood... deer an issue but planning on fencing in for first couple of years.

Planted grasses and ground cover all around edges.

A view from the street would help to see how the trees would relate to the house. Do you know where any utilities may be buried?

tj

it appears you have room for no more than one small tree ...

maybe two shrubs pruned in tree form ...

or one of each.. maybe ....

how many zones in nj??

ken

of course.. if you wanted to go all collector.. with MINI conifers.. maybe 30 to 50 of them ... lol ...

ken

Love the conifer idea but deer are an issue. Think I may put two small Japanese Maple, one Ted one green, fenced in til deer can’t get them.

Bucks wishing to mark their territories shred the trunks of normal tree habit Japanese maples with their antlers - I guess until the trees are old enough that the bark doesn't have the right consistency.

Old enough as in maybe decades down the road - I don't know. I do know which ones looked like they had been hit by cars - thanks to deer activity - and which ones didn't after I moved into the place I am at now.

Anyway the area shown in your picture is so small that a permanent deer fence going all the way around would certainly be quite feasible. Kept out the animals would have no impact on what you choose to plant and how it does.

Magnolia are highly deer resistant.

“Magnolia are highly deer resistant”

Not the flower buds...they‘re deer candy!

Full sun with a gravel or rock base/mulch sounds like a very challenging environment for Japanese maples. Or a dogwood for that matter, or any other understory tree. I'd save those for a less exposed location.

Also deer damage on JM's is not limited to buck rubs. Tender new growth is a very appealing snack.

Others to consider: crabapple, amelanchier, redbud. And many conifers are not attractive to deer at all.

Pine trees often look well in gravel beds. There are several different kinds. Especially if you want to prune them Japanese style.

If you are looking for a very small tree, maybe lilac (or even osmanthus) but you will have to do some pruning to keep it in more of a tree shape than a bush.

Or what about a fig tree? They are not deer-proof but they are deer resistant.

I am in NJ, and live with deer.

I do grow Magnolias, but they are hardly small trees, and deer still LOVE to rut Magnolia trunks (soft wood). (I grow mostly M. grandifloras and try not to limb up, so they cannot get close to the trunks, as the limbs grow down to the ground.)

What about some Crape Myrtles? You can get them locally in red, pink, magenta, purple, and white (I have a half dozen varieties.) Select smaller varieties, if your zone is under 7 (6b), select from among all the gorgeous hybrids series. Highly deer resistant. They just need full, all day sun and heat.

This is a pure L. indica 'Dynamite Red'.

P.S., Ken, NJ goes from Zone 6a to Zone 7b.

Re Magnolias. I guess it depends on how heavy the deer pressure is. I've gardened in deer country for many years and none of my magnolias have ever been touched by deer. Not even the buds on the early blooming M. stellata when deer are really hungry.

"Re Magnolias. I guess it depends on how heavy the deer pressure is. I've gardened in deer country for many years and none of my magnolias have ever been touched by deer."

Lacey, this was a BAD February in my area for the duration of deep snow cover (all since melted), Yes, they did NOT eat leaves on the larger Magnolia, but I did see them eating Little Gem leaves, they were also eating other things normally ignored, Japanese Holly and other Holly (including Blue Prince/Princess), Photinia, and Rhododendrons. The bigger issue for the Magnolias is the rutting (and they do this on both evergreen and deciduous species). They like Magnolias for rutting as the wood is soft.