Trees Under 10 Feet Tall: Ultimate List -All Low Maintenance Options

 

Not all trees are made the same. Everyone wants a tree that can be admired every day when looking for a compact, low-maintenance choice.

Trees are selected for specific reasons in landscaping. There are various species to pick from whether you want a tree to stand out, provide a privacy boundary, give food, or emphasize an entry.

In addition to being the ideal size, shape, and ease of maintenance for your landscaping, we also want something striking.

The trees that are described below are exactly that—unique show-stoppers that will not disappoint.

1. Dwarf Japanese Maple

• Mature 3 to 6 feet tall
• 5 through 8 Grow Zones
• Shishigashira, Fairy Hair, Kurenai Jishi, and Mikawa Yatsubusa are popular varieties.

The dwarf Japanese maple is ideal for containers and compact settings. They develop into a balanced, rounded shape as they grow broader than tall.

The branches remain appealing even after the vibrant leaves have fallen in the fall because of the seasonal changes in the foliage’s hue. Slow-growing dwarf maples require little upkeep.

Plant in a spot with dappled sunlight and wet, well-drained soil. Once established, watering once or twice a week is sufficient.

2. Weeping Japanese Maple

• Mature 8 to 10 feet tall
• 5 through 8 Grow Zones
• Orangeola, Ryusen, Firefall Weeping Red, Emerald Leaf Weeping Green, and Red Dragon Weeping Lace are among the most widely used varieties.

Japanese maples that weep provide lovely foliage all year round. The branches and leaves have beautiful foliage that changes color with the seasons, and they cascade down in the shape of an umbrella.

The leaves of many species can turn purple, red, orange, pink, or yellow.

These resilient, slowly-growing trees prefer dappled light or mild shade. If the weather is cool, some types, like this one, can tolerate full light.

3. Rose of Sharon

• Mature 8 to 10 feet tall
• 5 to 9 Grow Zones
• Popular varieties include Blue Chiffon, Sugartip, Minerva, and Aphrodite.

Rose of Sharon, a bush or small tree that bears lovely trumpet-shaped flowers, is a member of the hibiscus family. Large white, lavender, and purple blooms are available.

Rose of Sharon is tolerant of a variety of soil types and can withstand drought, though it loves adequate hydration. Additionally, this tree thrives best in full sun to light shade.

If you want a plant with a shrubby shape, pruning is not required. On occasion, it can be readily pruned back to resemble a tree with numerous little trunks.

4. Sargent Crabapple

• Height at Maturity: 6 to 10 feet
• 4 to 8 grow zones
• Tina, Firebird, Rose Glow, and Candymint are popular varieties.

The Sargent crabapple is a striking tree with fragrant, delicate white flowers that is perfect for modest spaces due to its height at maturity.

Give it some room when planting since it can grow up to 12 feet broad. As an alternating bearer, it produces blooms every other year and prefers full sun.

Many different kinds of songbirds find the little fruit to be appealing. Trees naturally grow into a rounded shape and are thick.

5. Dwarf Italian Cypress

• Height at Maturity: 7 to 9 feet
• 8 to 10 grow zones
• Totem and Tiny Tower are popular variants.

The Dwarf Italian Cypress develops naturally into a slender column shape that is ideal for privacy screens, borders, hedges, and containers.

It has dense, dark, fragrant, greenish-blue leaves and is evergreen. It enjoys full sun, repels deer, and can withstand drought. It takes the tree several years to mature since it grows slowly.

6. Semi-Dwarf Crape Myrtle

• Adult Height: Five to ten feet
• 6 to 10 Grow Zones
• Pink Hopi, Purple Zuni, Red Ebony Flame, Red Tonto, and Siren Red are popular varieties.

Crape myrtles’ summer-long growth of pink, purple, red, or white blooms can cheer up your yard.

Large clusters of colorful flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies to the area flourish there.

These are ideal to put in groupings along margins or on their own as ornamental pieces. They can be grown as shrubs or pruned into trees.

These are trees that easily develop an additional 3 to 5 feet every year while they are young and grow quickly.

7. Sand Cherry Tree

• Mature 7 to 10 feet tall
• 3 to 7 grow zones
• Purpleleaf, Pawnee Buttes, Western, and Dwarf Red Leaf are popular varieties.

The sand cherry tree is a resilient blooming tree that blooms in the spring and yields small sour cherries that are good for jams and jellies as well as fragrant blossoms.

Sand cherry trees can grow from 13 to 24 inches tall per year, and they do so swiftly. The fruit is a favorite diet of many birds and even coyotes.

The sand cherry requires frequent watering and prefers full sun to light shade.

8. Golden Fernspray Hinoki Cypress

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• Mature 8 to 10 feet tall
• 4 to 8 grow zones
• Popular varieties include Fernspray Gold False Cypress, Jade Waves Fernspray False, Gold Mop, and Dwarf Hinoki Cypress.

Your evergreen landscape will get a new twist from Golden Fernspray. The flat, feathery foliage has fern-branch-like characteristics.

Its tips are golden yellow in color and lemon-green in color. This tree grows slowly, barely adding 6 to 8 inches to its height per year.

It will be about half as wide as it is tall as it grows upright in a pyramidal shape. This low-maintenance tree prefers moderate water and partial shade to full sun. Deer are resistant to it.

9. American Snowbell Tree

• Mature 6 to 9 feet tall
• 6 through 8 Grow Zones
• Popular varieties include Baby Blue, Carolina Snowbell, and Evening Light.

The American snowbell is a distinctive shrub with tiny, fragrant bell-shaped blooms that hang from branches from late spring to early summer.

These swamp-native trees prefer moist, humid environments. They thrive in regions with some shade and some sunlight.

Therefore, snowbells are excellent for usage in your yard near ponds, fountains, or other water features.

Snowbells draw beneficial insects, bees, and other pollinators. The trees will be used by birds for nesting and as cover.

10. Weeping Redbud

Early spring brings out the lavender-pink, scarlet, or burgundy petals of the weeping redbud. The enormous, heart-shaped leaves and blossoms fall like a waterfall to the ground.

The branches have unique twists over the winter because of the fall’s yellowing and subsequent dropping of the leaves.

These trees prefer wet, well-drained soil and regular watering. They also require full to moderate shade. They are perfect for making an interesting statement in your environment while taking up less area.

Bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies are drawn to blooms.

11. Highbush Cranberry

• Mature 8 to 15 feet tall
• Zones 2 through 7
• the Wentworth, Andrews, and Hahs varieties

Although the highbush cranberry’s fruit looks like cranberries, it belongs to the honeysuckle family and is not a true cranberry.

The shrub is perfect for building a privacy wall if planted closely, at a distance of 2 to 3 feet. It prefers full sun to moderate shade, well-drained, wet soil, and is drought and frost tolerant. It is a low maintenance tree.

Large white blossoms surround smaller white blooms on the self-pollinating tree. Trees start producing fruit, which can be used in place of cranberries, after five years of growth.

12. Dwarf Peach

• Mature 8 to 10 feet tall
• 5 to 9 Grow Zones
• Elberta, Red Haven, Bonanza, Reliance, Orange Cling, and Halloween are popular varieties.

Despite being significantly smaller than their conventional fruit tree counterparts, dwarf peaches nonetheless produce fruit of typical size.

Additionally, the trees are smaller, which makes them simpler to manage. A year or two earlier than a standard peach tree, the smaller types will also bear fruit.

Dwarf peaches prefer sandy, well-drained soil and partial to full light, although they are not drought-tolerant. These trees bloom in the spring, and in the middle to late summer, they bear fruit.

13. Dwarf Plum 

• Mature 8 to 10 feet tall
• 4 to 9 grow zones
• Burbank, Johnson, Santa Rosa, and Black Ice are common varieties.

As you may gather regular-sized fruit without needing an entire orchard or a vast area for a tree to flourish, dwarf fruit trees are perfect for tiny settings.

The two most popular varieties of plums are Japanese and European. European plums can tolerate a little bit cooler weather.

When the temperature drops in winter climates, trees can be cultivated in containers and brought indoors.

Dwarf plum trees are often simple care but still require a lot of sun and well-drained soil.

The majority of plum trees do not self-pollinate, hence planting many trees is necessary for them to produce fruit.

14. Dwarf Cherry

• Mature 5 to 8 feet tall
• Zones 2 through 7
• Black Tartarian, Juliet, Romeo, Dwarf Bing, and Carmine Jewel are popular varieties.

Dwarf cherries are more typically found in colder locations since they were developed to be more cold hardy. They are excellent for shorter growing seasons since they yield fruit and grow quickly.

They favor sunny areas with well-drained soil. Despite the size of the tree, the cherries are still typical in size, and depending on the variety, they may taste sweet or tart.

15. Dwarf Apple

• Mature 8 to 10 feet tall
• Planting Zones: 3 to 6
• Popular cultivars include Cameron Select, Fuji Dwarf, Goldrush Dwarf, Gala Dwarf, and Arkansas Black.

Apple trees blossom in the spring and summer with tiny, charming white blooms that turn into fruit in September.

While regular apple trees may take up to 10 years to bear any fruit, dwarf apple trees can start producing fruit as soon as three years after planting.

A lot of apple trees are vulnerable to pests and illnesses. Be cautious to consider which resistance is necessary for your locality before selecting a variety.

16. Dwarf Fig

• If unpruned, mature height can reach up to 15 feet.
• 8 to 10 grow zones
• Little Miss Figgy, Black Jack, Brown Turkey, Celeste, Desert King, and Neveralla are popular varieties.

These self-pollinating, drought-tolerant trees prefer full sun and may survive on their own. Additionally, they like non-acidic, well-drained soil.

Fig trees feature broad leaves and a tropical appearance. Eventually, the trees will grow nearly as wide as they are tall.

They frequently produce fruit twice a year, with a smaller crop in the early summer and a larger crop in the late summer to early October.

17. Dwarf Citrus

• Mature 8 to 12 feet tall
• 8 to 10 grow zones
• Popular varieties include Owari Satsuma, Meyer lemon, tangerine, kumquat, and kumquat.

If you want fresh fruit but don’t have a lot of room, dwarf citrus trees are the ideal choice. If you live in a colder area, you can grow these trees indoors or on your patio in containers.

Sunlight and well-drained soil are essential for citrus trees. Regular application of nitrogen fertilizer is essential.

Citrus can be fickle, so make sure they’re situated somewhere where the temperature is consistently between 55 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

18. Goldcrest Cypress

• Mature 6 to 10 feet tall
• 7 through 10 Grow Zones
• Wilma Goldcrest and Goldcrest Lemon are two common varieties.

This evergreen has a year-round bright yellow color and grows in the form of a thin vertical column. Lemony scent permeates the greenery.

This low-maintenance conifer tolerates salinity and requires little water. These trees prefer well-drained soil and full sun to partial shade.

If watered often, Goldcrest Cypress can be grown in pots. They are an excellent choice for driveway borders, patio borders, and fence concealment.

19. Dwarf Alberta Spruce

• Mature 3 to 12 feet tall
• 5 through 7 Grow Zones
• – Crab apple. … Without pruning, the mature height could reach 15 feet.

Grow Zones: 8–10

There are several common varieties, including Little Miss Figgy, Black Jack, Brown Turkey, Celeste, Desert King, and Neveralla.

Since they are self-pollinating and drought-tolerant, they may survive on their own. They enjoy full light. Aside from that, they like non-acidic, well-drained soil.

 20. Pygmy Date Palm

• Large leaves and a tropical appearance characterize fig trees. Nearly equal in width to height, the trees will eventually.
• They frequently produce fruit twice a year: a small crop in the early summer and a larger harvest in the late summer to early October.
• Mature 8 to 12 feet high

Grow Zones: 8–10

Meyer lemon, tangerine, kumquat, clementine, and Owari Satsuma are some of the most common varieties.

Having fresh fruit without taking up a lot of area is made possible by dwarf citrus trees. These trees can be grown in pots on your patio, in your yard, or even inside if you live in a colder region.

FAQ

What is the best small tree to plant near house?

American hornbeam (zones 3-9): A slow-growing member of the birch family that’s small in size.

What is the best tree for a small front yard?

Crab apple. … If unpruned, mature height can reach up to 15 feet.

What trees stay under 6 feet tall?

Little Miss Figgy, Black Jack, Brown Turkey, Celeste, Desert King, and Neveralla are popular varieties.

Final Thoughts

Looking for a decorative plant that will also give you seclusion to place beside the street? Pick a Japanese maple that is dwarf.

Put a potted dwarf Meyer lemon tree inside in a bright window if you desperately want a citrus tree but don’t live somewhere it snows.

If you want your yard to fill with a wonderful aroma as you stroll through it, consider a sand cherry tree.

There is a tree for you, whatever it is you’re attempting to do. Happy gardening!