I'm interested to hear all of your good ideas on what kind of a small tree/shrub (say 10-12 ft or so) that I can plant in a circular bed as a backdrop. I am planting spring bulbs (tulips, daffodils and hyacinth) in the front and would like something taller behind it. I'd like something really unique. I live in Southeast Missouri. Thanks!!

Forest Pansy Redbud, another one that is variegated though I can't remember the cultivar name is really neat and eye catching also.

Another great tree that stays on the smaller side but isn't commonly planted is the native fringe tree, Chionanthus virginicus.

Tall shrubs that would look good would be red twig dogwoods. Like the name implies they have red twigs that are fully exposed in the winter time providing winter interest.

I like weeping mulberry https://www.gardeningknowhow.c...
but it might be banned in your area due to pollen issues. If you can and want to get one, a female one bears quite pleasant fruit that attracts songbirds.

Crabapples are also very attractive, especially in early spring, and fairly compact. https://www.gardendesign.com/t...

You could go for something really showy, like a magnolia https://www.arborday.org/trees...
or settle for a plain old juniper https://landscapeplants.oregon... https://landscapeplants.oregon...
It all depends on your requirements: how big you want to let grow and how fast; what would best set off your colour scheme; whether you want it to be interesting, showy, seasonal or a mere backdrop.... all kinds of variables.
Think about how you use the space and what you hope for it in years to come.

Thank you both!

I don't know if you're in Zone 6 or 7. It helps if you'll go into your profile page, click 'Change my profile' and add your Zone info so it will appear in the right-hand corner of all your posts. Helps us to answer your questions.

Although Crape Myrtles are thought of as a southern tree, and a very beautiful one at that, here are some particular Crape Myrtle varieties that will grow farther north. https://hicksnurseries.com/tre.... I have one, a very young 2.5' tall baby purple 'Catawba' planted last November, that survived our horrible Texas 100-year February single-digit temps we saw for a solid week. It leafed out just fine in Spring and bloomed this summer! Crapes are actually quite hardy in cold weather; and they are real troopers in heat and drought as well. TX Highway dept. plants them in our Interstate medians, so you KNOW they have to be tough trees to take our summer conditions and the occasional hard freeze. Can't beat a Crape for bloom power and residential landscape impact for abouta 2 months. If branches are snipped or blooms snipped off when most die off, the tree will often have a second bloom flush when most Crapes are stopping their bloom phase.

Missouri is zone 6. Crapes are hardy here but only as shrubs. They will die back to the ground after a hard freeze.

@Rng1974 are you in the bootheel or further west a bit?

I thought of Calycanthus 'Aphrodite'. Red fragrant magnolia-like flowers through the summer... sounds neat and uncommon to me.

pepper23 said:Missouri is zone 6. Crapes are hardy here but only as shrubs. They will die back to the ground after a hard freeze.

@Rng1974 are you in the bootheel or further west a bit?

I am slightly North in the Cape Girardeau area

Impossible to list all the varieties, but the following genera have some small growing species: Malus, Crataegus, Amelanchier, Fothergilla, Hamamelis, Cercis, Acer, Magnolia, Corylopsis.

You'll need to do the detailed research yourself though. Many tree nurseries have search engines to select for specific traits. I do recommend consulting different sources on the same variety/species though because the literature on eventual height/width can differ significantly between them (trust me, I've been there and at it for years now...)

Seven Sons Tree, Jane Magnolia, dogwood, red bud, crab apple, you may consider a shrub such as rose of sharon-some get taller than wide, and you can prune them into a tree-ish form.