A tree that I think would suit your needs and climate is Weeping Bottlebrush, Callistemon viminalis. You can leave the two 'Little Gem's penned in the corners and plant 2 Bottlebrush each side.

UFEI - SelecTree: A Tree Selection Guide (calpoly.edu)

Thank you. That tree definitely thrives here. We have multiple planted by the HOA across the street

Have you looked at Cercidium x 'Desert Museum'? Should do well in your climate. Extremely floriferous, winter interest with green stems and nice, open, airy habit. Also check out some Acacia, such as A. stenophylla.

Sara, I had not looked at those before. Thank you for the recommendations!

• Do you guys know anything about a fruitless bronze loquat? Eriobotrya deflexa. It is so pretty and good for my sunset and hardiness zone according to UFEI
• eriobotrya deflexa - Bronze Loquat

Notice the broad and squat habit shown at the page you linked to. Otherwise haven't heard of a fruitless selection. And fruit won't be the extent of the litter, there will also be spent flowers and those big leaves falling even if somebody has put a fruitless clone on the market.

@Embothrium thank you. I'm definitely not expecting zero litter from any tree. The bronze coloring resembling a photinia is what really caught my eye. I just found out my neighbors has one. Their tree is fruitless but they don't like the leaf mess. I'm replacing a huge Pomegranate Tree so almost anything will be less messy in my eyes lol. But, it will be close to a paver patio so mess needs to be taken into consideration for sure

i dont do z9 CA ... so i cant help you with specific plants ...

but im impressed that you started with the castle for the princesses .. most likely just to keep them out of the way while you worked on the rest ... lol

you are a good queen ...

anyway ... in your miniscule space ... no matter what you pick .... you are going to have to be proactive in pruning .. and i just want to tell you up front.. its not that big a deal ..

and since you found us.. we can help you with that when the time comes ...

understand the trees dont stop growing at some magical height .. one way to look at future potential is to do this.. using the plant in your link: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Eriobotrya+deflexa&iax=images&ia=images

scroll down those pix.. and look at the various sizes and shapes.. and ages.. and try to understand that the difference between them all.. is how they were pruned to achieve such ...

and BTW ... most tree roots are within the first few feet of the surface.. you arent going to find plants based on the need for roots to go down not out ... its how they grow ... and they go anywhere they darn well please ...

and.. you don t have to turn the plants.. they will react and grow to the light.. away from the wall .. but if you just stuck them in.. no harm re-orienting them ....

finally.. shrubs pruned into tree form.. are often of lesser future potential... and easier to care for.. as compared to trees ... so dont rule that out ...

long live the queen ...

ken

With broadleaf evergreens such as this you are likely to have spent leaves being dropped for months at a time - even the pomegranate, being deciduous would presumably have been dropping all of its leaves during a much shorter interval in autumn. This peculiarity (individual leaves dropping here and there over a long period) can be a significant addition to the shed bark fragments, spent flowers and fruits that may be generated by any type of tree.

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 you made me laugh a few times reading ... thanks for that.

That "castle" (lol) was put there when we had huge over grown honeysuckles and a pomegranate tree (they were about 15-20' high). So, we plan to straighten it out and get some screening via plants, trees or metal decorative screens to help block it from the neighbor's view (but they have said they do not mind the castle).

I'm happy to hear the pruning is not a big deal. I've read so many who get upset and say I should only have specific trees because pruning to anything but their natural huge-ness is horrific. I never want huge trees but it seems here (zone 9, sunset 18) non-native trees just don't grow as big as they do where it's humid.

My landscaper was planing to put some kind of barrier around the planter to ensure the roots go down a couple feet before branching out. We are on a clay/granite material so I guess our trees need some extra help. I've heard a few people say they do this in my area.

Good to know we don't need to turn the little gems. We did plant them only about 1.5' from the fence line which isn't ideal I guess. We planted them about 6 years ago but the honeysuckles did not allow them much sun at all and we never gave them fertilizer. They already show new growth after removing the sun-sucking honeysuckles a month ago. They are still small enough to move from the fence slightly...I think.

What do you mean "lesser future potential" for shrubs pruned into trees? Meaning they don't live as long? I was looking at Fraser Photinias and Majestic Beauty Hawthornes (Raphiolepis Montic)

@Embothrium if I'm understanding correctly, most of the evergreens are going to come with their own version of mess? I was thinking the broad leaf varieties may be easier to clean up after than things like Podocarpus. We have a large African Sumac planted about 6 feet beyond our back fence. That tree is quite messy with all the leaves dropping and those little seed things. The smaller leaves seem harder to clean up.

The Pom definitely didn't drop it's leaves very much all year so I understand what you're saying in regards to that. I would have kept the tree but we are putting in a new patio and the poms stained the old one so much. I wish that tree was further form the house than it was.

"lesser future potential" only means that a shrub - almost by definition - will never grow into the size of a tree, even when trained as a standard or tree form.

btw, tree roots rarely penetrate down into the soil profile very deeply. The vast majority are located just below the soil surface as that is where they can access the maximum amounts of nutrients, oxygen and soil moisture. Encouraging them grow deeply when not so inclined is counterproductive to healthy growth. I'd skip the root barriers.

My landscaper was planing to put some kind of barrier around the planter to ensure the roots go down a couple feet before branching out

Don't put any money into this operation, the idea that you can force trees to root down into poorly aerated soil 2' below the surface is not valid.

Thank you. Maybe I completely misunderstood him with regards to keeping the roots away from the wall. I will ask for clarification. The Pom was huge and only 3.5 feet from the wall without issue so you're both right....the trees I am looking at should not be an issue and shouldn't need any changes to roots.

The ones I'm currently toying between are Majestic Beauty Hawthorne (Montic), Fraser Photinia and the Bronze Loquat... notice my obvious interest in specific color variation lol. My husband is also partial to some of smaller Crape Myrtle varieties since it would give us shade and colors in the summer but allow the light in during the winter when our yard only gets a couple hours of sun each day.

I still like the Strawberry Tree-Marina which is what I originally wanted to go in front of the play structure but the fruit dropping worries me. Some nursery people say it should not be a problem because birds take most of it and the rest doesn't break open when it falls like the pomegranate does. So it's only is someone actually steps on them. I might still use one on the other side of the yard where it's not next to pavers.

Assuming current situation elsewhere in a large part of moister parts of the country is also in effect in your dry area spoilage by leaf spot likely with the photinia. Otherwise I have seen the 'Montic' (no 'e' when it's a hawthorn tree and not Nathaniel Hawthorne) and the arbutus looking great in coastal southern California. With the latter developing this stunning bark not seen on plantings of it up here - for as long as they last this far north.

But note that it develops some pretty good size in time, with the Marina District tree in San Francisco upon which the cultivar was based being about 50' tall some years ago.

Returning to the subject of broadleaf evergreen litter the poster child for this is Magnolia grandiflora. So you have already committed to this involvement with your plantings of 'Little Gem'. Which by the way I have seen about 42' tall in the Los Angeles basin - the original seedling providing the basis for the cultivar was tall and narrow.

'Marina' gets pretty big, too, just fyi.

That's in my second paragraph in the post immediately preceding yours and also in fact on the page Queen linked to in her post right before my last. A linked to page that I didn't read until after I posted about the Marina district example.

Years ago somebody also posted a picture of another madrona sized 'Marina' elsewhere in California - maybe it was one of your contributions.

Thank you! I am thinking of the sizes of the trees I plant in another 20 years but seems so many others do not. They don’t understand why I “worry” about that because of the tree gets too big I can just remove it. 👎 That is not an option I want. I’d rather tree that either is smaller or one that would be ok to prune to keep manageable for my yard. The nurseries out here say the Marina is a slow grower so I can keep it the side I need.
I also just realized there are strawberry trees across the street that the city landscape company keeps as 5 foot tall hedges. They’ve been there for years and it never occurred to me. I assume it’s a compacta variety.

From the page you linked to:

Growth Rate: 12 to 24 Inches per Year

This is of course slow for a tree when that realm includes things like eucalypts but may still be a lot more than you will be wanting to try and control on a routine basis. With in addition California grown boxed 'Marina' sent up here having long unbranched growths on them creating an impression of significant vigor being present. Growths that may sometimes be longer than 24" - nursery production operations often employ specific methods to get plants to size up as quickly as possible. Because the more crop cycles they can get out of a piece of ground the more income is generated.

What does “un branched growth” mean?

I understand that site says 12-24”. Others say less than 12”. I’m in a desert-type environment so I found some trees don’t grow anywhere near the rates of the estimate in these sites. Others grow even faster 🤷‍♀️