On Jun 20, 4:15?pm, Jo Ann wrote:
A garden I drive past regularly has this great looking plant in it. I
can't seem to drive by when there is anyone out in the yard and I'm
too shy to actually knock on their door to ask what it is,

You could have snapped a picture.

It looks like a short -- REALLY short -- maple tree of some kind.
It's about 2-3 feet tall. It has a single trunk (or a very trunk-like
stem) that is a couple inches in diameter and an umbrella-shaped
canopy of dark reddish/burgundy, maple-like leaves (deeply cut and
serrated). They must not think it's going to get very big, as it's an
anchor point in quite a small garden bed. It makes me think of a
Japanese maple, except it's so small and the shape is so tidy (I
realize that could be pruning, of course).

Sound familiar to anyone?

I'll bet it's Japanese red maple... there are many cultivars, some
don't get very large and most don't grow very fast... they are also
rather simple to keep small by pruning/training... Japanee red maple
makes for fine bonsai specimens.