Martin Brown wrote in
:

You may be right. My "plan B" rethink would be to use an even smaller
(dwarf) tree, planted even closer to the house. This would provide
the dappled shade I need for anyone sitting out on the East-facing
staging, immediately in front of the east side of the house. In this
case, the tree should reach a maximum height of 10 feet or so, with a
"diameter" (I use the word loosely), of about 5ft. The foliage should
not be too dense, as I only want dappled shade and still be able to
see through it. Evergreen or deciduous would be fine. If it produces
something edible, that's a bonus. Primarily, it needs to look
attractive, and not too common-looking. A twisty trunk as opposed to
a straight one would be good.

How about ginko or mulberry then. They both grow *much* larger
eventually but you could keep them down to size as wanted.

Get a male ginko unless you like the nuts (fruit smell awful).

Thanks for the suggestions. Nice trees, but looking at the photos, they
appear to have too much spread for my new 'plan B' idea. I'd prefer not to
have to impose my desired shape onto a tree that isn't going there
naturally. I guess this limits me to a naturally dwarf tree of some kind.
As I would be planting so close to the house, I don't like the idea of a
massive root system underground, which might be the case with a non-dwarf
tree that's being lopped to size above ground..

Al