i thought the pun was in the title.. that you might be looking for soft tree....

anyway ...

you need to define your shade. in terms of hours of sunlight... and which hours.... how high the canopy is.. etc ....

otherwise.. we are just guessing ...

i have those fancy glasses that change in sunlight.. and in my hosta touring.. i have been in all day shade gardens.. and my glasses are dark because its so bright ...

and i have been in shade garden that are like a cave.. and you cant see a thing..

so to simply say you have shade.. makes me wonder..

anther indicator is what type of plants are already there ....

nothing really dies in shade.. its more a question of how vigorous they will be....

what you are looking for is UNDERSTORY TREES ...

beyond dogwood.. is redbud if appropriate for your area ... and now i blank on more.. lol..

others will tell you what might work ... but if you give us more info on the light level.. along with perhaps a pic... we can get closer to giving you valuable info

ken

Dogwoods ARE understory trees and should work fine in that type of setting. Also any of the Asian maples (palmatum, japonicum, griseum, etc.), serviceberry (Amelanchier), Sorbus species, katsuras and Parrotia.

You might also want to consider something like a tree-sized shrub.

Thank you gardenal48! I'll check out the seviceberry. These are excellent "bird" trees as well. Wildlife love them.

And they're delicious for you as-well. I grow Amelanchiar x grandiflora 'Autumn Brilliance' here. One that is more upright is Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Princess Diana' if you have less width. They're pretty equal though.

One of my all time favorites is Cornus officinalis! Awesome bark; super bird friendly! Fall color!

Dax