Keith, if what you really want is something that looks like a tiny miniature tree, read up a little bit on bonsai pruning techniques.
A lot of small shrub-like evergreens will make pretty little mini trees with the right pruning. No need to grow something that probably isn't well suited to your climate to do this.
We even have a fellow on the Florida Gardening forum that makes little bonsai trees out of Coleus plants.
