Flowering Trees and Shrubs

Trees with flowers

There is such a great selection of flowering trees and flowering shrubs available that one should never be stuck for landscaping options or for something to buy as a gift for a new home owner. Equally, new flowering trees (when small) can be given as pot plants to friends as Xmas gifts. They can be small plug plants which can be easily planted outdoors in the following spring. You may decide to keep the trees or shrubs in pots which will stunt their growth and keep them at a manageable size for a smaller yard. This is important for apartment dwellers or for homes with smaller yards and courtyards where space is at a premium. Trees and shrubs given as presents just grow and grow over the years and the gifts are always remembered.

Blossoming fruit trees

Fruit trees in full blossom are beautiful to see as are embankments of flowering shrubs sometimes seen at roadway edges. Many flowering shrubs are yellow because this is the most effective color for attracting and luring the bees for pollination purposes but flowering trees are multicolored. Cherry blossom is a lovely flowering tree to see as is the weeping cherry variety with its beautiful whitish pink blossoms which grow in abundance. Plum tree blossom beautifully too and many crab apple trees are visually spectacular even if the fruit is not to everyone’s taste.

Flowering ornamental trees

Many flowering trees are ornamental trees and although they will have plenty of blossoms they will not bear any fruit. They are very attractive and add to the garden décor and when planted in groups allow the grass cutting tasks to be minimized especially if you mulch the areas under each tree. Flowering trees involve an element of garden maintenance but when they are non fruiting, as ornamental trees are, then there is little to do by way of maintenance because you do not need to be concerned about the following year’s fruit nor do you need to make decisions on distribution of the fruit relative to the branch strength.

Flowering shrubs

Rhododendrons are either blue or red and their color depends upon the soil the shrub is planted in (acidic or alkali). They are multi headed and quite a big shrub suitable for covering a corner of your yard. Others worth considering are the fruit bushes such as blueberry bushes which are a regular shrub with oval shaped leaves which are bright and shiny. Blueberry bushes are usually between 3 and 4 feet high at maturity and offer good ground coverage as well as beautiful blue berries.

Raspberry bushes can be used as hedge plants and again you will have the fruit from this very good growing plant. Similar is the blackberry plant but beware of these two because they spread easily by sending out suckers. Because of this the blackberries and raspberries bushes (or canes) will grow all over the place if you are not careful. They both need to be pruned back to keep this in check but if they remain unprunned neither of them will produce a crop of any size. These bushes are prone to diseases so cutting them back quite severely when pruning will do them more good than harm.

Flowering trees to color your view

If possible, get a ‘Pink Flowering’ dogwood tree for your yard as this is the most remarkable flowering tree I have ever seen. It has vibrant pink blooms when it blossoms. In springtime, these are a feint pink color and really pretty as there are so many blossoms. Dogwoods are fast growing trees so you will see big differences year on year as I have noticed the pink hues becoming darker as the tree ages. They generally get to be about 20 feet tall and are stunning to look at because you feel that someone has painted the entire tree pink. Other colors of flowering trees are white or red dogwoods and a lovely golden yellow poplar tree. Smoke trees (and bushes) have a nice purplish color and the myrtle trees are available in many different hues.

Color splash

There are flowering trees (and smaller flowering shrubs) available to suit every garden space or yard size so start planning to add a major splash of color to your environment.