Types of Blossom Trees

Shade Trees

• The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a potentially large shade tree with attractive and distinctive flowers. The blossoms are yellow-green, grow upright on the branches, emerge during June and resemble those of a tulip. The tulip tree grows between 70 and 90 feet in cultivation, even bigger in the wild and makes a fine shade tree for U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness zones 4 through 9. The blossoms normally are in the upper canopy, making them hard to see unless you utilize smaller-sized cultivars such as "Ardis" and "Compactum." The haragiri (Kalopanax septemlobus) is an Asian shade tree with white flower clusters. The blossoms open in July and August on this 40- to 60-foot tree suitable for USDA zones 4 through 7. The younger trees possess sharp spines on the trunk and stems.

Trees for Group Plantings

• Malus "Louisa" is a small flowering crabapple variety that is effective when planted in small groups. Growing to just 15 feet high, Louisa blooms during April, generating many pink flowers. The yellow-red crabapples produced by Louisa remain on the tree in winter, or attract hungry wild birds into view. In USDA zones 5 through 8, consider planting the kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) cultivar called "Weaver's Weeping" in numbers around the patio or your lawn. It is just 10 feet tall and has drooping branches and flowers May through June. Weaver's Weeping's blossoms are yellow-green and insignificant, but the modified leaves that develop about them are white and attractive,

Trees for Hedges and Screens

• Employ the cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) as a screen or hedge. "Golden Glory" is a 15- to 20-foot cultivar for USDA zones 4 through 8 that produces small, yellow, star-shaped, March flowers. "Aurea" features yellow leaves to go with its yellow early spring blossoms. The blossoms of the spindletree (Eonymus bungeanus) are yellow, green and purple. Blooming in May, they are not conspicuous on this small Asian import, but they yield interesting seedpods. They are rounded, pinkish-yellow and contain white seeds with an orange covering. Use the spindletree to create screens and hedges in zones 4 through 8.

Specimen Trees

• Suitable as a specimen plant for your lawn, Magnolia stellata "Royal Star" grows to 20 feet. This form of the star magnolia has flowers that are even larger than the flowers of the parent species; the blossoms are up to 4 inches across, fragrant and white. The leaves emerge after the blossoms do, turning dark green before falling off in autumn. Royal Star is cold hardy to zone 4. The showy pink blossoms of a Sargent cherry (Prunsu sargentii) open in May. The tree, a Japanese species adapted to zones as chilly as zone 5, grows to 40 feet. Sargent cherry generates fruits that birds eat and it has colorful fall foliage as well.