Small Trees With Green Leaves & Pink Flowers

Redbuds

• Pink flowers emerge on an eastern redbud Cercis canadensis before its green leaves do. This tree grows from U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness Zone 4 into warmer zones as far south as the Gulf Coast. Eastern redbud can grow as tall as 30 feet and even wider than high, with widths up to 35 feet. Cultivars such as "Pinkbud," "Wither's Pink Charm" and Rubye Atkinson" have clear pink blossoms, notes the University of Connecticut Plant Database. Pinkish to purple flowers are on the Cercis reniformis "Oklahoma redbud," sometimes for three weeks in March and April. This subspecies of redbud comes in a cultivar called "Oklahoma" that has shiny green foliage, but a more purple-pink flower color.

Dogwoods

• "Fireworks" is an appropriate name for the Cornus kousa "Kousa dogwood" cultivar that has 3- to 5-inch long pink bracts around its flowers. The bracts, modified foliage, serve to make up for the inconspicuous nature of the flowers, attracting insects for pollination. Fireworks is a small tree with oval, pointed, green foliage. Fireworks grows to 20 feet high. Cornus florida f. rubra is a pink-bract form of flowering dogwood, growing between 15 and 30 feet high. The Missouri Botanical Garden notes this is a rare tree in the wild; its fruits are toxic for people, but not for birds. The hybrid form of dogwood "Stellar Pink" survives between Zones 5 and 9, growing to 30 feet. This is a sterile hybrid, so no fruit results from the flowers and their surrounding pink bracts.

Crabapples

• Malus "Robinson" is a flowering crabapple tree with green leaves for USDA Zones 4 through 8, growing to 25 feet and featuring deep pink April blossoms. The fruit, used for jellies, is also edible by birds. Robinson is one of several pink-flowering crabapple varieties used in groups or alone as a specimen plant. "Branza," "Ellen Gerhart," "Katherine," and "Adams" all grow to between 15 to 20 feet and are suitable for Zones 4 through 8. The Japanese crabapple Malus floribunda generates pale pink blossoms, but the flowers change to white before yielding yellow fruit. The dark green leaves have obvious serrations on the borders.

Others

• The saucer magnolia Magnolia x soulangena is a hybrid magnolia to 30 feet, with deciduous green leaves as long as 7 inches. The pink flowers look like cups and the bark on the tree is attractive, having a smooth, grayish appearance. "Alexandrina" is a cultivar for pink flowers. Medlar Mespilus Germanic is a European tree for zones 5 through 8. The pink flowers of June result in an edible fruit, but only pick it after the initial frost, and then store it away in a cool spot until it turns over-ripe and mushy. Nosegay Plumeria rubra and Japanese apricot Prunus mume possess green leaves and pink flowers.