Gardeners Say These 15 Blooming Trees Will TRANSFORM Your Property
House Beautiful June 19, 2025
Lifestyle
House Beautiful June 19, 2025
Lifestyle
A well-planned, beautiful garden includes layers of color and texture, overflowing with annuals and perennials, flowering shrubs, and walkway border plants. To add even more visual interest to your yard, flowering trees provide the showstopping backdrop to the dreamiest landscaping ideas, no matter the season. Here, a list of flowering trees with pictures and descriptions so you can pick the just-right ones for your yard.
One great thing to love about beautiful blooming trees is the welcome shade they offer come summer. In addition, they also provide structure to your garden’s design, serving as focal points in mixed borders and beds. Another key benefit of many types of flowering trees: They burst into bloom in late winter or early spring, precisely when you just can't take another dreary day.
When choosing which small flowering trees or evergreen flowering trees are right for your outdoor spaces, read plant tags and take note of mature height and width. Make sure the flowering tree you choose is suited to survive winters in your USDA hardiness zone (find yours here), and pay attention to sunlight exposure requirements (many trees need full sun, which is six or more hours of direct sun per day, though a few prefer some afternoon shade).
We've rounded up the prettiest and best flowering trees and shrubs to adorn your garden for years to come right here.
No, this isn't a certain kind of hydrangea, although the pom-poms flowers are similar. Also called viburnum, this deciduous ornamental shrub is an impressive garden stunner, whether lining the perimeter of the yard or anchoring a bed as a focal point.
Pretty pink flowers show up and show off come early spring. After blooming, dark glossy leaves take over, until they fall. These stunners are also known as tulip magnolia or tulip tree, as the flowers resemble the shape of tulips. This is one of our favorite pink flowering trees ever!
Although technically thought of as a shrub, hibiscus can grow up to 7 feet tall, landing it squarely in the small tree category. With its large showy blooms, it adds a tropical flair to any garden. Plus, it comes in a rainbow of colors.
Known for their sweet fragrant flowers, tea olives typically bloom in autumn and winter. Some varieties will produce flowers in spring as well. Clusters of tiny flowers are usually white but can also be more golden as well.
Creamy white, saucer-size magnolia blooms are synonymous with the Deep South. The state tree of Mississippi, the Southern magnolia can grow to majestic heights (we're talking up to 80 feet tall and 40 feet wide!). The shiny dark green leaves with a fuzzy, coppery underside are a popular choice for holiday wreaths and garlands.
Many types of flowering dogwood trees bloom in spring, but this type opens up about a month later than others. With creamy white flowers followed by bright red berries (which birds love!), this tree has a beautiful vase shape and attractive bark for winter interest. Give it a prominent spot in your yard.
Crape myrtle trees come in an array of sizes and colors, and they’re a wonderful addition to gardens in temperate regions of the country. They typically bloom in shades of white, pink, purple, or red from early summer to frost and can be shaped as a shrub or into a small tree form. They work well as part of a mixed border or privacy screen.
Even though the name says "red," this native purple flowering tree boasts tiny lavender-pink or fuchsia sweetpea-like flowers clustered on bare branches before heart-shaped leaves appear. Because it’s one of the first trees to bloom in early to mid-spring, pollinators love it. Forest Pansy is a nice variety for most gardens.
Chastetree is another lesser-known ornamental tree, but its clusters of lovely blue-purple flowers, which resemble lilac, bloom in late summer and last into fall. Pollinators love this tree with its long-lasting blooms. Look for a dwarf variety such as Blue Diddley for a smaller garden.
Crab apple trees offer year-round interest. In the spring, their bright pink or white blooms provide an intense splash of color. Berries, which the birds love, persist into the winter months. Prairifire is an especially attractive, disease-resistant variety with hot pink flowers.
With their glossy, deep green leaves, camellias offer a pop of color when you crave it most—in mid- to late winter and early spring. This evergreen flowering tree is suited to more temperate regions of the country. Their blooms almost read as roses from afar.
There’s a reason people travel to Washington, D.C., or Yoshino, Japan, to see the cherry blossoms in spring: They are stunning! Plant flowering cherry trees in your yard to show off profuse blooms for weeks. The variety Kwanzan is a particular favorite for landscapes.
This native shrub has it all—lovely white spring blooms, blue fruit in summer, and stunning autumn color. The fruit can be made into jams and jellies, if you’re feeling ambitious (or if the birds don’t get it all). Autumn Brilliance is an especially attractive variety.
Another less common tree, the Japanese Snowbell is a true showstopper when it blooms in late spring. Fragrant white bell-shaped flowers drape along the branches and attract pollinators, while the foliage offers pretty golden autumn color.
This outstanding little-known tree, also called seven-son flower, boasts year-round interest as a focal point. It begins in spring with the emergence of striking leathery leaves, followed by fragrant white flowers in late summer, which attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Red bracts, which look like a second bloom, appear next. In winter, its handsome peeling bark is prominent. Look for the variety Temple of Bloom, which keeps a tidy shape.
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