The trees in my neighborhood have started to flower — and I couldn’t be more excited.

It’s a sign that spring is around the corner, and a reminder that garden-sized, ornamental trees can add unexpected beauty to your corner of the world.

What are ornamental trees?

Ornamental trees are small to midsize trees that add visual beauty to the garden.

They usually have some combination of flowers, fruit or colorful leaves.

The trees may offer multi-season interest (blossoms in the spring, berries in the summer, and vibrant foliage in the fall), or one main show each year.

The importance of structure

Like a symphony, a garden needs more than one note to truly sing.

A patch of land filled with plants of the same shape and size will feel flat, no matter how beautiful the blooms may be.

Adding height and structure encourages the eye to wander. Up to the branches of an ornamental tree, down to your blooms, perhaps over and up to a midsize evergreen shrub, and so on.

A tree for every garden

Even the tiniest gardens usually have room for one ornamental tree. It’s a small addition that will make a massive impact.

Every tree brings something different to the table. But they all offer instant structure, interest and beauty.

• Japanese maple: I love Japanese maples because they are so versatile. There are several varieties—ones that grow well in the garden, and options for containers as well! A small ornamental tree with unique, elegant forms and lacey, burgundy leaves, they erupt into fiery hues of scarlet, magenta and blood orange in the fall. For containers or very small spaces, try varieties Crimson Queen or Viridis.

• Flowering cherry tree: Cherry trees offer a gorgeous spring display of ethereal blooms in pink or white. The tree’s form may be upright or weeping, and its flowers may be single or double—pollinators love them. Note that flowering cherry trees do not produce fruit (that’s a different type of cherry tree). Kwanzan is a great variety with pink double-flowers if you have room for a larger tree (up to 25 ft), while Snow Fountains Weeping Cherry Tree is great for a smaller space.

• Redbud: Despite the name, redbud trees produce electric purple-pink flowers each spring. They’re an early bloomer, and pack an extra punch of cheer after a barren winter. Redbuds can grow quite tall, but there are many garden-friendly varieties. I have The Rising Sun Eastern Redbud which follows its fuschia blooms with heart-shaped leaves of vibrant green and gold and coral. A completely different character, the Ruby Falls Redbud has a weeping structure with leaves of deep green to maroon—and can be grown in a container!

• Serviceberry: Serviceberries come in both tree and shrub forms. They start the spring with downy white flowers, followed by multi-colored berries, and concluding with absolutely brilliant fall foliage. The berries are edible, if you can get to them before the birds do! The Spring Flurry or Autumn Brilliance varieties are perfect sizes for the garden.

• Flowering dogwood: Like serviceberries, you can find dogwoods as multi-stemmed shrubs or small trees. Dogwood trees have a beautiful shape, and bloom in pink or white from mid-March to May. In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with any variety. Most nurseries and garden centers will simply sell them as “white flowering dogwood” or “pink flowering dogwood.”

🛍️ Product I’m loving

These grow lights. They’re affordable and can be moved anywhere—so as long as you have some space on a table or countertop, you can start many types of seeds indoors!

👩🏻‍🌾 Seeds I’m sowing

It’s time to sow tomato seeds! I’m trying a few new varieties this year, and once again growing my current favorite, Sungold cherry tomatoes. There’s a phrase I try to remember this time of year, “only seed what you need.” It’s easy to get carried away with seeds, but each tomato seed will grow into a full, vigorous plant. So I’m doing my level best to only plant a very small number of each variety!

🔮 What I’m experimenting with

TikTok and Youtube Shorts. I’ve been rather slow to catch up with the TikTok craze. Do say hello if you’re on either of those platforms. It’s always nice to be surrounded by friends, even digitally!

Do you have any ornamental trees in your garden? I’m ruminating on adding a flowering cherry or a pink flowering dogwood to our back garden—what do you think? 🧐

xx

Courtney