Key Takeaways

• Flowering trees provide ornamental beauty as well as health benefits like air purification and shade.
• Lilacs, magnolias, and hawthorns are stunning and beneficial trees to consider adding to your garden.
• Consider selecting spring blooming trees like magnolia and redbuds that bloom quickly to enjoy their beautiful blossoms sooner.

Trees have the power to uplift any landscape. They add depth, richness, beauty, and the kind of natural structure that inspired great artists all over the world throughout time, including the likes of Emily Carr, Cezanne, and English painter John Constable.

However, flowering trees also provide as much function as they do ornamentation. They absorb carbon dioxide and purify the air, dampen noise, reduce water runoff, and boost overall health. Come summer, they willingly provide shade and comfort to humans and pets alike.

Consider adding beautiful trees that bloom in spring to your garden and enjoy their arboreal splendor for years to come.

1 Lilac Brings Sweet Scents

Add fragrant and beautiful trees to your landscape

If you’ve ever sniffed a lilac (Syringa reticulata), its name alone likely brings its heady fragrance to mind. It’s no surprise lilac flowers have been used in perfumes for centuries.

A member of the Oleaceae, the olive plant family, lilac spring blooming trees flower in early to mid-spring. The purple flowers are iconic, but lilac flowering trees also bloom with cream, pink, red, or white blossoms as well. Adding to its appeal are its smooth, heart-shaped green leaves and its ability to attract bees and hummingbirds.

2 Magnolia Trees Brighten Spring Yards

The sweet-smelling tree that attracts birds

Some magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora) bloom as early as February, while other cultivars wait until summer. Typically, you can enjoy their blooms in early spring. Their creamy-white flowers are filled with nectar and emit a delicate, lemony fragrance that attracts beetles and songbirds. Expect blossoms to last for about a month.

To enjoy magnolia’s luscious blooms sooner rather than later, plant a small tree or seedlings rather than seeds. It can take between three and 10 years for these beautiful trees to bloom.

3 Hawthorn Adds Color in Many Seasons

The hawthorn tree is colorful in spring, summer, and fall

When other spring blooming trees fade to green, hawthorn (Crataegus) keeps flowering well into early June. Its pink, red, or white blossoms burst out in clusters at the tips of its twigs. Hawthorn is a member of the rose plant family.

All parts of this tree are edible and many are used for various purposes. Come autumn, this thorny tree produces a bevy of red fruit, traditionally used for preserves and syrup. Its flowers, berries, and large, oft-serrated leaves are all used for medicinal purposes.

4 Fringetree Brings Birds to the Yard

The unusual flowers and fruits of this tree stand out

Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus) is a member of the olive family and native to the US. It goes by other names, such as American fringe tree, sweetheart tree, or the quirky Grancy greybeard and old man’s beard.

Its common name alludes to the fragrant, fringe-like, white flowers that bloom in late spring. As an extra treat, female fringtrees produce olive-shaped, blue fruits (drupes) in late summer that birds love to feast on.

5 Crabapple Is a Reliable Bloomer

Bring color to every spring with these flowering trees

Flowering crabapple trees (Malus baccata) put on a fantastic floral display throughout spring. Blooming time and duration can vary, but never disappoint! The blossoms of these beautiful trees can be white, red, coral, deep pink, or a combination of these colors.

Flowers on these spring blooming trees also come in different forms, including double rows (with blossoms that have more than 10 petals) and semi-double (blooms with six to 10 petals). However, for the earliest blossoms, single-flowered crabapples (five petal varieties) take the prize.

If you prefer cultivars without messy fruits, choose Marilee® crabapple tree (Malus 'Jarmin'), 'Prairie Rose' (Malus ioensis), or Malus 'Spring Snow.'

6 Redbud Is a Native Grower

Fill the landscape with color

A tree that is so lovely that even George Washington was inspired to write about it in his diary! Redbud tree (Cercis) is native to North America and is also the state tree of Oklahoma. Both varieties, Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) and Western redbud (Cercis occidentalis) are spring blooming trees and will fill your garden with pink, red, or white blossoms in time for spring or as early as February.

7 Grow Red Horsechestnut Flowering Trees

Enjoy dark green leaves and bright flower clusters

Red horsechestnut (Aesculus x carnea) has showy, dark-green leaves that fill the spaces between each cluster of flowers, or panicles. As a result, the tree appears to have been purposefully and carefully decorated with floral ornaments in hues of gold, pink, or reddish burgundy. It’s near-impossible not to linger over its charming beauty. Red horsechestnut typically blooms in May and has a dense, oval shape overall.

8 Forsythia Is a Versatile Addition

Grow this gorgeous plant as a shrub or a tree

Although this non-native hardy perennial is most often grown as a shrub, forsythia can be pruned into beautiful trees as well. It's a great choice because it is low-maintenance and adaptable. The cheerful, golden, bell-shaped blooms emerge in early spring even before its leaves do. Planted anywhere in your landscape, this fast grower instantly attracts attention and declares, “spring is here!”

Flowering Trees to Ring in Spring

Grow any of these spring blooming trees on their own, along fences, or in groupings to create a real "wow" moment in your garden. It’s such a welcome sight in spring to see bright flowers emerging from the buds and the flurry of wildlife they attract.

Best of all, flowering trees last for years and continue to add beauty to landscapes!