Top 5 Early Spring Flowering Trees

Spring is best time of the year to get out in the yard and start gardening. If you're looking to add color and life to your yard before summer rolls in, these five spring blooming trees are the ones we reach for first.

1. Japanese Magnolias

The Japanese magnolias are among the first bloomers of spring. If you want a tree that stops people in their tracks before the grass even greens up, this is it.

Saucer Magnolia (Magnolia x soulangiana)

The saucer magnolias are the most widely cultivated of the Japanese magnolias. Perfect Plants offers the 'Alexandrina' magnolia (Magnolia x soulangiana 'Alexandrina'), a saucer cultivar noted for its robust vigor in the landscape. This very early blooming tree has rose-pink flowers with dark purple streaks up to four inches across and gets up to 20 feet tall.

Lily Magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora)

Perfect Plants offers the 'Jane' magnolia, which is a cross between the lily magnolia, M. liliiflora 'Nigra', and one of the star magnolias, M. stellata 'Rosea'. 'Jane' flowers a couple of weeks later than the star and saucer types, which reduces the chance of damage from a late frost.

The lily magnolias and their hybrids have been cultivated in the United States longer than the others, and can sometimes be found persisting on old, abandoned home sites. Their goblet-shaped pink flowers open in early to mid spring and are often the first sign that winter is almost over.

'Jane' is smaller than some of the others, getting just 10 to 15 feet tall. She has large purplish flowers with white interiors, up to 8 inches across. Hardy in zones 4 to 8, this spring flowering tree starts its bloom time right before the last frost and can even be planted in part shade.

2. Redbud Trees

Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) is a small, sometimes multi-stemmed spring flowering tree that grows to 20 to 30 feet tall. Native to the eastern United States, redbuds delight with reddish purple flowers in very early spring, before the heart-shaped leaves emerge. In the fall, the leaves often turn yellow before dropping.

Perfect Plants offers the standard wild type redbud as well as the cultivar 'Forest Pansy', noted for its pretty purplish leaves throughout the growing season. This tree prefers well-drained soils.

3. Flowering Dogwoods

The iconic Red Dogwood (Cornus florida) and its similar cultivars are popular trees that make an appealing silhouette when leafless in winter. Depending on the variety, they can grow between 20 to 40 feet tall, making them perfect for most residential yards.

In fall the leaves turn purplish and the bright red fruits make their own statement. Perfect Plants carries the classic White Kousa Dogwood and a beautiful pink flowering dogwood. Both of these early spring blooming trees make outstanding lawn ornaments and four-season landscape trees.

4. Japanese Cherry Blossoms

The beautiful Kwanzan Cherry Tree (Prunus serrulata 'Kwanzan') blooms in very early spring with vivid, double-pink blooms. This is probably the first tree to bloom in most areas of the country. Growing 15 to 25 feet tall and wide, Kwanzan cherry is considered the most beautiful of the many flowering cherries.

5. Rose Trees

A unique option most gardeners do not think of, or simply aren't even aware of, are rose trees! Perfect Plants Nursery caries multiple different varieties of flowering rose trees from popular brands Drift® and Knock Out® which put on impressive blooming displays in early through late spring. Rose trees are a great choice because:

• Natural compact size; perfect for small landscapes or even growing in containers for apartment gardeners!
• Multiple colors; find the perfect color way to compliment your unique landscape and aesthetic appeal
• Disease and pest resistance; this is wonderful for new growers. Not having to worry about common plant diseases makes these easy to grow and care for after planting

More Spring Flowering Trees We Love

Those five are our top picks, but spring is a long season and there's plenty more color to be had. Perfect Plants also offers several other flowering trees to fill out the rest of spring.

Everyone needs a flowering tree in the spring. Be sure to pick your perfect specimen before the season slips away. Browse our full collection of spring blooming trees for sale and find the one that makes your yard unforgettable this year. All of our trees are easy to grow and produce some of the most beautiful springtime flowers you will ever see.