Landscape Trees for Spring
Magnolia Trees
Spring is for flowers. We have the rest of the year to fuss over the foliage of a tree, the novelty of a tree's bark, or the pattern in which its branches grow. But when the snow recedes and life returns, I want color -- and lots of it! Nothing furnishes color quite like flowers, whether on annuals or perennials, on shrubs or on trees. Any well-planned yard will contain at least one flowering landscape tree of exceptional beauty. Magnolia trees are among the showiest flowering landscape trees. While star magnolias bloom earlier, saucer magnolias provide a larger bloom.
Varieties of Apple Trees
You don't have to be a farmer to want to grow apple trees in your yard. It's about more than just the fruit: apple trees are beautiful bloomers in their own right! The fruit is a bonus.
Landscape Trees for Summer
Dogwood Trees
But you'll want more than just flowering landscape trees that provide a floral extravaganza in spring. Fortunately, sometimes you get a "2 for 1" deal (or better) in landscaping. In this case, I mean versatile landscape trees that earn their keep during more than just one of the four seasons. Dogwood trees offer such a deal: blooms for spring, an interesting branching pattern for summer, colorful foliage for fall. As if that weren't enough, these landscape trees attract wild birds, too.
Japanese Maple Trees
Some of the Japanese maples, too, are versatile, but in a different way: they're great "autumn trees" not only in autumn, but also during the summer season. That is, they display the vibrant colors we associate with fall foliage when most other trees still bear green leaves.
Landscape Trees for Autumn
Types of Maple Trees
The Japanese maples may be precocious, but some of the maples native to North America or Europe are equally beautiful as autumn trees -- and they are larger (e.g., sugar maples). Their greater size allows them to fulfill another task of landscape trees: providing shade in summer. The imposing dimensions of these landscape trees also help accentuate their fall color. In this article I look at some types of maples that, even on a cloudy fall day, will light up the yard like giant torches.
Landscape Trees for Winter
Blue Spruce Trees
We've addressed the role of landscape trees in providing visual interest in the yard for spring, summer and fall. But what about winter? When the colorful fall foliage is gone, do your landscape trees have anything left to offer? Yes, they do -- if you've selected your landscape trees wisely. When Old Man Winter darkens your doorstep, it's time for the evergreen landscape trees to shine. For instance, why don't you take your cue from the holiday season and plant those Christmas classics, blue spruce trees?
Dwarf Alberta Spruce Trees
Also popular as evergreen landscape trees is another kind of spruce, the dwarf alberta spruce. You'll often see them used in pairs to flank the entryway to a house for a formal look that strives for balance. Because dwarf Alberta spruce trees will remain relatively small for a number of years, people sometimes treat them (at least initially) as container plants.
Arborvitae Trees
Arborvitae does more than just look pretty year-round. This evergreen landscape tree is widely planted to create "living wall" privacy fences to screen you from the prying eyes of nosey neighbors.
Nellie R. Stevens Holly
Another landscape tree that offers winter interest and is planted to form privacy screens is the 'Nellie R. Stevens' holly. This one's evergreen, too, but with a twist: it's considered a "broadleaf" evergreen.
Birch Trees
But not all landscape trees planted for winter interest bear evergreen foliage. Some just have interesting branching patterns or an unusually pleasing bark. Birches are examples of landscape trees with the latter quality.