Peak Spring Splendor! - Cherries, Magnolias & Redbud
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
The weather is finally starting to warm up, and some of the best blooms of the year are bursting once again! Spring is a spectacular time to get out into the garden and take in the beauty of the natural world around us, and when it comes to beauty, it doesn’t get much better than flowering trees!
In this post, we’ll be taking a look at three different kinds of trees you can plant NOW for early season splendor: Cherries, Magnolias and Redbud!
Flowering Cherries - Prunus spp.
Ornamental cherries are beautiful specimen plants to have in your landscape in early Spring. They range in size from 15-30 feet tall at maturity, though some can be a bit bigger or smaller. They mostly come in shades of whites and pinks. They prefer full sun, though can handle a little shade, and they do best in average to moist well-draining soil.
Cherries can be used as specimen, or standalone plants, or they can be planted in masses, like along driveways or roadways. In general, cherries bloom from late March through early May. Some of our early blooming varieties are ‘Yoshino’ and ‘Weeping Snow Fountain’. Later bloomers include ‘Kwanzan’ and ‘Flagpole’ cherries.
One of our favorite cherry trees is the ‘Kwanzan,’ which is also known as ‘Kanzan’. These trees were created as a result of selective breeding all the way back in the Ido period in Japan and were given as a gift to the United States in 1912 by the mayor of Tokyo. These are the famous trees that you’ll see all around the basin in Washington DC and all over Central Park. Notably, compared to the Yoshino cherry, which flowers early without any leaves, the Kanzan cherry blooms a bit later, featuring flowers and leaves at the same time.
Petals from flowering cherry trees are edible, and are commonly used to make a tea, traditionally called Sakura tea. The tea has calming, peaceful effects with a soft, delightful flavor. Go out to a cherry tree near you and brew up a cup!
No matter what variety of flowering cherry you choose, you’ll be getting yearly bursts of Spring splendor for years to come.
If you’re looking for cherry trees that actually produce fruit, you’re in luck! Bountiful Gardens has a full selection of fruiting cherry trees, featuring favorites like ‘Bing’ and ‘Montmorency’, as well as an enormous assortment of other fruits, veggies and herbs to fill out your food forest.
Magnolias
Magnolias come in a wide range of colors and sizes, including pinks, purples, whites and even yellows! There are some that are evergreen, like our native Southern Magnolia, and others that are deciduous and give you a big pop of color in the Fall, including Star and Saucer Magnolia.
Similar to cherry trees, Magnolias prefer moist to average well-draining soil and get about 15-30 feet tall depending on the variety. They do best in full sunlight, but can still thrive in a little bit of shade. Magnolias make a great feature plant, working as an anchor in the landscape.
Some Magnolias, like Sweetbay and Southern are known for their beautiful lemony-vanilla fragrance, while others like Star and Saucer carry less fragrance but offer just as much “wow”!
Not only are Magnolias a great food source for pollinating beetles, the petals are actually edible to us as well! They have a flavor that’s comparable to ginger crossed with cardamom. They usually work best when sliced thinly and added to a chopped salad with carrots and cucumber with a dash of ginger and soy sauce—delicious and refreshing!
Magnolias evolved on earth approximately 90 million years ago, predating the existence of bees, so these prehistoric beauties were originally pollinated exclusively by beetles.
Eastern Redbud - Cercis canadensis
Up next is a native beauty—Eastern Redbud! Redbuds come in a wide variety of shapes and foliage colors, ranging from yellow to red, purple, green, orange and white leaves. They typically flower in mid-April, blooming for about a month, featuring uniquely beautiful purple-pink flowers that can emerge straight from the bark!
The tree ranges in size from 8-20 feet tall and wide depending on the variety you choose, and they do best in full sun, but can handle partial sun or dappled shade. After planting your Redbud, you’ll need to make sure to water them frequently to help them establish, but after that, they’re highly drought tolerant.
Here’s a Redbud fun fact: Redbuds are a member of the Pea family, meaning they take nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil, improving the fertility of the ground around the tree and greening up grass. Their membership in the Pea family also means Redbud flowers are fully edible. You can pop them onto a salad for a rush of fresh flavor, or you can even pickle them and use them as a substitute for capers thanks to their similar texture.
Redbuds typically like to stretch out wide to form their big beautiful canopy, so they do best when planted a little bit away from the house where they can reach their ideal form without barriers. Another fun fact about Redbuds is that they’re relied upon heavily by early-flying bees, as they’re one of the first pollen sources they can feed on when they emerge from their Winter slumber.
When the Redbud blooms in Spring, their edible blossoms are a great snack for humans, and in Fall, their seed pods are a crucial snack for birds. Another thing that makes Redbuds a great fit for New Jersey is that they tolerate our heavy clay soil exceedingly well.
So what are you waiting for?? Get out and enjoy the Spring flower show, find your favorite trees, then come out to Bountiful Gardens to choose and plant your own!
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