Blossom trees and when to see them

I love when March arrived, it always brings the start of the trees that blossom in spring. Along with hopefully better weather, everyone starts to feel lighter and happier. The spring colours always make me smile, and Instagram feeds are full of pretty blossom photos. If you’re thinking about adding flowering trees to your garden, or just want to get out and about to photograph the colourful blooms, then you want this list of the best blossom trees.

When I say the best, we’re talking the variety of colours and blooms. That make everyone smile as you walk or drive past. 

Blossom is part of the rebirth of spring with leaves or fruit replacing the blossom.

If you’re lucky you’ll have them in your own garden or nearby.

We’re very lucky here as we’ve got apple trees (both cooking apple and eating apple), horse chestnut, crabapple, plenty of hawthorn, a snowball tree and more. Every year I discover another bush or tree with blossom appearing (mostly thanks to my in law’s gardening rather than anything I know about!).

Blossom season is huge in some countries. In particular Japan is known for their famous sakura cherry blossom trees that visitors flock to from mid March to mid April. The annual ritual of cherry blossom viewing is known as hanami in Japan. They even have a cherry forecast page each year. 

With the increase of photo sharing over the years, more people around the world want to find flowering trees to take photos of.

Here’s some of the best blossom trees, and when they’re in bloom.

Check out my annual floral calendar for the year

The best blossom trees

1. Cherry trees

Ornamental cherry – these have  pink or white petals which characterise the cherry tree,

Cherry tree varieties include: 

• Cherry ‘Pink Shell’ which has pastel pink flowers, turning to white in April 
• Prunus yedoensis. It has weeping branches and white almond-scented blossom
• Prunus incisa ‘The Bride’ is smothered with single white flowers with a pretty red centre

2. Magnolia

Widely grown ornamental trees which blossom with large goblet or star shaped flowers in spring or early summer. Of the 210-340 magnolia species, some are deciduous species, others can be evergreen which flower later in summer.

3. Lagerstroemia or Crape Myrtle

Crape Myrtle is the longest blooming tree, and known as the ‘100 Days Red’ in China, because it flowers for so long. Clusters of crinkly, paper-like flowers in bright shades of purple, violet and pink appear in summer, lasting between 60-120 days.The crape myrtle is a native plant of Australia and Asia, and prefers well draining soil. 

4. Cornus florida or Dogwood tree

The Dogwood tree has clusters of showy white and pink flowers from mid May until August, producing berries into autumn. 

5. Halesia carolina or Snowdrop tree

Snowdrop trees are covered in bell-shaped white flowers in April and May, before the leaves unfurl.

6. Eucryphia Nymanensis

Also known as the ‘brush bush’. It’s an evergreen, so will provide year-round interest with its foliage. However, the large, scented, cup-shaped flowers in their pretty white hue are the main event, which bloom in late summer to autumn. 

7. Japanese Rose (Kerria Japonica)

Japanese Rose shrubs have bright yellow double flowers bloom from mid spring.

8. Amelanchier

Amelanchier has pretty white star-shaped flowers on soft copper colored foliage in the spring

9. Cercis Chinensis or Eastern Redbud

Easter Redbud has both attractive blooms and leaves. When grown in full sun, the redbud tree’s blossoms begin to form in early March. They start as purple-lavender buds, and stay on the tree through May changing to pink-lavender flowers. 

10. Guelder Rose or Viburnum opulus

The Guelder Rose or ‘snowball’ tree have white spheres of flower blossom in May and can look quite spectacular.

11. Shadblow Serviceberry

This serviceberry is a multi-stemmed small tree or shrub that which produces showy white flowers in spring.

12. Laburnum or ‘Golden Rain’

Nicknamed Golden Rain after its dhanging bunches of yellow blooms. The tree is poisonous, so steer clear of touching any part of it. Flowers in May to June for around 2-3 weeks.

13. Horse chestnut or Aesculus hippocastanum

Horse chestnuts are usually flowering fully by mid-May to early June, They can look spectacular with thousands of flowers in large pyramid shaped bunches of flowers,  often known as ‘candles. These can be white with a yellow inside, which turns to pink once fertilised.

14. Prairifire Flowering Crabapple

These crabapple fflowers are very fragrant, starting with deep pinkish red buds, opening as lots of deeply pink flowers in spring. 

15. Apple

There are more than 7,500 varieties of apple trees are grown worldwide. Most apple blossom petals are are pink when the flower first blooms, and they fade to white as the season progresses.

16. Hawthorn/ Crataegus monogyna

Hawthorn’s also known as May Blossom. Native to the British Isles, Ireland and Northern Europe. Hawthorn flowers in the middle of May. Its folk name of May blossom comes from when the flowering coincided with May day or 1st May.

17. Pear

Pear trees start with oblong, tightly closed green buds and as the weather warms in spring, the buds open into broad flat, white petals

18. Crataegus Paul’s Scarlet or Midland Hawthorn Tree

Small bright pink clusters of double flowers appear in May.

19. Wisteria

A great climbing tree, super pretty hanging purple clusters of flowers. Usually seem in May.

20. Lilac

Lilac trees bloom in late April with flowers lasting in and through summer with a variety of purple, white or pink flowers. The smell is also well recognised.

It’s not just spring where we see flowering trees, and bright colours.

Winter flowering trees

• Arrowwood ‘Dawn’ (Viburnum x bodnantense) – Plant for Winter Berries
• Camellias (Camellia oleifera) – depending on the species, bloom from late autumn  to mid-spring, with flowers coming in different forms from white, pink to deep pink. The tea oil camellia flowers with flat white blooms.
• ‘Oklahoma’ Redbud (Cercis reniformis ‘Oklahoma’) – A Bright Statement
• Paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) – numerous small, lightly fragrant yellow flowers opening from hairy buds in late winter and early spring
• Winter Daphne (Daphne odora) – very fragrant, deep pink and white flowers from late winter to early spring.
• Winter Flowering Cherry (Prunus subhirtella) – small, pink-tinged flowers, coming from dark pink buds, intermittently from November through to March.
• Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) – from November to June you might see yellow blooms.
• Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) – yellow blooms appear on bare branches in January/February.

Are you a blossom lover? What blossom trees do you have in your garden?