Tall trees give a place character, shade, majesty, and comfort, but what about small trees? They impress us with flowers, fruit, and colorful leaves, all at a manageable size, perfect for small yards and limited spaces. Here are seven trees that bring lots of beauty to small spaces!
This iconic springtime tree reveals angelic white flowers while other trees are still brown and leafless. These flowers give way to a rich canopy of green that turns maroon in the fall with accents of red berries. Grown in the sun, they’ll reach an intimate height of 15-20 feet at maturity. Grown in the shade of a taller tree, as they do in the forests of Virginia, they reach mature sizes of 30-40 feet.
Before the leaves have opened, the Eastern Redbud unfurls a canopy of fuschia flowers, which are just as impressive as the dogwood. These flowers mature into seed pods in the summer until autumn brings a final display of glowing yellow leaves. At a mature size, the native Eastern Redbud reaches a modest height of 20-30 feet, but you can find smaller cultivars for more intimate yards.
The sweet fragrance and light pink petals of cherry trees are emblems of spring that you can enjoy in a small backyard. Many varieties grow to 20-35 feet at maturity, in weeping or upright form. After the festival of flowers is over, they’ll reward you with a green canopy all summer and beautiful curving branches to admire during the winter months.
Crepe Myrtles open an abundance of pink, red, purple, or white flowers later in the season after the leaves are out. Some varieties bloom in May, June, July, or even the whole growing season. You can grow them as shrubs or as small trees. They’ll wake up any limited space with wonderful color, whether along a road, hanging over a fence, or in the center of a small yard.
Sometimes the width of a space is limited, but not the height. In that case, you may reach for a columnar tree, like the Eastern Redcedar. You can train this native evergreen to grow upright in a slender column without much horizontal growth. When planted in a row, they make ideal privacy borders and stately trees around your front steps to welcome guests into your home.
These elegant maples are known for their leaves that turn vibrant crimson in the autumn. During the rest of the year, the narrow maple leaves bring a delicate texture to your landscape. Some varieties reach no more than 5 feet high, making them a beautiful part of the shrub layer of your garden. Others grow upwards of 25 feet, making them an ideal tree for small yards.
These flowering trees unfurl cup-shaped blossoms in late spring or early summer. The white flowers are well-known for their sweet, lemony fragrance and how they open in the morning and close at night. Depending on the variety, they may reach modest heights of 10 feet or a mid-sized height of 35 feet. Sweet Bay Magnolias are evergreens in more southern climates, but in Virginia and Maryland, they’ll lose their leaves for a short amount of time each winter.
Even if you have a small space, you can still enjoy trees in your landscape. If space is not an issue, small trees still offer gifts that giant trees often don’t provide, and they’re beautiful in their own right. Spring flowers, summer flowers, berries, elegance, and intimate canopies are just a few of the many rewards of growing these modest trees! Visit Greenstreet Gardens today.
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