Ornamental Trees are Big Impact for a Small Yard

Small Trees Ornament the Garden

The following selections are some of the best small garden trees to give your place an explosion of flower and foliage.  Create interest and year round beauty in so many ways with ornamental trees, even in small spaces.

The Best Ornamental Garden Trees for Your Property

For Flowers and Foliage

Good reasons to give consideration to the choices you make when deciding to make a garden:

• Trees are one of the most important parts, visually, in impact, and space-wise, of a garden plan.
• They are one of the largest investments, in both time and money, and one of the most rewarding, as well.
• This large woody plant will require more time to come into maturity than other plants, and will grow taller.
• It will impact the garden more than anything else you plant.

While the bigger trees, called “shade trees”, are more of everything – shade, time for maturity, cost, the ornamental trees are just as important.

Besides their beauty, smaller sizes might qualify them as the only trees to be planted within a small sized garden.

Usually an ornamental tree is grown for some outstanding aspect: leaf ,bark, color or gracefulness, and quite often their flowers.

We are usually very familiar seeing them in Springtime. The dogwoods and crabapples flowering with a grand spring show catches our attention. This is one big reason to include them in a landscape plan, along with the fact that they can be grown quite close to the house.

There are so many choices, but some of the most popular with a taste of a few you may not have considered are given a short introduction in this post.

You may find that a small ornamental tree or two may be the perfect addition to your landscape.

Small Trees with a Big Showy Burst of Bloom

Ornamental Trees Provide Seasonal Interest

Most of these small trees are chosen for their showy flowers during the spring bloom, but check out whether they have fruits or great autumn color. Many do. This extends the contribution a planting makes to the overall effect, a feature very important in front yard plantings.

These ornamental types of trees are so attractive and useful, that every garden should boast at least one. They can be part of a foundation planting, placed in even postage stamp sized plots, and combined as an understory with larger trees.

Many of them flower, some have beautiful foliage with good autumn color. They can be part of a perennial border, provide groups in suburban landscapes, some are even good for fruit. (Some of England’s most famous gardens use small trees in their borders or trained against house walls).

Describing a Wide Selection of Choices

The well-known Crabapples, Flowering Cherries, and Japanese Maples are included here. Natives such as the Redbud and Cornus Florida are favorites for many home owners. There are less well known choices such as Fringe trees, Silverbells, and Amelanchier, which lend grace and distinction to a garden.

While it isn’t possible for a humble blogpost to list and describe every single possibility of small tree, I hope you find a few to light up your landscape.

Seasonal Features

Crabapple Trees

Beginning with this most useful and hardy group, the Malus spp., brings a range of leaf color, fruit size and hue, and flowers from hot pink (called “red”) to purest white to all sorts of landscape situations. This type of tree deserves it popularity for many reasons.

My ‘Red Jade’ Crab (which I think might have been misnamed at the nursery)

This weeping form is one of my best crabapple choices. It has weathered through the worst of winters, and the wettest of springs. Birds eagerly strip off the tiny “apples” quickly, so it isn’t quite as bright during winter. But I don’t complain!

General Information about Crabapple Trees, Hardy and Colorful

Apple trees, including the crabapples, are trees for full sun. They are very tolerant of most soils, and difficult conditions. If you have clay soil, or even somewhat wet conditions, the crabapple will do well for you. It might prefer a well drained site, and slightly acid soil pH, but it will tolerate soils different from its main preference. As with any tree, it is good to provide drainage and feed the trees for optimum health.

A crabapple does best with some judicious pruning. It helps to open up the tree and give it a better shape.

MORE RECOMMENDED VARIETIES

I have a weeping crabapple variety that has grown well for me. Purchased as “Red Jade”, that name did not match up with the Red Jade example in Dawes Arboretum. Whatever the name, if you find an ornamental tree that has pink flowers, weeping form, and bronzed foliage, buy it and try it.

There are many weeping varieties of crabapples and I love them. They add a grace that the upright types don’t have.

These are useful for both informal and formal plantings, and much hardier than the weeping cherry trees.

3 Best Crabapple Trees to Grow

Crabapples are one of the favorite ornamental trees in most of the USA.

The farther north, the better the performance, since cherries and magnolias sometimes are damaged by cold. The one drawback is “apple scab” a fungal disease which robs the tree of its summer leaves.

Consider these three varieties when choosing to plant a crabapple tree in your garden.

Prairiefire Is One of the Best Crabapple Varieties

“Prairiefire” is my first choice, the one which I have most planted in my own landscape.

In my area of Ohio the crabapple trees get smacked with scab and lose all their leaves, so I researched the variety that would be resistant.

This is the one decided upon, and it has not disappointed. While the word ‘resistant’ does not mean the tree will never succumb to a particularly bad year for fungal infection, it does mean that most years the trees will retain their pretty bronze to purple leaves.

Besides this, every year the tree is just covered with a burst of bright pink bloom that is just beautiful. Late interest is provided by dark red very small fruit, which feed wildlife.

All in all, this is one of the best crabapple trees for most conditions.

Andirondack Ornamental Crabapple Tree

Another scab resistant tree, but with white flowers. This one i shard to source in nurseries, maybe because it is an older variety.

Snowdrift Ornamental Crabapple Tree

The ‘Snowdrift’ crabapple tree is covered in white flowers in spring and does resemble a mound of pure white, but sweetly fragrant snow, which is alive with bees!

A wonderful rounded tree which is spectacular in spring.

It does have a susceptibility to fireblight and scab, so if those diseases are a problem in your area, you may want to consider a different variety.

That said, I like this tree for its free bloom that simply covers the tree and for its even and pleasing shape.

Crabapple Golden Raindrops: Well Established: Container Size: #5

Rare golden colored fruits. When you want something different for your yard, a golden fruited crabapple can stand out in the winter landscape.

Purple Leaf Plum Foliage Brings Contrast

Short lived tree, at its best in spring.

People love the foliage. It is a deep dusky purple, and the tiny pink flowers are more of an afterthought. Nice as a specimen out in the yard, less so as part of a foundation planting.

Description of Prunus cerasifera

Purple foliage and hardy to zone 4. Many love this tree for its dainty pale pink flowers and deep purple foliage.

It is not a long lived tree, but will give many years of enjoyment and is striking in the landscape.

The purple leaf sand cherry is a shrub that was bred from this plant; it is useful if you have less space.

Use in the Landscape

Provide contrast to the green and -to really pop- paired with yellow foliaged plantings.

The flowers are not as showy as some of the other Spring flowering trees, but they make up for it with a beautiful mahogany-colored presence. This large shrub/ small tree makes a nice accent.

Purple Pony Fruitless Flowering Plum Tree, Tree ships about 4 feet tall, 12 inch container

Shipped potted as a potted five gallon tree in its original soil and container. Deep purple foliage and small pale pink flowers cover the tree in spring. Popular ornamental tree for Midwest gardens.

Dogwoods

There are two main types of dogwood trees that are planted for ornamental purposes. One is pictured at the beginning  of this article, the Cornus kousa, or Asian dogwood, and the other is our native tree, Cornus florida.

It is our native tree that is suffering from Dogwood anthracnose.

A Variegated Dogwood

Stellar Pink® Variegated Dogwood (4 feet tall in 3 gallon containers) A fantastic variety of color!

Pink flowers in one of the most beautiful of spring  flowering trees.

Cornus Kousa, Chinese Dogwood

Among the many reasons to plant this tree is its many season interest. Flowers in spring, fruits in summer, leaf color in fall make it worth consideration for your garden. The Chinese dogwood appreciates some protection from wind in a cold climate.

Cornus Kousa ‘Satomi’

Amelanchier or Juneberry

These are trees that have become more and more popular. They have a refined white bloom in spring, berries that birds love, and fine fall foliage.

There are a number of named varieties and they can range from large shrubs to small tree proportions.

They have a slender look to them and are a great choice to plant in a small grouping.

I’ve grown two types, the tree form Amelanchier laevis and the shrubby A. canadensis. I prefer the A. laevis, even though it struggles bordering a farmfield with lots of wind. The shrubby ones stay very short and spread into a large clump, They bloom fine, but yield meager berries, comparatively.

Ornamental Cherry Trees

Cherry Blossoms Have Sweet Fragrance

Jane Tulip Magnolia Tree (2-3 ft tall in full gallon containers) Loads of spring blooms

Lovely, hardy tree has beautiful form, leaves, and flowers.

Vulcan Flowering Magnolia Tree

Heavy textured flowers reach 10 inches across. The petals are a dark, intense rose red inside and out. A tough, low maintenance tree. Hardy to USDA zone 5.

Its hardiness is what attracts me to this cultivar. Most magnolias are sensitive to frosts of the north.

When Do You Plant Trees?

In early to mid spring: magnolias should ONLY be planted in spring (to give their fleshy roots time to settle in).

Many other ornamental trees will be as happy planted in the autumn, as well.

The more dormant ( without leaves and “sleeping”), the better, but anytime the tree is planted be sure to not let it dry out. The new roots need to establish.

Hawthorns

A variety of Hawthorns, Crataegus spp., bring bloom to spring yards, and some of them are tough as nails, withstanding harsh conditions and pollution.

In my city yard I grew a hawthorn of unnamed type. It drew many warblers during their migrations.

Hawthorn trees are sometimes subject to disease, and are in the rose family. The Washington Hawthorn is probably the healthiest, and the one I think I grew. It is native to Ohio.

The English Hawthorns come in different colors and have showy berries.

Cercis Canadensis is a Native

Redbud Tree

Cercis canadensis, Eastern Redbud

This is a native tree which has cerise pink blooms in spring. Seen all through the Allegheny and Smokey mountains, Redbuds are planted in yards throughout many parts of the American landscape.

It is the Oklahoma state tree.

In my state, Ohio, it can die out, the branches dying back, or even a loss of the whole tree, but normally it will thrive. I have several, and one does exceptionally well while the other struggles. An understory tree, it likes protection, but not too much shade.

This photo shows how redbud grows naturally: as an understory tree among the taller shade trees. It seems to do best if it receives plenty of light for at least part of the day, yet has wind protection.

Of my own trees, it was the Redbud that had more shade that seemed to suffer more dieback.

Native Silverbell

Graceful tree, little known, that blooms in spring with white, downward facing flowers. It grows in the Piedmont region of the Carolinas. It loves its mountain climate, and won’t do well where it may suffer hot and dry conditions.

Way Down Yonder in the Paw Paw Patch

ANOTHER NATIVE TREE

Want to grow your own paw-paw patch? I grew up with that old song ” …way down yonder in the paw paw patch”, did you? But paw paw trees in the wild usually have their fruits stripped by wild animals long before we get a chance to taste them. You can grow your own and eat the banana like fruits or leave them to feed wildlife. This is a unique heritage tree.

Paw paw tree, Asimina triloba for banana-like fruits.

Native American

Paw Paw Trees – Banana fruit – Asimina triloba – PawPaw – 2 Plants – 3.25″ Pot

The fruits will feed wildlife and the large leaves give bright autumn color of pure gold. Plant two or more for pollination.

The leaves are quite large and they identify the tree in the understory. When walking in the woods I often see a patch of them, but have never seen the fruits. They are probably snatched up too quickly in the places I venture.

Maples Famous for Fall Color

Small Trees for Foliage and Form

Distinctive ornamental tree choices

There are some very choice ornamental foliage trees, and the nobility among them would be the Japanese maples. They are graceful and create beauty in all seasons, from the budding out of their first leaves, through bright autumn color, to their outlines in winter.

These trees will work well grouped with other plants, trees, or shrubs, or on their own, as specimens.

NAMED JAPANESE MAPLES TO TRY:

• Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Atropurpureum’
• Acer shirasawanum ‘Autumn Moon’
• Acer palmatum ‘Hogyoku’
• Acer shirasawanum ‘Aureum’
• Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’
• Acer palmatum ‘Crimson Queen’

Graceful Japanese Maple

Japanese Red Maple Tree (3-4 feet tall in 3 gallon containers)

Japanese Red Maple Tree in gallon container.

Factsheet on Acer Palmatum

• Gardening | North Carolina Cooperative Extension

Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis 2 – Year Graft

Cutleaf Japanese maples are broadly bush shaped usaully. Their finely cut leaves make an interesting texture.

Tips for Tree Care

Helpful advice for success with new plantings and maintenance.

How to Plant your New Tree

For Best Flowering, Fertilize In Spring

Tree fertilizer spikes

Easy to use spikes, install in the ground and forget them. The feeding at the rootline will help your tree produce a gorgeous crop of flowers.

Tree Success – Get A Good Start:

Some pruning, some feeding products are necessary, but most ornamental trees grow for a lifetime with little additional care.

I find that crabapples need initial care in the selection, with attention paid to a variety that is resistant to common diseases. They also need more pruning than other trees of this stature.

Cherry trees don’t require lots of pruning, but they are not as hardy as the Crabapples.

Dogwood have been some of the most graceful trees in the garden, but they are now experiencing problems with a disease.

These are a few of the problems to be mindful of when planting many of the commonly offered types of ornamental trees. Many, however, do not have any problems to report.

Care And Maintenance Of Ornamental Woody Plants

PLANTING TO FERTILIZING AND BEYOND

• Start out right: dig the hole for your tree to at least 2x the size of the root ball.Use a good quality shovel. I know this one is on my wish list!
• Add a little transplant solution for an initial boost.
• New trees need consistent moisture.
• After the first year, or if you have trees in your garden already, get some fertilizer spikes. They are the easiest way to fertilize shrubs and trees.
• Some trees need more pruning than others. I find dogwoods need no pruning, unless twigs die off, but crabapple trees often can use thinning out and shaping. Quality pruners are a boon, and I use loppers for the bigger branches. The Bypass type is preferred for a clean cut.

How to Prune Your Tree

Shaping Ornamental Trees

Pruning Artistically

Although quite graceful when grown naturally, pruning has long been an art that accentuates the Japanese maple’s beautiful lines. They are favorites for Bonsai work, but even in the garden, some judicial trimming can bring out the interesting branch structure.

These are some of the best of the ornamentals for modern homes, and blend well with many styles of architecture.

TIPS

Trim away crossing or inside growing branches.

Keep strong 45 degree angled branches.

Remove dead and damaged parts.

For flowering trees, prune right after bloom.

Secateurs, The Pruning Tool

Felco F-2 Classic Manual Hand Pruner
Secateurs is the name of this tool in England. We just call them “pruners” here in America, but one thing is sure: the Felco brand is the best. One of the most highly recommended, these classic pruners will handle most of the jobs required to trim up smaller branches.

Ornamental Trees For The South

I garden in a cold climate, however, in the South there are a variety of beautiful trees that thrive in the heat.

Here are a few of the most popular and successful:

• Crape Myrtles are seen everywhere and provide lots of color.
• Chaste trees
• Mimosa with their pom-poms of pink
• Melaleuca

Front Yard Curb Appeal

• Create Curb Appeal
  Use trees to design an appealing front yard, and more garden tips to increase the attractiveness of your property from the curb vantage point.

Dirr’s Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs

This is the tree information resource everyone wants and recommends. “Michael Dirr set the gold standard for horticultural reference.” That pretty much sums up how highly rated this reference book is, and how useful it will be.