7 Best Flowering Trees To Grow In North & South Carolina
If you live in Carolina, are you looking for some truly breathtaking flowering trees and shrubs to plant in your garden? Well, you’d be pleased to know that the Tar Heel State has no shortage of tall and short trees with exquisite blooms. Read on to discover the best flowering trees in North Carolina with Purple and pink flowers!
Carolina’s distinctive landscape encompasses three distinct regions: the Piedmont, the Coastal Plain, and the Appalachian Mountains.
Each of these regions boasts spectacular scenery and has its own climate, flora, and soil type. Carolina has a humid, subtropical climate with sultry summers and mild winters, making it the perfect place for flowering trees.
Sweet Bay Magnolia Tree
If you are looking for an elegant tree with a beautiful, airy appearance for your landscape, do you know of any? Charming native Sweet Bay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) has an easy-care nature. This beautiful tree is a wonderful choice for many modern landscape applications.
Several nicknames are attached to this tree, as many native trees do. Sweetbay Magnolia and Swamp Magnolia are both popular terms in the South. The leaves of Sweet Bay trees are likely to remain on the tree for the entire year if you have mild winters. In colder climates, the leaves are deciduous and fall off for winter. Our horticulture team calls it a semi-evergreen.
Anyway you spell it or see it – you’ll definitely smell it! All parts of the Sweet Bay Magnolia are fragrant. The roots, branches and leaves smell sweet and spicy, a bit like vanilla. There is a touch of lemon scent in these lovely, creamy flowers. Sweet Bay Magnolia flowers perfume your entire yard for many weeks in spring and summer.
Compact, fast-growing Sweet Bay Magnolias are exceptionally attractive. During its blooming period, the plant features a long period of blooming. In May, after all chances of frost have passed, you’ll find three-inch, pure-white flowers, as well as sporadically throughout early summer. Each product is infused with a fresh, citrus scent that never becomes cloying or heavy.
Sioux Crape Myrtle Tree
The amazing Sioux Crape Myrtle tree (Lagerstroemia indica x faueri ‘Sioux’) is full of color – from its dark green leaves to its clear pink flowers to its bark. This beautiful small tree will be a beacon in your landscape for you every day of the year.
With a flush of green leaves in the spring, the show begins. A gorgeous pink flower shows up soon after, blooming continuously during the hottest part of summer without missing a beat. In the fall, the ruffled blooms continue.
The flowers look like crepe paper, so many gardeners refer to these trees as “Crepe Myrtles.” Either way, the pink blooms are absolutely knockout gorgeous!
The leaves turn brilliant colors as the flowers fade. The winter months will remain visually interesting even after the leaves fall. It has a dark brown trunk that often looks marooned with beige bark as it sloughs.
You’ll love the look of this variety all year long. Thrifty gardeners in hardiness Zones 6-9 will appreciate this long-lasting display.
American Linden
It is our pleasure to offer America’s rare American Linden tree (Tilia americana). This tree is a national treasure with a lush foliage, strong wood, and amazing flowers. As it grows, Linden becomes a valuable asset in your yard.
Dappled shade is cast by the large, heart-shaped leaves during the hot summer months. Despite its dark green foliage and strong, evenly spaced branches, this is an excellent choice for a shade tree.
Linden is well-known for its regal presence in the landscape. This stately tree makes a substantial impact in a large landscape.
Also known as the Basswood tree, the American Linden features fragrant clusters of pale yellow flowers that dangle from textured branches. They’ll draw pollinators in to come feast on the nectar and carry laden pollen sacs back to the hive. Basswood honey simply can’t be beat!
Dark and rich, this gourmet honey is delicious. Homesteaders and entrepreneurs should consider setting up a profitable bee-keeping business with a stand of American Linden set in a pasture or back lot.
Summer brings nutlets with 3-4″ wings attached. The pale green wings provide wonderful visual interest throughout your tree in the late summer, especially when contrasted with the dark leaves. Autumn brings mellow yellow foliage.
Royal Star Magnolia Shrub
If you’re looking for a tree that offers a unique charm, the Royal Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata ‘Royal Star’) is the one to choose. The unique flowers draw the eye of everyone who sees them.
We apologize in advance for waxing poetic, but these blooms seem to show a twinkling sun surrounded by white ribbons. Approximately 25 – 30 long, strappy petals surround a pale yellow center within each 4-inch bloom. They’ll liberally cover the tree on branches bare of leaves – a display that is sure to be the envy of your neighborhood!
Its prize-winning flowers have a star-shaped shape, making it exceptionally popular. They also bloom a bit later than others, which helps it resist frost damage in cold winter Zones 4 – 6.
The leaf shape and size of the Royal Star Magnolia are known for their attractiveness. Deciduous trees like this one make a stunning addition to any yard.
You can either plant a small tree or a large shrub with Royal Star Magnolia. Your Spring Garden gains a wonderful focal point from this piece.
It is clear to see why the Royal Star Magnolia is such a popular Magnolia cultivar. Larger and later blooms, in addition to all the other stellar qualities of a Magnolia, make this a must-have for any landscape. Order today!
Shade master Honey locust
It is almost impossible to find a better lawn tree than the Shade master Honey locust. That’s a big statement, but this is a great tree! The Shade master grows into the beautiful rounded shape that you expect in a nice lawn tree. The leaves are nicely green through the summer, and turn a lovely golden-yellow in the fall.
As you might suspect, “What a tree often does” is pretty normal. Although other trees don’t succeed in shading areas where the Shade master Honey locust does. Small leaves and widely spaced branches characterize this plant. What are the benefits of this? The reasons are several.
First, the tree casts a nice shade for you, but not such a deep shade that the grass or other plantings beneath it can’t grow well. That’s a plus for your lawn.
Second, when autumn hits and the leaves fall, you’ll see that they are so small they don’t need to be raked! They aren’t big enough to hurt the grass below them.
Last but not least, Honey locust is exceptionally hardy and holds up extremely well to wind damage and ice storms. You won’t have to worry about this amazing tree falling and wrecking your house or yard!
The honey locust tree is native to America, so it usually endures a lot of harsh weather. Shade masters, however, are hardy and bred to be so. Pollution, heat, salt, and smog don’t affect it. This tree thrives best when exposed to plenty of sunlight.
Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry
Plants that produce edible crops and successfully support local wildlife are a popular choice among Americans. Design-savvy, they also expect a gorgeous presentation in all seasons.
Known as Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry (Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’), this shrubby tree is ideal for gardens around the nation. This enchanting species was planted by George Washington at his Mount Vernon estate.
A natural hybrid of several Serviceberry varieties, Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry offers a lovely landscape display all year-long. Nicknames include Shadbush and Juneberry, named for the annual summer time frame of the ripe berries.
Its delicate, finely textured clusters of white flowers are simply stunning in spring. This outstanding flower display is a wonderful harbinger of the growing season and supports the early nectar needs of beneficial pollinators.
As the flowers begin to bloom, small green berries will appear that gradually deepen into red. By early summer, they will have matured to a rich, deep purple.
Unlike blueberries, serviceberries are large and dark. It will give you an idea of how the tasty, edible berries with the nicknames Sugarplum and Wild-Plum taste.
