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The 25 Top Flowering Trees for a Gorgeous Spring Bloom

Written by Priyanka Paul
Published: March 1, 2024
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Spring brings with it a true sense of appreciation for the passing winter season. Those first pops of color on once-bare branches, almost immediately dispel the long, somber days of the cold season. Whether it’s the delicate apple blossoms gracing Upstate New York or the vibrant Jacaranda blossoms painting Los Angeles, blooming trees everywhere stage a magnificent spectacle to declare the arrival of spring. Here’s a curated list of 25 flowering trees to include in your landscape for breathtaking blooms during the spring season.

The Eastern Redbud

Eastern redbuds are often hailed as the heralds of spring as they grace the season with a dramatic display of rosy pink flowers.

©Marie C Fields/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Cercis canadensis
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-9
  • Flower Color: Rosy pink to light purple
  • MatureHeight: 20-30 feet tall

Flowering Crabapple

Crab apples are small, gorgeous deciduous trees with beautiful blooms in the spring.

©AntiD/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name: Malus spp.
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-7
  • Flower Color: Red, pink, white, or lavender, depending on the specific cultivar.
  • Mature Height: 15-25 feet tall

Japanese Flowering Cherry (Kwanzan Cherry)

At the height of spring, the eye-catching

Kwanzan Cherry

native to China, Japan, and Korea becomes a vision adorned with frosted pink double flowers.

©iStock.com/wataru aoki

  • Scientific Name: Prunus serrulata
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 5B-9A
  • Flower Color: Pink
  • Mature Height: 15-25 feet tall

Weeping Cherry

The

Weeping Cherry

, with its graceful cascading branches, is a breathtaking spectacle in the spring with delicate pink and white flowers.

©y-studio/iStock via Getty Images

  • Scientific Name: Prunus subhirtella (pendula)
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 5-8
  • Flower Color: Pink and white
  • Mature Height: 15-40 feet tall

Japanese Snowbell

Blooming in late spring, the Japanese Snowbell is quite the showstopper with its delicate and fragrant bell-shaped flowers.

©Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons - License

  • Scientific Name: Styrax japonicus
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 6A-8A
  • Flower Color: Gray, white or cream
  • Mature Height: 20-30 feet tall

Yoshino Cherry

The pink and white hues of the Yoshino cherry blossoms dominate the spring landscape of Washington, DC.

Blooming early in the season, this spring flowering tree puts on a breathtaking display of clusters of pale pink and white flowers.

©iStock.com/Chloe Harris

  • Scientific Name: Prunus x yedoensis
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 5B-8A
  • Flower Color: Pink, white, cream, or gray
  • Mature Height: 35-45 feet tall

Star Magnolia

The Star Magnolia announces the arrival of spring with a profusion of fragrant, star-shaped flowers.

©SwedishStockPhotos/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name: Magnolia stellata
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-8
  • Flower Color: White
  • Mature Height: 10-20 feet tall

Saucer Magnolia

Magnolia

The Saucer Magnolia unfurls its grandeur in early spring, showcasing large, showy flowers that resemble colorful saucers.

©Gaid Kornsilapa/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name: Magnolia x soulangiana
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-9
  • Flower Color: Purple/Lavender, pink, and white
  • Mature Height: 15-33 feet tall

Flowering Dogwood

With its four-petaled blossoms in elegant white, pink, and red hues, the Flowering Dogwood is a sight to behold in the spring.

©WendellandCarolyn/iStock via Getty Images

  • Scientific Name: Cornus florida 
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 5-9
  • Flower Color: Greenish yellow to creamy pink or red
  • Mature Height: 35-40 feet tall

Southern Magnolia

Southern magnolia branch with white flower - Latin name - Magnolia grandiflora

With its glossy, evergreen leaves and white, fragrant flowers, this spring flowering tree provides year-round interest.

©Nahhana/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name: Magnolia grandiflora
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 6-10
  • Flower Color: Cream/Tan or White
  • Mature Height: 60-80 feet tall

Tulip Tree

In mid-spring, the Tulip Tree graces the landscape with its showy yellow-orange flowers, filling the air with a delightful, nectar-like fragrance.

©Yanosh Nemesh/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Liriodendron tulipifera
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-9
  • Flower Color: Yellow-orange flowers
  • Mature Height: 70-130 feet tall

Flowering Almond

Flowering almond, Prunus glandulosa, blooms

Adorned with delicate pink or white blossoms, the

Flowering Almond

puts on a dainty display during spring.

©Dalgial, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons - License

  • Scientific Name:Prunus glandulosa
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-8
  • Flower Color: Pink and white
  • Mature Height: 4-5 feet tall

Kousa Dogwood

kousa dogwood fruit against leaves

This small-to-medium-sized tree often referred to as the

Chinese Dogwood

puts on a late-spring display of unique, star-shaped blooms followed by small, round berries that resemble raspberries

©Iryna Imago/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Cornus kousa
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 5A-8B
  • Flower Color: White, cream, and gray
  • Mature Height: 15-20 feet tall

.

Pear Tree

Among the first to display their dazzling white blossoms, flowering

pear trees

are striking beauties, heralding the arrival of spring.

©iStock.com/JillLang

  • Scientific Name: Pyrus communis
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-8
  • Flower Color: White and Gold/Yellow
  • Mature Height: 40-50 feet tall

Japanese Tree Lilac

Beautiful Japanese tree lilacs in bloom over wooden benches at public park in Edina, Minnesota.

Native to northern Japan, the Japanese Tree Lilac showcases an incredible flower display of fragrant and creamy white blooms in the spring.

©Jules Johnson/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name: Syringa reticulata
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 3-7
  • Flower Color: Creamy white flowers
  • Mature Height: 20-30 feet tall

Red Buckeye

Known as the firecracker plant, the Red Buckeye with its carmine red blooms is a spring showstopper and a

hummingbird

favorite.

©EQRoy/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Aesculus pavia
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-8
  • Flower Color: Yellow and red
  • Mature Height: 15-25 feet tall

Juneberry

Juneberry, serviceberry, shadbush or snowy mespilus (amelanchier lamarckii) 'Ballerina' flowering with white, star-shaped flowers in spring

In spring, the multi-stemmed Juneberry also known as Saskatoon Serviceberry and Pidgeon berry comes to life with brilliant white flowers.

©Kristine Rad/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Amelanchier alnifolia
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 4-9
  • Flower Color: White
  • Mature Height: 3-18 feet tall

Chinese Fringetree

Beautiful blooming Chinese Fringe-tree flowers.

The prolifically flowering Chinese fringe tree showcases clusters of fragrant, showy white, and fringe-like blooms in spring.

©Reallyice/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name: Chionanthus retusus
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 5-9
  • Flower Color: White, purple or lavender
  • Mature Height: 10-30 feet tall

Texas Mountain Laurel

The

Texas Mountain Laurel

, a slow-growing native ornamental tree, is celebrated for its intensely fragrant clusters of blooms, emitting a scent reminiscent of Welch’s grapes.

©Harry Thomas Flower/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Sophora secundiflora
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 7B-10A
  • Flower Color: Purple/blue
  • Mature Height: 15-25 feet tall

Mexican Plum Tree

Mexican Plum

The Mexican Plum tree, with its early springtime bloom of fragrant white flowers, transforms into a vision of delicate beauty during the season.

©CinemaPhoto/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Prunus mexicana
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 6B-8
  • Flower Color: White
  • Mature Height: 25-30 feet tall

Roughleaf Dogwood

The Roughleaf Dogwood flourishes in spring with clusters of small, creamy-white flowers.

©Carmen Hauser/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Cornus drummondii 
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 4A-9B
  • Flower Color: White, cream, gray
  • Mature Height: 15-25 feet tall

Mexican Buckeye Tree

Ungnadia speciosa (Mexican buckeye). Mexican-buckeye, an 8-12 ft., deciduous tree, can reach 30 ft. in height. It is often multi-trunk

The multi-trunked Mexican Buckeye tree unveils a striking display of showy pink and/or lavender flowers in the spring.

©Burhan Oral GUDU/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Ungnadia speciosa
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 7-9A
  • Flower Color: Pink
  • Mature Height: 20-30 feet tall

Persian Silk Tree

The Persian Silk tree, also known as Mimosa, showcases stunning spring blooms with its pink and white puffball-like flowers

©nnattalli/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name: Albizia julibrissin
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 6-9
  • Flower Color: White and pink
  • Mature Height: 20-40 feet tall

Golden Trumpet Tree

The Golden Trumpet tree is eye-popping in the spring with brilliant yellow trumpet-shaped flowers.

©Zelent Iuliia/Shutterstock.com

  • Scientific Name:Handroanthus chrysotrichus
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: 10A-11
  • Flower Color: Bright yellow
  • Mature Height: 25-35 feet tall

White Fringetree

With cascading clusters of delicate white, fringe-like blooms, the White Fringetree is one of the most spectacular spring-flowering trees.

©Kristine Radkovska/ via Getty Images

  • Scientific Name:Chionanthus virginicus
  • USDA Hardiness Zones: Zones 3-9
  • Flower Color: White, cream/tan
  • Mature Height: 12-30 feet tall

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Cynthia Kidwell/Shutterstock.com

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About the Author

Priyanka Paul

Priyanka Paul is a writer at A-Z Animals where her primary focus is on plants, geography, and insects. Priyanka has been working as a writer for over 5 years and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. A resident of Buffalo, New York, Priyanka enjoys gardening, hiking, and spending time observing nature’s little creatures.

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