THESE TREES WILL THRIVE AND HELP YOUR MARYLAND, DC, OR NORTHERN VIRGINIA YARD BECOME MORE ALIVE
You can use any of the ornamental trees on this list to spruce up your Maryland home. Dogwoods, crape myrtles, and more beautiful trees await! Once you see them you’re bound to fall in love with one of them.
OUR YARD LOOKS…SHORT?
“You know, it does look kinda short, but why?”
Tammy frowns and looks around their yard as she tries to figure it out. Tim’s comment about their yard looking short won’t get out of her head. Her eyes wander over to their neighbor’s yard and that’s when it hits her…
They don’t have any trees in their yard!
“No wonder our yard seems short Tim, we don’t have any trees. We need to find a list of ornamental trees that can live in Maryland. Then we may need to get a quote for planting them.”
The couple unholsters their phones and search Google for ornamental trees.
Here are the ones they find.
1. CRAPE MYRTLES AS ORNAMENTAL TREES
“These trees have flowers?! We have to get some for our yard!”
The first tree Tammy finds are crape myrtles. There are over 50 varieties to choose from and each one is beautiful. Most species have showy pink flowers with little wrinkly petals (super cute). They love full sun, can grow between 15-25 feet tall, are drought-tolerant, and don’t need much soil to grow.
“They look beautiful and seem easy to care for so I’d like to add crape myrtle to our list of ornamental tree possibilities,” Tammy says excitedly. Tim agrees and shows her the one he found.
2. DOGWOOD TREES
Dogwood trees (specifically the white dogwood) have beautiful white blooms from April to May, reddish-purple leaves in the fall, and bright red berries during winter.
“The berries attract songbirds too,” Tim chirps happily.
This dogwood loves full sun or partial shade, grows around 25 feet high, and can grow in almost any type of soil (though it does prefer moist soil).
“Oooo but look at this next ornamental tree,” Tammy coos.
3. JAPANESE RED MAPLE
“We can bring a little bit of fall to our yard even when it isn’t autumn!”
Japanese red maple trees have glorious reddish-purple leaves in the spring and fall with the summer color often being green. It can best grow to its 15-25 foot height if you plant it in full sun and partial shade.
“Seems like this ornamental tree needs a little more work than the others, but that’s fine with me,” Tim remarks. He’d love to see it at night with lights all through it.
4. WEEPING HIGAN CHERRY TREE
“It has a sort of graceful sadness to it,” Tammy says poetically.
During spring you’ll see 20-30 feet of beautiful light pink and/or white flowers covering the tree like a fresh snowfall. The branches droop as they grow to form a beautiful canopy to sit under.
“That sounds amazing, even with the extra work it takes to maintain this ornamental tree,” Tammy says, imagining what it would be like to sit under one in full bloom.
Tim nods absently as he imagines it too.
5. SAUCER MAGNOLIAS
“These are some of the prettiest flowers I’ve ever seen on a tree.”
The flowers on this ornamental tree are large with pink and white hues. They do come in different colors so you can choose your favorite!
Saucer magnolias can be fragile so they need extra attention to make sure they bloom correctly.
“Well, that’s our list. Now we just have to choose from this list of ornamental trees we put together.”
WHAT TREE(S) WILL THE COUPLE GET?
Tammy smiles happily as she looks out into her backyard. The saucer magnolia blossoms are starting to bloom beautifully. She looks out front to see the weeping cherry tree just begging her to come sit under it with her favorite book.
It’s as she is walking out to sit under it that she notices they don’t really have any plants for curb appeal. Looks like the couple has their next project lined up already.
