GARDENER'S READING ROOM
The Art of Gardening
Trees & Shrubs

Summer Flowering Trees

Spring is awash with color. Bulbs bursting out everywhere, rhodies and azaleas in every corner…. But what to do in the summer garden? Trees. Sky has a great selection of summer blooming trees which will add structure and form year round, plus summer color and/or fragrance!

Early in summer come the showy blooms (technically, bracts) of Korean Dogwood (Cornus kousa). Many varieties have long-lived blooms that age to pink; 'Radiant Rose' and 'Satomi' are outstanding pink forms. 'Wolf Eyes', on the other hand, is a compact white-flowered one whose narrow green leaves are edged in white. Gardeners with small spaces will enjoy the rare 'Elizabeth Lustgarten', a slender weeping form with gracefully drooping branches. Many of the kousas have outstanding fall color and bright red fruit.

A little later come the camellia-like blooms of the Stewartia family. These trees offer multiseason interest: multicolored, peeling bark in winter, fresh green foliage, then in June long, silky buds opening to single white blooms. The year's show finishes off with orange, red, to almost purple fall color.

About the same time as Stewartia flowers, you'll enjoy the sweetly scented bell-shaped flowers of Styrax, the Japanese Snowbell. Plant this beauty in a raised area (or by a garden seat) where you can look up into its canopy and enjoy the "bells" hanging down.

Evergreen magnolias also offer a long drift of sweet scented white flowers in the summer. Large-flowered grandifloras such as diminutive 'Little Gem' or majestic 'D. D. Blanchard' are well known. Less common is Sweet Bay Magnolia (M. virginiana), a soft green semi-deciduous variety with creamy scented flowers in mid to late summer.

Clerodendron (Peanut Butter Plant), Albizia (Silk Tree), and Koelreuteria (Golden Rain Tree), all very appropriately named, can add a variety of colors and textures to your summer garden. Peanut Butter Plant offers large, heart-shaped leaves (nutty smelling when bruised) paired with sweet white and pink flowers followed by dark, purple-blue fruit. All the Silk Trees offer fine-textured foliage and pink powder-puff flowers; look especially for 'Summer Chocolate', with dark burgundy foliage topped with bright pink flower tufts. Golden Rain Tree pours out a bright yellow splash of wisteria-like flowers in late summer.

As fall approaches, Sourwood and the rare Franklinia send it off in style. Named after Ben himself, Franklinia boasts large white cup-shaped flowers set against handsome foliage. It can flower well into the fall and does well at the edge of a woodland garden. Sourwood (Oxydendron) has long sweeping panicles of white bell-shaped flowers. It starts blooming in late summer and holds the flowers clear through fall, where they are stunning against the scarlet foliage.

As you can see, there are many great choices for summer trees. Come see a Sky expert for advice on choosing one for your summer garden.

By Charlie Shull
Skylights Spring/Summer 2005, Vol 19, No. 2

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