Japanese Trees: When selecting flowering trees, don't do so on the basis of flowers alone. Blooms last but a week or two; the tree is there the year round. Consider whether its form and character, when not in bloom, are attractive. Also whether it has other advantages such as attractive fruits (as do crab-apples, dogwoods and some others) or fine fall coloring (dogwoods and sourwood).
Among good flowering trees are crab-apples, japanese trees cherries, flowering dogwood, japanese trees flowering dogwood, laburnum, dove tree, koelreuteria, hawthorn, magnolias, empress tree, mimosa (Albiz-zia), sourwood (Oxydendrum), redbud, styrax, silver bell (Halesia), amelanchier, japanese trees witch hazel and Cornus Mas.
I wish sometimes for the old days. Not that I am awash in nostalgia or truly believe that life was better years ago than now, but I do feel there was more of a sense of continuity: a remembrance of a past and a sensible wish for a future, in addition to a more stable present. And the feeling of loss always comes when I think of trees and the planting of trees. For putting an oak or a sycamore in the ground today takes a lot of fortitude; you've got to believe that you or yours will be there to see that tree in years to come. In a mobile society where people move from place to place with an ease that is astounding, whether following jobs, dreams, or just warm weather, planting formidable trees in the garden seems to be a practice now at a low ebb.
Oh sure, garden centers stock japanese trees maples, a lot of dwarf apples, willows, and such, but the choice does seem to be limited to those trees that offer fairly instant gratification. |