Trees not only create a lasting legacy––they also add appeal to your landscape, improve your home’s value, and can lower utility bills. Planting trees offers the opportunity to design a private oasis in your very own yard! Come home at the end of the day to escape into a landscape you are proud of, filled with flourishing trees you planted. We’ve compiled a list of 8 of our favorite trees to add to your Quad Cities yard. Check out these beautiful specimens:
Azaleas, while not a tree but in fact a shrub, are a popular front yard feature due to their bold flowers and glossy green leaves.
Japanese Maples are simply stunning, and there are plenty of unique varieties available. Their offerings of numerous dwarf varieties are well-suited to urban yards, and they grow well in the Quad Cities metro area. Here are a few of our favorite cultivars:
- Crimson Queen: Like royalty, this dwarf tree has a crown of bright red leaves. Tiny in stature; they usually max out at about 10 feet tall and 10-12 feet wide. Perfect for small front yards.
- Tamukeyama: Even smaller with gorgeous purple-red leaves that turn bright red in fall, maturing at only 6-8 feet tall, and up to 12 feet wide with lovely cascading branches.
- Viridis: Another dwarf variety with an attractive multi-stem growing habit. It grows low and wide, and has feathery green leaves that wave hello; they turn golden yellow in fall. It matures 6-10 feet tall and wide. Perfect for patios!
- Bloodgood: Aptly-named for its bright red leaves that turn burgundy and dark purple in the fall. It has an architectural style that appeals to modern landscape designers and matures 15-20 feet tall and wide.
- Shirazz: Like a fine wine, this maple gets better throughout the season. Colorful leaves that start pink, then turn green with pink/red edges, and finally going all variegated pink to orange in the fall. Matures 15 feet tall and wide.
Fat Albert Blue Spruce is one of the best evergreens for the front yard. An adorable classic with a pyramidal shape and dense blue foliage––this cutie-pie is a keeper! The thick cover of blue spruce also offers an ideal refuge for birds and other small creatures. Ideal for the evergreen-lover whose yard doesn’t allow for a large tree; this smaller spruce matures at 15 feet tall 10 feet wide.
Pink Showers Weeping Cherry might be the most beautiful of all dwarf cherries. Its beautiful weeping branches are covered with scented pink flowers in spring. The leaves start bronze then turn glossy green and back to bronze in the fall. Maturing at 25 feet tall and 15 feet wide, it’s on the larger side for an ornamental but worth it if you have the space!
Azaleas, while not a tree but in fact a shrub, are a popular front yard feature due to their bold flowers and glossy green leaves. Here are a few favorite cultivars:
- Gibraltar: As solid as a rock with its deep crimson buds, yet delicate like a lady with its lightly fragrant, dark orange-gold flowers. Matures 4-5 feet tall and wide.
- Mandarin Lights: Clusters of vibrant tomato-orange trumpet flowers bloom in mid-spring, turning rich purple in fall. Matures 7 feet tall and wide.
- Northern Hi-lights: Will be the highlight of your landscape with its profuse clusters of large creamy white flowers and fall offerings of purple leaves. Matures 4 feet tall, 5 feet wide.
- Girard’s Hot Shot: A true virtuoso with brag-worthy reddish-orange flowers in spring. Matures 2-4 feet tall, 3-4 feet wide.
- Girard’s Pleasant White: Pleasantly perfect! A tree that features bright white flowers and lightly colored leaves. Perfect for nights in the backyard as the white flowers seem to have a moonlit glow. Matures 2 feet high and wide.
- Karen: Ever the elegant lady, Karen features graceful lavender-purple flowers and brilliant burgundy leaves in fall. Matures 2-4 feet tall, 3-5 feet wide.
Eastern Redbud is a spring stunner! Smothered with magenta buds that open to showy bright pink flowers in spring with medium green leaves. This beauty is ideal for larger landscapes as it matures 20-30 feet tall, and 25-35 feet wide.
Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry lives up to its name but looks good the rest of the year, too. It has striking white flowers in spring, then offers an amazing fall show when its dark green leaves turn vibrant brick red. Matures 25 feet tall, 20 feet wide.
Crabapples are beautiful and reliable. They have pretty spring flowers that are popular with pollinators, and their symmetrically-balanced shapes and growing habits are appealing to many. Here are a few favorite cultivars:
- Prairiefire: You may find yourself burning with desire to add this purple-tinged beauty to your yard. Bright pink blooms appear in spring for the pollinators, turning into red fruit that lasts through the winter for bright color and to feed the birds. Matures 15-25 feet tall, 10-20 feet wide.
- Royal Raindrops: Another member of the royal family, this princess has a crown of dark pink blooms with slight variegation on the petals, glossy deep purple leaves, and red fruits that persist through winter. Matures 20 feet tall, 15 feet wide.
- Spring Snow: Unique as it produces no fruit, but offers loads of showy, fragrant white blossoms in spring. Its bright green leaves turn golden yellow in fall. Matures 20-25 feet tall, 15-20 feet wide.
- Starlite: Features dark green glossy leaves and stunning white flowers in spring, candy-red fruit persists through winter for birds. Matures 25 feet tall, 15 feet wide
- Coralburst: Bursting with vibrant dark pink buds that open to light pink semi-double flowers in spring, bronze fruits persist through late fall to feed the birds. Matures 8-10 feet tall, 12-15 feet wide.
Ivory Silk Japanese Tree Lilac is a large tree with an oval-rounded crown. In spring it has loads of tiny creamy-white flowers, dark green leaves, and eye-catching reddish-brown exfoliating bark. While its floral scent is not as strong as that of a common lilac bush, it omits a soft, pleasing smell that appeals to many. Matures 20-25 feet tall, 15-20 feet wide.
Now is the perfect time to add one of these beautiful specimens to complete your front yard landscape. Stop by our garden center to see what’s in stock and decide what would best improve your property’s curb appeal.