National Arbor Day is a day to celebrate the importance of trees. Trees provide us with an abundance of benefits from keeping your house cooler in the summer to providing a habitat for animals and wood for homes and furniture. They are also beautiful to look at and add something special to your landscape design.
“Each generation takes the earth as trustees. We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and orchards as we have exhausted and consumed.” – J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day.
Celebrate Arbor Day by planting a tree. Here are some of our favorites for you to plant now.
Eastern Redbud (Cercis Canadensis)
Eastern Redbud
A spectacular spring bloomer, with very showy pink to purple flowers held tightly on bare branches in early spring; somewhat coarse heart-shaped leaves; rivals any small ornamental tree for specimen use in the home landscape.
Flowering Dogwood
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Possibly the ultimate small specimen tree, famous for its large yet delicate white blooms in spring and excellent wide-spreading form; requires rich, well-drained acidic soil and adequate water.
Kwanzan Flowering Cherry (Prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’)
Kwanzan Cherry
Arguably the most popular of the Japanese cherries, this outstanding selection is covered in showy double pink flowers in early spring before the leaves; stunning bronze bark, good fall color, very shapely; needs full sun and well-drained soil.
Purple Leaf Plum
Purple Leaf Plum (Prunus cerasifera)
A stunning accent tree that resembles a cloud of fragrant pink flowers in spring, deep purple foliage all season long; makes a bold statement in the landscape, best used as a solitary feature tree or in street plantings.
Stop by the nursery to speak with our experts about the best tree for your garden or use our PlantFinder Tool to search for additional options.
For instructions about how to plant a tree, click here.