Most beautiful spring white-flowering tree?

I would be grateful to hear opinions and experiences on which is the most beautiful spring white-flowering tree - cherry, pear, hawthorne, dogwood, or any other?

We have just retired in Middle Tennessee, Zone 7. I have planted trees for shade, trees for birds, trees for fall color, trees that I have always loved.

But I can't decide on which white tree for spring for sheer beauty? Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Another one to consider would be Chionanthus virginicus--it's gorgeous in bloom http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1654/

Wow - that's a new one on me. I'll check it out. Thanks!

You just can't beat a dogwood. I think they are the aristocrat of the spring garden.

I also love fringe trees also; they're really beautiful and graceful; but they just don't have the 'wow' factor of a dogwood.
Other beautiful white spring-flowering trees are white bud, yellowwood, styrax (japonica or obassia).
These are all beautiful, graceful trees, but still not as spectacular as a perfect dogwood.

Ornamental cherry is also beautiful (prunus serrulata 'Shirotae'), as well as Donald Wyman crabapple,
but both are best in full sun, so may not be best in your situation.

Stewartias are also fabulous, but bloom a little later (early summer). They do fine in an understory setting.

You can't go wrong with any of these beautiful trees. If you've got the space, I suggest trying them all, of course!
Hope the info is helpful. Good luck!

I agree with ecrane, the Chinese fringe tree is lovely in flower and fragrant, to boot. I also like single-file viburum.

Can't do much better than Silverbells (Halesia). Serviceberries (Amelanchier) can be spectacular as well.

I mean, viburnum. Sorry.

Gosh, what a wealth of information. Thank you very much. This is a wonderful forum.

KS, Halesia is on my want list, as is the Amelancher.

Cornus kousa - they have so many it's hard to give one particular cultivar. I have a 'Milky Way' that stops traffic. But there are newer and even showier cultivars available.

Weerobin, I looked up the "Shirotae" cherry and it's exquisite. Do you have one nearby? Do you prefer it to the yoshino?

Shirotae is my favorite white cherry, hands down.
It's not fussy, looks great.

It seems most beautiful to me, too. But I wouldn't want one that was so emphatically horizontal in branches, as apparently they are bred to be. I suppose many gardeners prize them for being horizontal. I wonder if it's possible to get one that is less so.

That's precisely what I like about it.
There are others that are more vase shaped.

If you want something large, then Horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum.

Resin

Weerobin, off-hand, do you know of another cherry that has the beautiful dark limbs and delicate white flowers of the Shirotae but does not emphasize the horizontal?

If the horizontal branching pattern of Shirotae doesn't fit your spot, the Yoshino would work. It's certainly a beautiful tree.
Or Tai Haku is another reliable, beautiful cherry.
There are several other white-flowered prunus serrulata cultivars, but I don't have experience with any of them in particular.
Some of them have beautiful fall color as well, which is a feature sometimes underappreciated.

Where did you move from! Welcome to the South!

Don't let anyone talk you into a Bradford Pear, which is lovely but weak wooded and short-lived.

Horsechestnut will drop prickly pods that stick to your feet! And dogs and children may be unhappy with it.

Catalpa is pretty, blossom-wise but they drop beanlike pods and they attract worms (a plus if you like to fish!)

Native dogwood Cornus Florida tends to be short lived due to a blight that has been problematic the last 15-20 years. I agree that Cornus Kousa may be the best choice; browse plantfiles for the varieties! They bloom a little later than our native tree...In Tennessee just about everyone has a Cornus Florida and you'd probably like a little something different!

Native magnolia has big very fragrant blossoms but drop a lot of big leaves that are hard to clean up (if you get one leave the bottom limbs on so you can rake them under). Or consider sweetbay magnolia, which is tidier and produces blossoms at a younger age...smells just like soap!

I have 3 of the Fringe trees above and love them. They grow slowly however and most of them stay shrub-sized. The blooms last about 2 weeks.

Silverbells is tricky to grow (at least for me) but I am much farther south so maybe that is why.

Serviceberry has beautiful white blooms (Often is the first to bloom, around Feb) plus some varieties have fruit. My 3 serviceberries have never bloomed, however after 7 years, and also they require a certain chill factor like apples.

Check out Korean Stewartia in Plant Files. I haven't grown one but am thinking of getting one.

Franklinia...tricky! I am on my 3rd tree. But I am an amateur...will keep trying.

If you want white blooms in a hurry while waiting on your tree to mature, you can always get a bridal wreath spirea, or else a snowreath if you can find it (Alabama snowreath, I call it but listed in PF as snowreath)

My favorite all time flowering tree is the stewartia!
And they're easy to grow.
But they bloom early summer for me, not spring.
Beautiful bark, form, fall color, ... what more can you ask for?

I too have struggled w/ Franklinia.
I've probably planted (i.e., killed) 20 of them.
I had one alive for about 5 yrs (not thriving, but alive),
but alas just noticed this past weekend it too has kicked the bucket.
I've tried them in every conceivable variation of exposure, soil, moisture, etc.
I've heard it's all about perfect drainage,
which is a tough requirement in my yard.
But it's such a beautiful tree, I'll keep trying!

I have learned a lot from this thread. The trees I was not familiar with - stewartia, franklinia, silverbells, and fringe - I looked up, and will be keeping an eye out for them. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has struggled to grow certain things.

passiflora_pink, my husband grew up in Tennessee, but I have lived in a lot of different states (l6, to be specific, with the longest times in Kansas, Washington, and Alaska.) Now that we're retired, I find myself longing to grow some of the plants I have loved the most in each state. I know this method of selection is not recommended for garden design, but I don't think it hurts anything to try a specimen to see how it does in a specific spot after researching what it needs. Middle Tennessee is a transitional area, part prairie, part upland, and many different kinds of plants do well here.

I find that creeping cotoneaster looks a lot like common tundra plants!

The white-flowering tree I am trying to replicate was one glimpsed fifty years ago on a cold spring morning at a campus in Kansas.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. Dave really did well when he developed this site - it's got to be one of the best uses of the Web.

Weerobin,

I live just southwest of St. Louis. Where do you purchase your stewartias? And, are yours in full sun or partial shade?

Teresa

I'm the king of on-line ordering. I think I bought mine all on line.
I've seen stewartias at some of the beautiful specialty nurseries in St Louis area (Trade Winds (AKA Timber Creek), Passaglia's),
but they're too pricey for me.

I have 6 or 7 stewartias, most still pretty small.
But I have 3 that are over 10ft tall, so they don't take forever to grow. And they start blooming when they're just 3-4 ft tall.
There are several species, incl pseudocamellia, rostrata, serrata, malocodendron, ovata, monadelpha, sinensis, etc... They are all beautiful.

On line sources are Arborvillage, Gossler, Greer, Fairweather Gardens. I'm sure I've forgotten some; this is just off the top of my head.

I'm not sure whether Davidia involucrata would be hardy where you are, but it sure it beautiful in bloom. Unfortunately, I have heard that the "flowers" (bracts) do not smell very good.
Certainly, something to check into.
Good luck,
Mike
tl³

I've never noticed any smell from Davidia flowers or bracts!

Resin

tl3, I'm still (patiently) waiting for my 10yr old davidia to bloom...
I'm sure it'll be lovely, if I'm still alive to see it.

Resin,
OK, maybe I'm thinking of another tree, but I was sure it was Davidia. Actually, I think it was on a gardening show on PBS (Public Broadcasting) where I heard about the smell. I think the term "cat urine" was mentioned. (:o).

If there is no bad smell to the flowers, then, there is no reason not to plant the tree, IMHO.

Weerobin,
Hopefully, the tree will bloom for you soon. I just wish that Davidia was hardy here in the Twin Cities. Oh well, I will live vicariously though you and I also feel your pain from a non-blooming tree.
Mike
tl³

Resin, those are gorgeous.

I think Davidia is one of those trees that's notorious for taking forever to bloom. There's a cultivar called 'Sonoma' which I believe is supposed to bloom more quickly than the species.

Rebecca, here's a pix of my stewartia earlier this summer.

And here's styrax japonica.

Wow - do you have a background shot to show the context? Those are spectacular.

Here's a wider shot of Davidia

And looking up into the crown

I have never seen those anywhere, even in arboretums, and will watch for them in the future.

Occasionally, in this area, we run across unusual and hard to identify specimens. Not too long ago, at a funeral at an old country church, we saw in the churchyard this magnificent tree with odd white blossoms and have not yet been able to put a name to it. Apparently some settler had planted it. Ship captains used to come back with strange seeds.

Anyway, thanks!

Can you post a picture of the tree in the churchyard?
Thanks,
Mike
tl³

Good heavens, I Googled some pictures and you may be right, KSBaptisia! It can be hard to identify a tree blooming in memory, but that may very well be it.

The serviceberry could also help attract some hermit thrushes, which I am trying to do. Thank you!

treelover3, that cemetery is about 4 hours from here and we don't often go, but we WILL go, as we have a beloved aunt buried there and I will get a picture sooner or later. The tree is thriving and is in a protected area so eventually it can be identified. Thanks for your interest. Next time I will go ahead and snap a picture. I took pictures of all the nephews and grand-nephews but not the tree.

Hi Rebeccatowoc,
If you can get a shot of the whole tree and then a closeup of the leaves, branches and buds (leaves, branches and buds all in the same photo is fine) That will make IDing the tree much easier.

Can you tell us whether the tree is deciduous or coniferous? (loses leaves or not?)
Thanks,
Mike
tl³

You're going to think I'm a very poor observer, treelover3, but here goes: to the best of my recollection, this tree was cone-shaped like a holly, about 30 feet tall. The leaves reminded me of magnolia but were smaller. Evergreen. The flower - well, about the closest I can come to is that it resembled a mountain laurel, though larger. Perhaps it was a type of magnolia with which I was not familiar. This cemetery is in the general vicinity of Union City, Obion County, (West) Tennessee.

I promise I can get a picture at Christmastime, but, of course, it will not be flowering then.

One reason we were particularly interested was that at the time we attended Grace Episcopal Church in Paducah, KY. Grace Church is an exquisite 180-year-old structure landscaped with a variety of Southern white-blooming trees of about the same age, some of which we recognized and others we could not. The tree in the cemetery somewhat resembled one at Grace, but not entirely.

We will keep trying!