Good flowering tree

Discussion in 'Outdoor Gardening in the Pacific Northwest' started by Unregistered, May 13, 2004.

  1. Hi, I am lloking for suggestions on a type of flowering tree to get my mother for her biorthday. she lives in richmond, so the water table is quite near the surface at many times of year. She has a white blossom cherry that does very well, but i'm trying to be original.

    thanks in advance.

    jim
     
  2. hungry hippo

    hungry hippo Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Seattle
    tree suggestions

    Hi Jim,
    Magnolias make a beautiful flowering specimin tree (or large shrub) and many are relatively hardy and don't mind soil that is a little on the moist side. Some other trees that I have had luck with in moist spots are Salix discolor (there are some stunning varieties around), S. matsudana tortuosa (showy even in winter and great for flower arrangements but not really a flowering tree), all types of Fraxinus, some types of Cornus (dogwood) and Laburnum is very showy (avoid if kids and dogs are around) Just a couple of ideas! Good luck.
     
  3. graftedmaplecollector

    graftedmaplecollector Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    louisiana
    Yeah magnolias are a good choice for the area as long as its mildly acidic soil
    and my favorite magnolias for show and bloom are either the columbus cultivar
    or the pink/purple saucer magnolia culivars of which there are many(betty,
    jane,etc.) :)
     
  4. Salix discolor hort., S. caprea hort. probably = S. cinerea x S. caprea. It has a compact, upright habit and its catkins are sweetly fragrant(!), but unpleasantly colored, dirty gray or ashen with ruddy pink beneath - this last trait doubtless being the basis for it being marketed as French pink pussy willow. I'd rather have the domelike, silvery-catkined male clone of S. daphnoides ('Aglaia'?) that is rather common at northwestern WA farmhouses, or coastal native S. hookeriana with very large catkins and handsome leaves, black-green on top and whitish beneath. And there are many other willows to choose from, I find the colored-stem ones, especially reddish clones of S. alba quite exciting in winter (when stooled to minimize plant size and maximize stem color).

    If your site is open and windy some ornamental willows such as these, planted with evergreen hollies behind to set them off, would probably be more successful than one featuring the generally wind-susceptible magnolias. Or try smaller, bushy kinds of magnolias that hold up better in exposed positions than larger kinds, such as M. liliiflora, M. stellata and the (Kosar-DeVos) hybrids between them, including the cultivars 'Betty and 'Jane' (these are not saucer magnolias).
     

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