This tree completes my current research project.  Get maximum benefit from your yard by having a variety of plants with fragrant blooms which will produce fruits and bring wild life to enjoy.

AMERICAN YELLOWWOOD  (Cladrastis kentukea)

Glorious drooping panicles of fragrant white flowers put on a great show in early summer.  The flowers are luxurious 6 to 10 inch clusters are fragrant and it is  a bee magnet. It is prized for its smooth, silvery bark, “second-best to beech” .  The yellowwood doesn’t bloom until trees are over 12 feet tall, and then the blooms are best every second or even third year.  Fall foliage is a soft yellow, thus its common name Yellowwood.  It grows 30 to 50 feet tall with a wider spread.  Prune it from an early age to encourage a graceful mature form.  Yellowwood is native to the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest.  They are now very rare in the wild.  Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

American Yellowwood in Bloom

A Group of Yellowwood's In Fall Colors

This one is a fragrant white bloomer in February and March in Zones 4 to 7, and December to May in Zones 8 to 9.  Sounds rather mysterious to me.

FRINGE TREE (Chionanthus virgirginicus)

It is impossible to resist caressing the wispy, tassle-like flowers of fringe trees which hang among the bare branches.  You’ll be able to reach them:  Fringe trees are typically only 10 to 20 feet tall. Their common name is Wintersweet.  They have an outsanding spicy fragrance. They are graceful planted in groves, which increases the chances of having both male and female trees: Males are said to flower more robustly; females produce small fruits attractive to birds. Fringe trees are old fashioned trees that deserve to be planted more often.  Give them a chance! Maybe you will attract some new bird varieties.   Need some winter cold.  Grow in sun or part shade.  Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.

So far, I have given you two white flowering trees and two yellow ones.  Since there is a wider color choice with this one, I suggest red.  This one is great to bring bees to your yard!

FLOWERING CRABAPPLE  (Malus)

There are more than 700 named varieties of crabapples-all prodigious bloomers that cover themselves in white, pink, or red flowers in spring.  When they bloom, bees and other pollinators make the trees fairly buzz with life. They are excellent wildlife trees.   The best crabapples for birds, are small-fruited cultivars that hold their fruit into winter such as ‘Bob White’, ‘Donald Wyman’ or ‘Red Jade’. They are beautiful small trees and most grow between 15 and 25 feet.  They do best in sunny gardens, and they are hardy and reliable.  Crabapples have stately, even dramatic structure.  They do benefit from occasional pruning.  Look for cultivars that resist blight and apple scab.  Hardy in Zones 4 to 7.

Here is the scoop for another tree loved by birds, butterflies and moths..                                                                                            Like so many spring  flowers,  Sassafras blossoms are yellow, which just happens to be my favorite color.

SASSAFRAS  (S. albium)

The clusters of tiny yellow flowers on sassafras trees light up woodland edges and native landscapes in early spring.  Sassafras is native to North America.  Sassafras is an excellent tree for attracting birds because of the high fat content of its fruit, which turns from green to dark purple in late summer; the fruit is consumed quickly and eagerly by resident and migrating birds. An additional bonus is that Sassafras is a host plant for the larvae of spicebush swallowtail butterfly and other butter flies and moths. Sassafras trees have a willowy habit and grow quite tall, 30 to 60 feet, in sun or shade.  Their leaves are rounded and mitten shaped, and turn brilliant scarlet or orange in early fall.  They are difficult to transplant; start with seedlings or look for small specimens at garden shops.  Hardy in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 4 to 9.

Sassafras Tree

Dogwood Blosoms

Here is a small tree that fits well under larger trees, giving your yard a mature, balanced appearance.  It is especially appealing to thrushes in the fall.  Because my yard is small and I already have several trees, and I dearly love the song of the Swainson’s Thrush.  This one is on my wish list for 2010!

FLOWERING DOGWOOD (Cornus florida)

Snow white dogwood blossoms transform the landscape, blooming after the Sassafras in spring.  Woodland edges positively spring to life when they bloom.  Flowering dogwood is a “super-attractive bird tree.”  Birds find shelter and nesting sites in its branches, and you can time the fall migration by watching the berries mature; bright red berries ripen at the peak of migration for thrushes.  The biggest challenge with dogwoods can be in deciding where to plant them—they are an understory tree which means they can be grown below taller trees.   They range from 10 to 20 feet.  They have characteristic horizontal branching if they are in high shade, but they develop a full, rounded crown if in the sun.  Good drainage and air circulation are important as healthy trees resist dogwood anthracnose.  Hardy in Zones 5 to 9.  To assure hardiness, northern gardeners are advised to buy trees propagated from northern stock.

Dogwood Trees