Plant Flowering Trees for Cool Shade and Curb Appeal

Trees can add so much beauty and value to a property that it might be wise to plant a couple, especially if you are thinking of selling your home. Without a doubt, some of the loveliest spring-flowering trees, like the apple serviceberry (Amelanchier X grandiflora) for instance, adapt well to a range of growing conditions and add tremendous beauty and curb appeal to your home.

Here are a few to consider that do well in the variable New Hampshire climate:

Eastern Redbuds

Eastern redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are highly desirable for their bright pink, white or lavender flowers. These trees are prolific bloomers in early spring, and the flowers, which appear before the leaves, can last for weeks. They are also hardy and can tolerate shady conditions. Eastern redbuds have a maximum height and spread of 30 feet.

Flowering Crabapples

Japanese flowering crabapples are small to midsized trees ranging from low mounds to upright, narrow, or weeping types. In spring, they are covered with fragrant white, pink, or red flowers, and in fall with small yellow, orange, or red apples. Many have attractive branching that’s revealed in winter. Look for newer varieties that are disease resistant and that hold their fruit into the winter. Crabapples can vary in height, depending on the cultivar, and can range from 10 feet to more than 35 feet tall. They prefer well-draining soil and full sunlight, and are both hot and cold-hardy.

Serviceberry

Serviceberries (Amelanchier sp.) are excellent shade trees, as they are often found growing in the forest understory. This small tree tolerates shade extremely well and grows to an average height of 20 feet, with an equally wide spread. The tree can be trained on one or multiple trunks and pruned as a shrub. Serviceberry trees feature masses of white flowers. They are prolific bloomers and have stunning fall colors of yellow, red and orange, along with sky-blue fruit. These trees grow well in cool, moist, well-draining soil that’s rich in organic matter.

The benefits to your property go beyond beauty

Trees add more than just aesthetic value to your property. They can also be used to block high winds in open spaces (for example, if the home is in the middle of an open field) and during the summer, trees provide shade that can cut back on cooling costs.

Depending on their height and placement, trees can create shade that shelters the home from some sunlight and provides comfortable locations for enjoying the outdoors without direct sunlight – like in a hammock. So, if your yard lacks trees and their cooling shade for at least part of the day, your house probably gets hotter, faster than those with some shade, and a picnic outdoors requires sunscreen.

Consider planting a few trees, strategically located where they will offer you the comfort shade naturally provides, and enjoy the gorgeous beauty of colorful blossoms each spring.