Add colour and vibrancy with flowering trees
Blossom tree (Virgilia divaricata)
With an abundance of fragrant pink pea-like flowers, the blossom tree takes your breath away in spring. It’s a rapid grower and should, with good care, reach its mature size within a few years.
Although the tree has a fairly short lifespan (about 20 years), its beautiful pink blooms make it a worthwhile choice for a new garden. This fast grower will soon provide shade, structure and colour. Blossom trees do well in compost-rich sandy and loamy soil and need sufficient water until established. Protect young trees from frost; mature blossom trees can handle some frost.
Virgilia oroboides is very similar, bearing lighter pink blooms in summer.
Tip Plant a slow-growing tree such as a yellowwood under the fast-growing blossom tree. It will provide the necessary protection and shade while the yellowwood is still small. When the blossom tree eventually dies, the yellowwood will already be well established.
If you love beautiful blooms, then look no further than these flowering trees – they not only provide shade but add colour and vibrancy to the garden.
Coast coral tree (Erythrina caffra)
There are few trees that can compare to our indigenous coast coral tree. From winter to spring it boasts bright orange blooms on bare branches. After the flowering season it is still a beautiful sight in summer with its light green foliage.
The coast coral tree is easy to grow, it blooms for a long period and is also drought resistant. The tree will grow in virtually any well-drained soil in gardens over large parts of the country. It is not suitable for cold regions.
There are more than 170 coral tree species, six of which occur naturally in South Africa. The broad-leaved coral tree (E. latissima) and common coral tree (E. lysistemon) are also popular choices, especially in areas that get more frost.
PLANT GUIDE
Full sun Frost sensitive Drought tolerant Deciduous Wind hardy Grows 10m tall and 8m wide
Pompon (Dais cotinifolia)
The pompon tree is a smallish tree that grows about 5m high.
With good care, it should reach adult size within four to five years.
The tree has a round crown and is covered with pink ball-like flowers in summer.
In very cold regions it is deciduous, but in hot and more temperate regions it loses its leaves for just a short period at the end of winter. The pompon tree thrives in sandy and loamy soil and is an easy grower. It can be lightly pruned if necessary and will become shrubbier if the leader (main branch) is cut back. This tree blooms on the previous year’s growth – so avoid pruning it before the flowering season. It does well in gardens throughout the country.
PLANT GUIDE
Full sun Frost resistant
Drought tolerant
Deciduous or evergreen
Grows about 5m tall and 2m wide
Pink wild pear (Dombeya burgessiae)
The pink wild pear boasts clusters of pale pink blooms from late summer until early winter. Even after flowering, the dried blooms on the tree still look lovely.
This tree is an easy and fast grower and does well in full sun as well as light shade. It will thrive in clay, sandy and loamy soil that has been enriched with compost. The pink wild pear does well in summer rainfall regions but is well adapted to other parts of the country.
The common wild pear (Dombeya rotundifolia) is also a good choice, especially for smaller gardens.
PLANT GUIDE
Full sun Light frost Drought tolerant Semi-deciduous Grows 3–5m tall and about 3m wide
Enjoy the flowers while they’re on the tree – very few of them last well in a vase. – Marié