Trees of color

The show really begins in January, when the bleakest month of the year is brightened with almond blossoms.

The pale pink buds pop like corn into white blossoms, fooling observers into thinking that the calendar must be out of whack. That dash of early spring promise is frequently short-lived, done in by the next inevitable rainstorm.

Then in early February come the wild cherry plums that grow like weeds around the Sonoma County countryside. Close in the wings await the flowering plums in mid-February, followed by the peaches, apricots and nectarines in late February and into March. Some older varieties of flowering pears may peep out in December, but the rush is February and March. Then, oh my, comes the blast of cherry blossoms, some of which started in February.

With warming temperatures the show moves from the opening acts into full production mode with the first apples — think crunchy Gravenstein — and magnificent magnolias. More apples then bloom onto the landscape stage in April, along with pomegranates. But hold on. It’s not over. If spring’s arboreal show were vaudeville, the show ends with full orchestra and the thrilling, beauteous chorus line of flowering dogwoods that are so reluctant to leave the stage you can still see some in performance into June.

The best landscapes have something for every season. And the great thing about adding flowering trees to your garden is that they aren’t just a one-season wonder.

“Fruiting and flowering trees give you pleasure, certainly throughout the year, not just when they’re blooming,” says Lydia Constantini, manager of Sonoma Mission Gardens. “They give you shade in summer, and fruit. Then lovely fall color. And you can enjoy the silhouette of the bare branches in wintertime. To plant a tree is not just for us now, but it’s for the future and truly for every day of the year.”

Susan David is glad she thought ahead. Twenty years ago she planted a dozen old-fashioned weeping crabapples — a line of six on each side of her driveway in Santa Rosa’s leafy Brush Creek area. Every March, without fail, they turn in a stellar performance.

“They always bloom every year quite reliably about the middle of March. It really is to me one of my very first early signs that we’ve turned the corner on winter,” says David, a new master gardener who was inspired to plant them by several she had seen blooming around the county courthouse in Santa Rosa.

“I can’t imagine the driveway without them. And they bloom all at once. They draw a lot of bees and they smell wonderful. And then when the little white petals fall to the ground, it’s like snow.”

So how do you pick among so many different trees — some purely ornamental, like magnolia and dogwood — others that deliver both blossoms and fruit? And remember some fruit trees are bred just for their looks. They may not produce fruit or their fruit is inedible.

Some trees grow to full height while others are dwarfed to do well in big pots or small gardens. Some are upright in architecture and others are weeping with draping leaves. And finally, some varieties are self-fruitful, meaning they can set a crop on their own — while others need a companion variety for cross-pollination.

Consider all of those variables as you narrow down your selections.

Unlike your short-lived impatiens or even a shrub that can easily be removed, a tree can easily outlive you. They’re not easy to remove. You don’t want to plant a giant magnolia in a tiny cottage garden.

With so many different flowering trees to tempt, we asked some local experts for a few of their surefire favorites.

As a Master Fruit Taster for Dave Wilson Nursery, one of the state’s largest tree growers, Constantini knows her fruit trees.

Purple Pony Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera): They start blooming in late February and go into early March. A dwarf tree, they only get about 12 feet — nice for small spaces. The bloom is a single pale pink flower.

Purple Leaf Plum (Prunus cerasifera “Krauter Vesuvius”): One of the most colorful of all flowering plums, it has blackish purple foliage preceded by showy light pink flowers. It seldom produces fruit but is a pretty addition to the landscape and grows to 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide.

Prairifire Crabapple (Malus “Prairifire”): Produces dark blossoms that are more burgundy with a dark greenish, almost purple foliage. They grow to 20 feet tall and wide and have a striking reddish brown bark that is attractive in winter. Crabapples are a nice choice because they also provide food for birds in winter.

Black Tartarian Cherry (Prunus avium): It delivers a gift of pink and white blossoms in April and big sweet dark juicy cherries later on.

Santa Rosa Plum: There’s a reason why this is a home-developed favorite. It grows to 14 feet, requires no pollinator and it’s delicious.

His great-great grandfather Makoto Hagiwara founded San Francisco’s iconic Japanese Tea Garden, so it’s no surprise that Erik loves cherry trees — both for their blossoms and their fruit.

“When you’re under them in bloom it’s like being under a canopy of clouds.” When they bloom in many parts of the world it’s a true event, like the Somei Yoshino Japanese cherry blossoms that have turned Washington, D.C. into an April wonderland since 1912.

Other choices include:

The Hill Cherry or Mountain Cherry (Prunus serrulata spontanea): Produces clusters of white to pink blooms that are especially pretty next to their red new leaves.

Spring of Equinox Cherry (Prunus subhirtella): This is a fast grower and great if you have a large yard because it will live forever — there is one in Japan that is 1,800 years old — and can reach 80 feet tall although you probably won’t live to see it. It’s one of the first cherry trees to pop in early spring with white to pink leaves.

Michelia: Nagata likes these even more than their better known cousins, the magnolias. They’re not as big and messy as the Grandiflora magnolias and they produce a gorgeous fragrant flower. They’re also evergreen so they entertain even in winter.

This longtime nursery is known for its rhododendrons but it is also profuse with magnolias. Owner Polo de Lorenzo suggests these particular varieties:

Yulan Magnolia (Magnolia denudata): One of the most beloved of all magnolias, in cultivation since 618 AD, according to the San Francisco Botanical Garden, it is called “Yulan” or “Jade Lily” by the Chinese for the lily shape of the blossoms with their pure white petals. But some also see them as tulip shaped.

Magnolia wilsonii: A “late bloomer” that pops out in June, it produces small flowers facing downward that are white with a burgundy red center. Their lemony fragrance, de Lorenzo declares, is magnificent. “It’s one you need to plant in a raised place so you have a chance to walk underneath it and see all these little lanterns,” he says.

Gresham Hybrids: There a series of exceptional varieties created by Todd Gresham of Santa Cruz, one of the most notable of magnolia breeders who died in 1969. “They are very good bloomers and the shape of the flower is quite nice,” says de Lorenzo, who has some Gresham hybrids in his nursery gardens that are more than 40 years old and about 30 feet high. The blooms can be pure white or shades of pink.

Meg McConahey, a staff writer, can be reached at 521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@ pressdemocrat.com.