Have a small space to fill in your home’s landscaping in Bethesda, MD? Consider these 5 great small trees.
- Amur Maple (Amur ginnala) – Mature height, 15-18 feet:
One of the first maples to get their leaves in the spring, this tree has a wide-spreading canopy. It can either be a large shrub or a small tree, but it’s more often limbed up to show off its strong sculptural form. - Cornelian Cherry Dogwood (Cornus mas) – Mature height, 20-25 feet tall, 15-20 feet wide: A lovely small tree that produces bright yellow flowers in early spring. It usually branches to the ground, but can be limbed up effectively.
- Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp.) This tree comes in a wide range of sizes, from dwarf (a few feet tall) to the typical tree, which is 20 to 30 feet tall. The mid- to late-summer flowers come in pink, lavender, rose, almost-red and white. Its bark, shown off on a multi-trunked form, varies from creamy white to gray to sandy brown to cinnamon, depending on the species and cultivar.
- Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) Mature height, 15-30 feet tall and wide: multiple varieties from a weeping threadleaf form that looks like a broad mound or the upright form that makes a small shade tree.
- Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) Mature height, 20-30 feet tall and a bit wider: welcome spring with an explosion of pink. Grows to 20 to 30 feet tall and slightly wider. The heart-shaped leaves of the species are bluish-green, but ‘Forest Pansy’ has burgundy leaves that fade with hot weather. Adapts to a wide range of soils as long as they’re not permanently wet.
For more information about great small trees for your landscaping in Bethesda, MD, please contact East Coast Landscape Design. For over 30 years, East Coast Landscape Design has designed and installed beautiful landscape and hardscape projects around Bethesda, MD, and surrounding communities.
