Unless you're into crowds and cherry trees, there's no better place to get a first look at spring than DC's US National Arboretum. And you have to be there just at the right time. The Cornus mas (Cornelian Cherry), shown here, is one of the lovliest harbingers of warmer months to come, but the blooms are quite fleeting. It's not particularly ornamental in summer, but the small tree has a nice, rounded shape, and it's attractive, peeling bark is showy in winter. In July, it even has small, cherry-red drupes that some gardners prize for syrups and preserves. Plant this 25 x 20 foot tree against a dark green hedge or a dark fence where the yellow flowers will stand out in spring. As a garden focal point, it's one of the best.
I don't know why so many early flowering trees and shrubs have yellow flowers (Mahonia bealei, Jasminum nudiflorum, Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise' & other cultivars), but another of my favorites is Corylopsis (Winterhazel), which is not used in gardens nearly often enough. This one is Corylopsis 'Winterthur,' a cross between C. spicata and C. pauciflora, which was found in the gardens at Winterthur in Delaware, where it had hybridized naturally. It gets about six feet high and twice as wide, and the flowers are fragrant. Hardy to about zone 5. Again, it looks simply great against a dark background.
The Arboretum's magnolia collection is a wondrous sight in spring, and it is well worth studying. Aside from all the Little Girl cultivars, there are huge specimens that you are unlikely to see in many other gardens. 'Galaxy' has lovely pink flowers and ascending branches, and there are huge specimens that resulted from scientists' attempts to cross the Southern Magnolia with the Sweetbay ... something you won't see anywhere else. The magnolias are housed with the holly collection, so in summer there are great spires of green and in winter through early spring, bright splashes composed of thousands of red berries.
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(images ©Jane Berger)