26 Great Flowering Trees For Michigan Gardens

If you’re looking to add eternal, year-round beauty to your lawn and boost the curbside appeal of your Michigan home, plan gorgeous flowering trees in your garden. You’d be pleased to know that Michigan has the ideal climate to grow numerous beautiful blossoming trees. Read on to find out about 26 exquisite flowering trees in the Great Lake State! 

Michigan is characterized as having two land regions – the Superior Upland and the Great Lakes Plains. Its mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula is rather flat, while gentle hills roll in its southern and central portions, and the north-most corner has a hilly landscape.

Due to its versatile landscape and humid continental weather that ensures distinct, warm summers and somewhat mild winters, the state is home to a wide variety of trees. These include the ever-popular Birch, Beech, Eastern Cottonwood, Sugar Maple, Eastern Hemlock, and Northern Red Oak Trees.

However, the Great Lake State also has its fair share of breathtaking flowering trees that you can plant in your garden as accents, part of a mixed hedge, understories, and single yard specimens. These trees include the ever-gorgeous Northern Catalpa Tree, Pagoda Dogwood, American Mountain Ash, Cherry Blossom, and Seven-Son Flower Trees. 

You can plant flowering trees in your garden to benefit from their vivid blooms that come in gorgeous shades of red, white, pink, purple, yellow, orange, and blue. Most of these flowers are sweetly fragrant. Plus, plating them will most likely bring lots of pleasant visitors, such as butterflies and hummingbirds, to your garden. You can grow these trees as pruned, multi-stemmed shrubs or single-trunk, upright trees. 

So, let’s explore 26 gorgeous flowering trees that you can plant in Michigan! 

1. Serviceberry 

• Amelanchier arborea
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 10-25 ft

Serviceberry is a small-sized deciduous tree that you can also plant as a shrub. It produces profuse clusters of slightly fragrant white flowers. It also features oval green leaves that turn vibrant hues of orange, yellow, and red in fall. Serviceberry bears rounded, delicious dark purple or black-colored berries. It thrives in part shade or full sun and moist to dry, acidic, well-drained soils. 

2. Kentucky Coffeetree

• Gymnocladus dioicus
• Flowering in: Late Spring to Early Summer
• Height: 60-75 ft

The Kentucky Coffeetree is a large, upright tree with wide-angled branches decorated with compound, bluish-green leaves that turn yellow in the fall. It produces in spike-like clusters of 1-inch long, greenish-white flowers. This adaptable, drought-tolerant tree prefers to grow in deep, moist, well-drained clay and sandy soils and full sun. 

3. Pagoda Dogwood/Alternate Leaved Dogwood

• Cornus alternifolia
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 30 ft

Native to eastern North America, Pagoda Dogwood is a stunning, medium-sized accent tree with horizontally winding branches. It features beautiful red-purple fall foliage and pale-yellow or white blooms that give way to bluish fruits. This tree thrives in sheltered or speckled locations,= but can also grow in full sun. It prefers cooler, moist soils. 

4. American Plum

• Prunus americana
• Flowering in: Late Spring to Early Autumn
• Height: 35 ft

American Plum is a thicket-forming tree with a short trunk and multiple arching branches. It produces a mass of large, fragrant white flowers that grow in breathtaking, flat-topped clusters along its curving branches. The flowers give way to delicious red plums. This understory tree features beautiful fall foliage with pale yellow and electric red leaves. It thrives in full sun and well-drained soils. 

5. American Mountain Ash

• Sorbus americana
• Flowering in: Early Spring
• Height: 10-30 ft

American Mountain Ash is a slow-growing, low-maintenance tree with an oval crown. It produces showy, slightly fragrant white flowers. The blooms give way to large clusters of small, orange-red or red, berry-like fruit. It also features oblong or spear-shaped leaves that turn orange, yellow, and reddish-purple in fall. It grows best in full sun to light shade and acidic, wet, well-drained loams and clay soils. 

6. Cherry Blossom

• Prunus serrulata
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 15-25 ft

Also known as Japanese Flowering Cherry, Cherry Blossom is a small to medium-sized tree. It features ovate green leaves that turn red, bronze, and yellow in fall. It also produces showy, non-fragrant pink and white blooms that grow in single, double, and semi-double forms. This tree thrives in fertile, moist, well-drained loams and full sun. 

7. Crabapple

• Malus sylvestris
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 40 ft

Crabapple is a medium-sized deciduous tree that usually grows in the wild. It produces showy pink or white flowers that are followed by fleshy yellow, red, or green apples with a tart flavor. This is a versatile tree that can grow in various types of moist, well-drained soils. It thrives in full sun to part shade. 

8. Blackhaw Viburnum 

• Viburnum prunifolium
• Flowering in: Early Fall
• Height: 12-15 ft

Blackhaw Viburnum is a Missouri native plant that grows as a multi-stemmed, upright, deciduous shrub with an irregular habitat. It features finely-toothed, ovate, glossy dark green leaves that turn red and purple in fall. It produces non-fragrant, white flowers that grow in fall-topped clusters. The blooms give way to blue-black, berry-like, edible fruits. This drought-tolerant tree thrives in well-drained soils and full sun to part shade. 

9. Common Ninebark

• Physocarpos opulifolius
• Flowering in: Late Spring to Summer and Fall
• Height: 6-9 ft

Common Ninebark is a fast-growing, upright, deciduous shrub with a spreading, fountain-like shape and a decorative bark. It produces dense, rounded clusters of profuse, creamy-white flowers with a delicate pink tinge. The blooms give way to drooping clusters of red fruit. It also features maple-like, green-lobed leaves. It grows well in slightly acidic, dry to adequately moist, well-drained soils and full to part sun.   

10. Buttonbush

• Cephalanthus occidentalis
• Flowering in: Summer
• Height: 12-15 ft

Native to the eastern United States, Asia, and Africa, Buttonbush is a multi-stemmed shrub with an irregular crown. It produces fragrant creamy-white, spherical flowers that attract butterflies. It features glossy green leaves that turn yellow in fall. This tree thrives in full to partial sun and very well to adequately moist soils. 

11. Witchhazel

• Hamamelis x intermedia
• Flowering in: Late Winter to Early Spring
• Height: 10-20 ft//

Witch Hazel is a medium-sized deciduous shrub with ascending branches and a spreading habitat. It features wide, oval, green leaves that turn orange-red in fall. It produces sweetly aromatic, reddish-copper blooms with slender, ribbon-like, crinkly petals and yellow tips. Witch Hazel thrives in part shade or full sun and organically rich, adequately moist, acidic, well-drained soils. 

12. Highbush Cranberry

• Viburnum trilobum
• Flowering in: Summer
• Height: 8-15 ft

Highbush Cranberry is a large, hardy shrub with a dense, rounded habitat and arching stems. It produces clusters of white, tiny florets surrounded by larger florets. It features dark green leaves that turn reddish-purple in fall. This tree bears drooping clusters of bright red, tart berries. It grows best in full sun to part shade and various types of well-drained soils. 

13. Northern Catalpa Tree

• Catalpa speciosa
• Flowering in: Spring and Early Summer
• Height: 40-60 ft

Native to America, Northern Catalpa Tree is a medium-sized tree with an oval habitat, twisting trunk, and arching branches. It produces clusters of large, white, somewhat fragrant trumpet-shaped flowers. It features giant heart-shaped leaves that grow up to 12 inches long. It thrives in acidic, loamy, moist, organically rich, well-drained loams and clay soils. 

14. Cherry and Chokecherry Trees

• Prunus virginiana
• Flowering in: Spring to Early Summer
• Height: 10-30 ft

A US native, Chokecherry Tree is a small, deciduous tree with an irregular, rounded-oval crown. It features sharply toothed, elliptic to obovate, dark green leaves with grey-green undersides. It produces elongated clusters of fragrant, five-lobed, cup-shaped white flowers. The blooms give way to clusters of globular, pea-sized, dark-purple berries. It grows well in full sun to part shade and dry to medium, well-drained loams. 

15. Dogwood

• Cornus florida
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 25 ft

Native to eastern North America and northern Mexico, Dogwood is a deciduous multi-branched shrub or small tree with a rounded habitat. It produces small, ornamental white blooms that grow from pink bracts. It features green leaves that turn reddish-purple in fall. This tree thrives in speckled shade but can grow in sunlit areas as well. It needs organic, well-drained soils. 

16. Tree Lilac

• syringa reticulata
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 20-30 ft

Tree Lilac is a small-sized tree with an oval-rounded crown. You can grow it as a shrub as well. It produces large upright clusters of fragrant, creamy-white flowers. It has sharply-tipped, ovate dark green leaves and beautiful reddish-brown bark. It prefers to grow in moist, slightly acidic, well-drained soils and full sun to light shade. 

17. Double Mock Orange

• Philadelphus 
• Flowering in: Mid Spring
• Height: 6-12 ft

Native to Southeast Europe and Italy, Double Mock Orange is a fast-growing, low-maintenance, multi-stemmed. Deciduous shrub. It produces clusters of showy white flowers with a wonderful, orange-blossom fragrance. It features serrate, oval, medium green leaves. This tree grows well in full sun to partial shade and well-drained, moist, loamy soils. 

18. Redbud

• Cercis canadensis
• Flowering in: Summer
• Height: 20-30 ft

Redbud is an elegant, medium-sized, multi-trunked tree with horizontally-growing branches and a rounded crown. It produces stunning, long-lasting, rosy-pink blooms that erupt from tiny magenta buds. It features heart-shaped, reddish or dark green leaves that turn bright canary yellow in fall. This tree thrives in various degrees of sun exposure and most types of soils. 

19. Flowering Quince

• Chaenomeles speciosa
• Flowering in: Late Winter
• Height: 10 ft

Native to China and Korea, Flowering Quince is a deciduous shrub with a somewhat messy habitat. It produces abundant clusters of elegant, apple blossom-shaped flowers in pretty shades of red, pink, rich vermillion, and pure white. It features ovate, glossy green leaves and thorny, tangled branches. This shrub grows well in full sun and acidic to neutral loams. 

20. Tulip Tree

• Liriodendron
• Flowering in: Late Spring and Early Summer
• Height: 70-90 ft

The Tulip Tree is a stately and tall tree with a pyramidal or oval-rounded habitat. It produces tulip-shaped, yellow-green flowers with an orange base. The flowers give way to cone-shaped fruits. This tree features four-lobed, glossy, bright green leaves. It grows best in full sun and organically rich, acidic, moist, well-drained soils. 

21. Forsythia

• Forsythia europaea
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 8-10 ft

Widely known as Golden Bell, Forsythia is an ornamental, deciduous shrub. It’s an East Asia and Eastern Europe native. This tree features narrow, ovate, three-part petiole leaves. It produces solitary, bright, greenish-yellow, star-shaped blooms with four petals. Forsythia needs at least 6 hours of full sun to flower properly. It thrives in organically rich, moist, well-drained soils. 

22. Seven-Son Flower

• Heptacodium miconioides
• Flowering in: Fall
• Height: 20 ft

Native to China, Seven-Son Flower is a multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub with a fountain-shaped habitat. You can also grow it as a single-trunk, small tree. It produces seven-branched clusters of aromatic, creamy-white blooms. Each branch comprises six flowers that give way to equally showy, tiny, purplish-red fruits. It features ovate-oblong, slender, shiny, medium-green leaves. This tree grows well in adequately moist, well-drained soils and full sun. 

23. Arrowwood Viburnum

• Viburnum dentatum
• Flowering in: Late Spring and Fall
• Height: 10 ft

Arrowwood Viburnum is an upright, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub with a rounded habitat. It produces flat-topped clusters of non-fragrant white flowers that give way to blue-black, berry-like fruits. It features toothed, ovate, glossy dark green leaves that turn yellow, orange, and red in fall. This tree thrives in adequately moist, well-drained soils and part shade to full sun. 

24. Snowball Viburnum

• Viburnum opulus roseum
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 12 ft

Native to Europe, Northern Africa, and Central Asia, Snowball Viburnum is a fast-growing landscape shrub with a dense crown and dark emerald green leaves that turn reddish-orange in fall. It produces round clusters of apple-green flowers that turn white. It bears clusters of red berries that turn black when ripened. This tree grows well in full sun to partial shade and average, slightly acidic, well-drained soils. 

Related: 6 Plants That Look Like Snowballs

25. Ironwood

• Ostrya virginiana
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 30-40 ft

Native to various parts of the US, Ironwood is a medium-sized, tough, deciduous understory tree with a rounded or oval habitat, horizontal drooping branches, and a grayish-brown flaky bark. It features beautiful birch-like green leaves that turn red-orange to yellow in fall. It produces lavender-colored male and female flowers in dangling clusters called catkins. This tree thrives in full sun and partial shade and needs well-drained, moist soils. 

26. Little Leaf Linden

• Tilia cordata
• Flowering in: Spring
• Height: 60-80 ft

Native to Europe, the Little Leaf Linden is a medium to large-sized tree with a strikingly dense, rounded crown. It produces in drooping clusters of creamy-white or pale-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers. It features bluish-green or dark green, heart-shaped leaves. It grows well in deep, well-drained, fertile soils and full sun.