22 Terrific Flowering Trees For Tennessee

Are you on the lookout for elegant, distinctive flowering trees in Tennessee? The good news is that the Volunteer State has an abundance of some truly breathtaking trees whose exquisite blooms will enliven your garden. Read on to find out about 22 flowering trees that you can grow in Tennessee! 

Tennessee is blessed with a highly versatile and bountiful terrain covered with an interesting array of trees. From the Appalachian Ridge to the Highland Rim and the Blue Ridge to the Gulf Coastal Plain, the ever-gorgeous state truly has an abundance of stunning landscapes. 

The Volunteer State’s overall mild weather is also exceptional for growing a wide range of shade-providing trees. The state is home to many native trees and shrubs, including maples, oaks, yellow-poplars, dogwoods, and many others.  

Except for its mountainous regions, the Southern state enjoys mostly mild winters and hot and humid summers, which are ideal for many flowering trees, such as the multi-trunked Eastern Redbud, pyramidal Tulip Tree, the captivating Crape Myrtle, and a wide array of exceptionally beautiful Magnolias. 

The best part about growing these stunning flowering trees is that the vivid, colorful blooms with their unique silhouettes add abundant beauty and interest to your home landscape. You can grow these trees as stand-alone yard specimens or as part of a mixed hedge of deciduous shrubs. You can also grow most of them as arresting understory trees in your yard. 

Let’s take a look at 22 breathtaking flowering trees which are great options for Tennessee gardens! 

1. Eastern Redbud

  • Cercis Canadensis
  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 30 ft
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JumpStory Eastern Redbud

Eastern Redbud is a beautiful, multi-trunked tree with horizontal branches and a rounded habitat. It produces showy clusters of small magenta buds that bloom into captivating, long-lasting, rosy-pink blossoms. Its foliage consists of heart-shaped reddish leaves that turn green and then canary yellow. Redbuds thrive in different levels of sun exposure and most soil types. 

2. Serviceberry 

  • Amelanchier arborea
  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 10-25 ft
Downy Serviceberry
Dan Mullen Downy Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)

Serviceberry is a small-sized, deciduous tree that produces abundant clusters of slightly aromatic, white flowers with five petals. It features oval green leaves that turn orange, red, and yellow in fall. This tree also bears tiny, round, dark purple or black-colored delicious berries. It prefers to grow in moist to dry, acidic, well-drained soils and full sun or part shade. 

3. Tulip Tree

  • Liriodendron
  • Flowering in: Late Spring and Early Summer
  • Height: 70-90 ft
Tulip Tree
Michiel Thomas Tulip Tree

This tall and stately tree features a pyramidal habitat that becomes oval-rounded with age. It features yellowish-green, tulip-shaped flowers with an orange base. The blossoms give way to cone-shaped fruits. The Tulip Tree features bright green, four-lobed, glossy foliage. It thrives in full sun and acidic, organically rich, moist, well-drained soils. 

4. White Fringetree

  • Chionanthus virginicus
  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 12 to 20 ft
A white fringetree Chionanthus virginicus
Cephas A white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)

White Fringetree is an eastern US native. It’s a small deciduous tree with a spreading, rounded crown. It produces a stunning array of fringe-like, creamy white blooms that grow in drooping clusters. It has wide, spear-shaped foliage that turns yellow in fall. This tree also produces olive-like, dark, bluish-black fruits. It grows in full sun or part shade and moist, fertile, well-drained soils. 

5. Crape Myrtle

  • Lagerstroemia
  • Flowering in: Summer and Spring
  • Height: 35 ft
crape myrtle lagerstroemia flowers
Yay crape myrtle – lagerstroemia flowers

Crape Myrtle, also known as the “lilac of the South,” produces large clusters of attractive, long-lasting, purplish-pink flowers. It features an attractive trunk and lush, deciduous foliage. This tree thrives in full sun and moist, well-drained soils. It can be grown as a large, lush shrub or a gorgeous, medium-sized tree. 

6. Yellowwood

  • Cladrastis kentukea
  • Flowering in: Late Spring to early Summer
  • Height: 80 ft
Yellowwood. Cladrastis kentukea
karen_hine Yellowwood. (Cladrastis kentukea)

Yellowwood is a striking deciduous tree with a rounded, wide habitat with upward-spreading branches. It produces large, pendant-shaped clusters of immensely fragrant, white flowers that grow in cascading canopies. It has yellow-green foliage of pinnate leaves that turn vivid yellow in fall. This tree grows well in full sun and fertile, well-drained soils. 

7. Flowering Dogwood

  • Cornus florida
  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 25 ft
Cornus florida.
H. Zell Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida).

Native to northern Mexico and eastern North America, Flowering dogwood is a small to medium-sized tree that produces small ornamental white flowers that blossom from pink bracts. This tree also features green leaves that turn beautiful shades of purple and red in the fall. Flowering Dogwood thrives in partial shade and rich, well-drained soils. 

8. Kousa Dogwood

  • Cornus kousa
  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 15-25 ft
Kousa dogwood tree cornus kousa
Jungle Rebel Kousa dogwood tree (cornus kousa)

Kousa dogwood is a small, multi-stemmed, deciduous flowering tree. It has a vase-shaped to rounded crown with oval, pointed, dark green leaves that turn reddish-purple in fall. It produces yellowish-green flowers that are enclosed by four narrow, pointy, petal-like, white bracts. Kousa Dogwood grows well in full sun to part shade and organically rich, acidic to neutral, adequately moist, well-drained soils. 

9. Cornelian Cherry

  • Cornus mas
  • Flowering in: Late Winter to Early Spring
  • Height: 20-40 ft
Cornus mas Cornelian cherry
Plant Image Library Cornus mas (Cornelian cherry)

Native to central and southern Europe and western Asia, Cornelian Cherry is a small, deciduous tree. It produces small yellow flowers on short stalks, surrounded by yellowish, petal-like bracts. It also features dense, ovate to elliptic, dark green leaves. Cornelian Cherry thrives in moist, organically rich, well-drained soils and full sun to part shade. 

10. Smoke Tree

  • Cotinus coggygria
  • Flowering in: Summer
  • Height: 10-15 ft
Smoke tree Cotinus coggygria.
Frank Richards Smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria).

The Smoke Tree is native to central China to southern Europe. It’s an upright, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub with a loose-spread habitat. It features ovate to obovate, bluish-green leaves that turn orange, purplish-red, and yellow in fall. It produces tiny yellowish flowers that grow on stalks featuring billowy, smoky pink to purplish-pink hair. Smoke Tree grows well in moist, somewhat infertile, well-drained soils. 

11. American Smoke Tree

  • Cotinus obovatus
  • Flowering in: Summer
  • Height: 10-15 ft
American Smoketree
Jim Linwood American Smoketree

Native to Tennessee, northern Alabama, and Kentucky, American Smoke Tree is an attractive upright tree with a multi-trunked bark. It produces beautiful clusters of pink and purple flowers. It also features an open crown with spreading branches decorated with blue-green leaves that turn orange and red in fall. This drought-tolerant tree prefers full sun and stony, well-drained soils. 

12. Franklin Tree

  • Franklinia alatamaha
  • Flowering in: Summer
  • Height: 10-20 ft
Franklin Tree Franklinia alatamaha
Tom Potterfield Franklin Tree (Franklinia alatamaha)

Franklin Tree is a single-trunk, multi-stemmed shrub or small tree with a rounded crown. It produces camellia-like, sweetly-fragrant, cup-shaped white flowers that contain yellow center stamens. It features narrow, oblong-ovate, glossy dark green leaves that turn red, orange, and purple in fall. It thrives in full sun to part shade and organically rich, adequately moist, well-drained soils. 

13. Carolina Silverbell or Mountain Silverbell

  • Halesia carolina or h. monticola
  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 30-40 ft
Halesia carolina.
Meneerke Bloem Halesia carolina.

Mountain Silverbell is an ornamental, deciduous understory tree with a wide, rounded crown. It produces arresting clusters of two to five hanging, bell-shaped, white flowers. It features finely toothed, ovate, dark yellowish-green leaves, and pale green fruits. This low-maintenance tree grows in organically full sun or part shade and rich, moist, acidic, well-drained soils. 

14. Witch Hazel

  • Hamamelis x intermedia
  • Flowering in: Late Winter to early Spring
  • Height: 10-20 ft
Witch Hazel hamamelis x intermedia
Yay Witch Hazel (hamamelis x intermedia)

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

15. Seven-Son Flower

  • Heptacodium miconioides
  • Flowering in: Summer
  • Height: 10 ft
Heptacodium miconioides Seven Son Flower Tree
K M Seven-Son Flower Tree ( Heptacodium miconioides )

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

16. Golden Rain Tree

  • Koelreuteria paniculata
  • Flowering in: Late spring to early summer
  • Height: 30-40 ft
Koelreuteria paniculata
H.Zell Koelreuteria paniculata

Golden Rain Tree is an elegant, medium-sized, deciduous tree with a rounded crown and open branches. It features feathery, purplish-pink, pinnate leaves that turn bright apple-green and then golden-yellow in fall. This low-maintenance tree also produces long clusters of striking rich yellow flowers. It thrives in full sun and dry to medium, well-drained soils.

17. Fauriei Crapemyrtle

  • Lagerstroemia fauriei
  • Flowering in: Summer
  • Height: 35-50 ft
Japanese Crape Myrtle Lagerstroemia fauriei
Wendy Cutler Japanese Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia fauriei)

Native to Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Fauriei Crapemyrtle is a deciduous, multi-stemmed tree with a rounded crown and arching branches. It has an attractive, peeling cinnamon bark, light green leaves, and white flowers. It bears capsule-like, succulent, green fruits that turn dark brown when ripened. This tree prefers to grow in full sun and moist, well-drained soils.

18. Southern Magnolia

  • Magnolia grandiflora
  • Flowering in: Summer
  • Height: 60-80 ft
Magnolia grandiflora.
KENPEI Magnolia grandiflora.

Southern Magnolia is a dense, evergreen tree that produces large, elegant, fragrant, cup-shaped white flowers that grow at the tip of its thick, robust stems. It also features leathery, smooth, dark green leaves with rusty brown undersides. This tree thrives in full sun or part shade and well-drained, organically rich soils that are watered moderately. 

19. Star Magnolia

  • Magnolia kobus var. stellata
  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 20 ft
Star Magnolia.
Katja Schulz Star Magnolia (magnolia stellata)

Star Magnolia is a small, striking, pest-resistant tree with an excellent form and glossy, oblong foliage. This ornamental, deciduous shrub produces large, fragrant, star-shaped flowers that cover its barren branches. Its distinctive blooms have 25 to 30 long, ribbon-like petals and a pale-yellow center. This tree likes to grow in well-drained soils and part shade or full sun. 

20. Sweet Bay Magnolia

  • Magnolia virginiana
  • Flowering in: Summer
  • Height: 10-20 ft
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JumpStory Sweetbay Magnolia

Native to the southeastern United States, Sweet Bay Magnolia is a multi-stemmed shrub with a spreading, rounded habitat decorated with shiny green leaves with silvery undersides. It produces slightly fragrant, 9-petaled, creamy white, waxy, cup-shaped flowers. It grows well in full sun to part shade and acidic, moist, organically rich, well-drained soils. 

21. Galaxy Magnolia

  • Flowering in: Spring
  • Height: 30-40 ft
Magnolia Galaxy
Sirpa Tähkämö Magnolia ‘Galaxy’

Galaxy Magnolia is a hybrid, deciduous plant with a single trunk and a large, narrow, pyramidal habitat with ascending branches. It produces fragrant reddish-purple or rose-pink flowers with up to twelve showy petal-like tepals. It features large, ovate, and medium-green leaves that appear in whorl-like clusters. This tree thrives in full sun to part shade and slightly acidic, organically rich, adequately moist, well-drained soils. 

22. Saucer Deciduous Magnolia

  • Magnolia x soulangiana
  • Flowering in: Early spring
  • Height: 20-30 ft
Magnolia × soulangeana
Piotr Kuczynski Magnolia × soulangeana

Saucer Deciduous Magnolia is a breathtaking, versatile, deciduous shrub or small-sized tree. It produces dark-purple flower buds that blossom into stunning, large, fragrant, cup-shaped white and pink flowers that can be six to tell inches tall. It features dark green, smooth, leathery leaves that turn bronze-gold in the fall. This deer-resistant tree grows well in full sun and evenly moist soils.