Six Spring Bloomers to See in Nashville This Season

As winter gives way to spring, certain flowering trees awaken earlier than others. In this article, we’ll highlight six blossoming trees that can be found and appreciated across Nashville in the first half of spring.

Six Early Spring Blooming Trees

Some of the most recognizable trees that grow flowers in Nashville over March and April include:

• Red maple

• Eastern redbud

• Serviceberry

• Pawpaw

• Cherry and plum

• Apple

Red Maple

Red maple trees are usually the very first to flower in a new year, with tiny red buds appearing as early as February. The small red or orange flowers grow in clusters and are cold-hardy, able to tolerate the frosts of late winter and early spring. As large canopy trees, red maples grow tall and wide, and their blossoms easily stand out when other trees are still bare. 

Eastern Redbud

A popular native ornamental is the eastern redbud, whose bright purple flowers bloom in March as some of the first flowers to announce the arrival of spring. Varieties of this understory tree range in color from pale purple to fluorescent pink and even white. The flowers grow tightly against the tree’s dark, slender branches (known as cauliflory) and offer a showy and joyous signal of warmer weather’s arrival.

Serviceberry

With thin, spaciously arranged white petals, the flowers of a serviceberry create a fluffy floral haze around this understory tree’s slim and numerous lead branches. The delicate-looking tree blooms in March and plays an important role as one of the first sources of spring energy for local pollinators. Some species have reddish-tinged leaves flushing along with the white flowers, giving the tree a pinkish blush. 

Pawpaw

The pawpaw tree’s early and mid-spring flowers are a deep reddish purple, with two tiers of three triangular petals opening in a bell shape to expose a light green center. These beautiful and particular flowers grow along the understory tree’s lean branches in tandem with the budding leaves. The dark flowers and bright leaves contrast with each other and against the tree’s pale gray bark, creating unique visual interest in this early spring bloomer. 

Cherry and Plum

Flowering cherry and plum trees are prized exotic ornamentals whose annual flowering are enjoyed each year as a celebration of the beginning of spring. Blooming in March and April, flowering cherry and plum trees have been cultivated for their white, pink, or reddish petals and comparatively small fruits. Fruiting cultivars of cherries and plums also bloom in the first half of spring, while the black cherry tree (an American canopy species) blossoms with tiny white flowers in mid to late spring. 

Apple

Ranging from white to red, apple tree flowers blossom in April and May as another cheerful spring greeting. Apple trees come in a large number of varieties: fruitless crabapple trees that emphasize the specimen’s spring flowers and summer foliage, fruiting crabapples that add more ornament as the year progresses, and edible cultivars that produce a wide range of nutritious and delicious apples following their spring floral adornment.

The Benefits of Planting Flowering Trees

One of the benefits of planting different kinds of flowering trees across your yard is enabling a wide range of blooming periods to fill up springtime from March through June! Since any flower on any given tree only holds on for a few weeks, the wave of species and specimens blooming and wilting adds an ongoing variety that local residents can appreciate all spring long.

However, this rolling blossom offers more than just visual interest throughout spring; it also allows the pollination season to be an active and productive period for insects and trees alike. While some trees release their pollen into the wind, others produce colorful flowers that attract pollinators like butterflies, moths, and bees, who depend on the nectar of those flowers as their main source of nutrients and energy.

Watching Branches for Blooms

In a city like Nashville, whose many neighborhoods, parks, and surrounding wilderness areas contain trees of all species and sizes, it’s not too difficult to locate some of these early spring bloomers on a walk around a neighborhood or in transit across town. Keep an eye on the budding branches of trees to identify and appreciate these early-flowering species as spring blooms!

Browse the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps’ tree sale for one of these flowering tree species to ornament your yard and make a contribution to the local canopy ecosystem! You can also volunteer with us to plant and/or care for trees or donate a tree for us to plant. We welcome and appreciate financial contributions (donations from Nashville residents and groups are an essential source of funding to fulfill our mission!)

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