Add Colour And Vibrancy To The Garden

If you love beautiful blooms, then look no further than these flowering trees – they not only provide shade but add colour and vibrancy to the garden.

- Marie Esterhuyse

Blossom tree

(Virgilia divaricata)

With an abundance of fragrant pink pea-like flowers, the blossom tree takes your breath away in spring. It’s a rapid grower and should, with good care, reach its mature size within a few years.

Although the tree has a fairly short lifespan (about 20 years), its beautiful pink blooms make it a worthwhile choice for a new garden. This fast grower will soon provide shade, structure and colour. Blossom trees do well in compost-rich sandy and loamy soil and need sufficient water until established. Protect young trees from frost; mature blossom trees can handle some frost.

Virgilia oroboides is very similar, bearing lighter pink blooms in summer.

Tip Plant a slow-growing tree such as yellowwood under the fast-growing blossom tree. It will provide the necessary protection and shade while the yellowwood is still small. When the blossom tree eventually dies, the yellowwood will already be well established.

PLANT GUIDE

Full sun

Light frost

Average water needs

Evergreen

Grows 6–10m tall and 3m wide

Coast coral tree (Erythrina caffra)

There are few trees that can compare to our indigenous coast coral tree. From winter to spring it boasts bright orange blooms on bare branches. After the flowering season it is still a beautiful sight in summer with its light green foliage. The coast coral tree is easy to grow, it blooms for a long

period and is also drought resistant. The tree will grow in virtually any well-drained soil in gardens over large parts of the country. It is not suitable for cold regions.