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Our Favourite Trees - The Best Trees for your Garden!

Written By Shauna Lambeth 25 Sep 2025

Fall is an excellent time to add trees to your garden! Whether you are looking for a flowering tree, dramatic texture and foliage or a tree to provide shade, we have what you are looking for.

To ensure your tree thrives, remember to plant it well. Dig a hole suitable for the eventual size of the tree and add good amendments, such as bone meal, peat moss or coir, as well as manure or compost. Water well after planting and provide water regularly from April to the end of September each year.

Our Favourite Trees - The Best Trees for your Garden!

Fall is an excellent time to add trees to your garden! Whether you are looking for a flowering tree, dramatic texture and foliage or a tree to provide shade, we have what you are looking for.

To ensure your tree thrives, remember to plant it well. Dig a hole suitable for the eventual size of the tree and add good amendments, such as bone meal, peat moss or coir, as well as manure or compost. Water well after planting and provide water regularly from April to the end of September each year. 

🌸Flowering Trees

Akebono Flowering Cherry (Prunus × yedoensis ‘Akebono’)

Beautiful soft pink, fluffy semi-double blooms of Akebono Cherry Trees grace our streets right now. These are the beauties planted in front of City Hall. After full bloom, when the flower petals begin to fall, they are like pink snowflakes swirling and drifting on the breeze.

Mature size 15-25'' tall x 10’-15' wide

 

Kwanzan Flowering Cherry (Prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’)

Fully double flowers of a rich, deep pink cover the branches of Kwanzan Flowering Cherries in Spring. Lining Campbell River's Shoppers Row, at the Tidemark Theatre or Vancouver's Georgia Street, most of us have seen and enjoyed their beauty.

Mature size 15'-25' tall x 15'-25' wide

 

Mt Fuji Flowering Cherry (Prunus serrulata 'Shirotae')

Beautiful, fully double white flowers cover the branches of the Mt. Fuji Flowering Cherry Tree.

Mature size 15' tall x 15'-20' wide

Double Weeping Pink Cherry (Prunus subhirtella 'Pendula Plena Rosea')

Profuse, double-pink flowers trail down the weeping branches of this flowering Cherry Tree, making it wonderful for small spaces.

Mature size grafted at about 5’ in height x 10’ wide.

 

Thundercloud Flowering Plum (Prunus cerasifera 'Thundercloud')

A lovely accent tree with purple leaves and pretty pink flowers in spring combines to make this tree a beautiful sight throughout the season.

Mature height 15’-20’ tall and wide

Eddie's White Wonder Dogwood (Cornus x ‘Eddie's White Wonder’)

A cross of our own Pacific Dogwood, Eddies White Wonder, has large white bracts (false petals) in abundance. The branching structure is open, layered and graceful. Choose a space carefully for a dogwood tree, as it prefers morning sun and afternoon shade.

Mature size 20' tall x 15' wide

Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)

Star magnolias are small trees with more of a rounded shrub shape than what we typically think of for trees. Masses of star-shaped white or blush pink flowers, depending on variety, appear on bare branches. Mature size 8'-20' tall x 8'-10' wide

Saucer Magnolia (Magnolia × soulangeana)

Saucer Magnolias have large, saucer-shaped flowers that, depending on the variety, may be shades of white, pink or mauve. A mature Saucer Magnolia is a truly breathtaking sight.

Mature size 20' tall x 15' wide

Crimson Cloud Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata 'Crimson Cloud')

Large clusters of small, red flowers drape beautifully along the branches, giving the tree a weeping appearance. Shiny red berries develop for fall and winter interest.

Size 15' tall x 15' wide

Stewartia pseudocamellia (Stewartia pseudocamellia)

Everything about the Stewartia tree is interesting: the lovely white flowers, the orange-red fall colour of the leaves and the exfoliating bark of a mature specimen. Although slow-growing, this tree will eventually be tall and stately; the Stewartia pseudocamellia makes an excellent vertical accent in your garden.

Size 20'-30 tall x 15' wide

Japanese Snowbell (Styrax japonica)

Delicate white flowers resembling pearl drop earrings line the underside of the branches of this small garden tree. The flowers have a wonderful fragrance that can fill your whole yard. 

Size 15'-25' tall x 10-15'' wide

 

🍂Ornamental Trees

Bloodgood (Red Leaf) Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood')

The best standard height red-leafed upright-growing Japanese Maple. Beautiful, brilliant red leaves emerge in spring and deepen to a deep red for the summer, before brightening to crimson in autumn.

Mature height 15’-18’ tall and wide

 

Fireglow (Red Leaf) Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Fireglow’)

Fireglow is much like Bloodgood in terms of colouring (fabulous), but is a much smaller tree, making it ideal for small gardens and containers. Fall colours are fiery red!

Mature height 9’ tall and 6’wide

 

Osakazuki (Green Leaf) Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Osakazuki’)

Spring leaves emerge first in copper, then change to green for summer before lighting up in a dazzling fall show of fiery red. One of the finest fall coloured trees.

Mature height 15’-25’ tall x 10’-15’ wide

 

Tamukeyama Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum dissectum 'Tamukeyama'Tamukeyama)

Our favourite weeping, red-leafed Japanese maple. Stronger growing with better summer temperature tolerance than many other cut-leaf varieties. Pleasing mounding habit with excellent red-coloured leaves and beautiful, bright red fall colour.  

Mature height depends on the height of the graft. Generally 3’-5’ tall by 4’-6’ wide

 

Waterfall (Green Cutleaf) Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum dissectum 'Waterfall')

Another of our favourite weeping Japanese maples, this variety has lovely green leaves that turn golden yellow in autumn.

Mature height depends on the height of the graft. Generally, 3’ tall by 4’-6’ wide

Golden Full Moon Maple (Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' formerly Acer japonicum aureum)

The striking chartreuse-yellow, fan-shaped leaves that emerge in spring are unique and delightful. Summer leaves are bright yellow and require afternoon shade. Fall leaves are golden yellow, sometimes with hues of soft orange, as pictured above. If you are looking for a tree for a shade garden, the Full Moon Maple is a lovely choice!

Mature height 8’-10’ (in 10 years) 15’-20’ eventually in ideal conditions.

 

Bowhall Red Maple (Acer rubrum ‘Bowhall’) Shade Tree

Summer green leaves change to striking fall colours of yellow, orange and red. The narrower mature shape of this variety makes it an excellent choice for lining a driveway or for use in commercial designs. However, it is still very well-suited for being planted as a single shade tree in a home garden.

Mature size of 40’ tall and 15’ wide.

 

Red Sunset Red Maple (Acer rubrum ‘Franksred’) Shade Tree

A fast-growing, excellent shade tree for the home gardener! Red Sunset Maple has green summer leaves and vibrant fall colours of orange and red.

Mature size of 40’-50’ tall and 30’ wide.

 

Jacquemontii White Bark Birch (Betula jacquemontii)

This birch variety has the whitest bark of all white birch. The shiny green leaves of summertime change to a glorious golden shade in fall. 

Mature size 30’-40’ tall and 15-20’ wide

 

Cercidiphyllum japonicum (Katsura)

The beautiful, heart-shaped green leaves of the Katsura tree turn golden-orange in the fall and smell like caramel!  This is an excellent tree for home gardeners.

Mature size – 30-50’ tall and 30’ wide

 

Salix babylonica aurea (Weeping Willow)

Graceful weeping, soft green leaves sway in the breeze. Ensure you have sufficient space for the shallow roots to grow.

Mature size 30’-40’ tall and wide

 

Shauna Lambeth ©


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