What a beautiful time of year we have reached here in southern Iowa! Redbuds are in full bloom and grace our cities, towns and country sides with wonderful shades of purplish pink. Serviceberry is another one I have seen blooming. The Magnolias that bloomed about 2 weeks ago are done blooming now. Lilacs and Crab apples are just starting to flower and will take center stage in the coming days.

Ornamental Pears are in full bloom as well and bring a nice shade of white across yards and boulevards of many communities. Ornamental Pears are a good signification that you are in the middle to southern of the country because you can usually only find these trees from the Des Moines area southward. They are a nice tree if you like white flowers with purple centers. These trees bloom as the same times as Redbuds, so they create quite a nice display when planted together.

 

This is a Redbud that I planted in the fall of last year. Redbud trees are native only to the southern one-third of Iowa with Des Moines being on the far northern fridge. South of this area you can find these trees thriving wonderfully in the woods and along roads including I-35. Breeders in Minnesota have accomplished breeding a species of Redbud called Minnesota Strain that can survive winters as far north as Minneapolis, MN, so in recent years we’ve seen this tree appearing in landscapes throughout the entire state. If you don’t get MN-strain and collect seed or get a seedling from southern Iowa and plant it north of I-80, it will have a chance of not being hardy enough and could die back to the snow line each year.

Spring bulbs are now on the downward trend in the landscape, but perennials have joined them in gracing our area gardens. Pictured here are some creeping phlox in the northern Iowa city of Clear Lake, where they have just started to flower. Here in southern Iowa they have been blooming for 2 weeks and are in full bloom now. Columbine is another perennial I have seen blooming as well. All other perennials and grasses have broken dormancy and will provide much-needed summer color in the coming months.

Trees have really started to take off this week with the rain and 70 to 80 degree highs we have seen for the past few days. All tree species, including mid-to-late late varieties like Hack berry, Oak and Elm are starting to leaf out. Maples, especially silver maples, are starting to develop enough leaves that shade is started to be cast. When looking across the canopy, 70% of all trees have some type of small leaves or flowers, but there is no species that has full-sized leaves yet, which I like to call “the leaves of summer.” My next post will feature crab apples and Lilacs. I will also soon be making my first posts that will follow the prairie in its growth stages!