Enjoy more MO flowering trees

As spring continues to advance across Missouri, so does a beautiful parade of native flowering trees and shrubs. While you may have already spotted some of the early-bloomers, such as serviceberry and redbud, there are still plenty more flowering trees to enjoy yet this spring.

Here are a few of the late-bloomers you can spot now and in the coming weeks:

Buckeyes produce showy, upright stalks lined with flowers in April and May. In southern Missouri, watch for the small but stunning red buckeye with its firecracker-like flowers. Though less showy than its southern relative, Ohio buckeye is found statewide and produces clusters of greenish-yellow flowers. The blooms of both these buckeyes are highly attractive to hummingbirds and other pollinators.

Flowering dogwood opens its iconic white blooms as the redbud flowers begin to fade. But the blossoms of Missouri’s state tree are not what they seem—the large, white “petals” are specialized leaves, known as bracts, which surround a cluster of more than two dozen tiny green flowers in the center.

Sassafras blooms before producing leaves, generally when most other trees like oaks have already started leafing out. The flowers of sassafras grow from the tips of twigs and resemble neon-yellow pom-poms. Look for sassafras along the edges of wooded areas, old fields, and fence rows.

Black cherry produces leaves prior to blooming, providing a green backdrop for its vibrant white flowers. Slender stalks of fragrant blossoms eventually mature into drooping clusters of bittersweet cherries— an excellent food source for wildlife.

Visit the MDC website for more information on Missouri’s native spring-flowering trees.