How2Day: The Best Midwestern Flowering Plants & Trees

Most flowering plants and trees in the Midwest provide lovely flowers, colorful fruit and may be edible or attractive to birds. Flowering trees are secondary to shade trees in importance, but they have a visual element that few shade trees match. Make sure your flowering plants and trees fit into your landscape or gardens so as to not overcrowd.

You may think it's not possible to find a tree that truly withstands the harsh Midwest winters and its contrastingly hot, humid summers. The flowering crabapple is one such tree. It's grown widely in the Midwest for its spectacular bloom and fruit. Its flowers blossom all along its branches and come in a variety of hues, including blush pink and a brilliant, snowy white. The entire tree is taken over by these flowers. Its fruit also attracts birds and wildlife, another reason it's so desirable. This tree also has more than 200 varieties from which to choose.

The crabapple is susceptible to several diseases and insects, including apple scab and chewing insects. However, many disease-resistant varieties are available. Some of these bear bright red fruit well into December and others provide showy red and orange leaves in the fall. With the Midwest's long fall and winters, this is certainly a benefit.

This is one of the first shrubs to bloom in spring. Even in the very cold areas of the Midwest, forsythia blossoms as early as the beginning of April, giving you an early dose of the spring and summer color to come. It has bright yellow flowers that blossom for only two weeks during that time.

In addition to its early blooming period, forsythia is extraordinarily cold resistant, with varieties like "Lynwood Gold" and "Morning Glory" having hardy blossoms down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The flower buds on some of the older shrubs are destroyed in harsh winters, hence only the lower parts (below the snow line) of the shrub will bloom on occasion. It's best to go with the more cold-resistant varieties.

It grows from 3 to 8 feet tall. Plants like full sun or light shade with well-drained soil. "Sunrise" is a slightly taller variety developed by Iowa State University, growing 5 to 6 feet tall. "Northern Star," a Minnesota variety, is even taller, at 8 to 10 feet tall with translucent, yellow flowers.

In the Midwest, you can't go wrong with Missouri's state tree. According to the University of Missouri, this tree is the most popular of the Midwest's flowering trees. Its shape ranges from round to upright. It grows up to 30 feet with open, horizontal branching. It grows at a slow to moderate pace. White bracts with flowers appear before the leaves do. It bears glossy, red fruit in the fall, and foliage turns a lustrous scarlet at that time.

Flowering dogwood is abundant in the Midwest because it's valued for its showy flowers. Varieties like "Wellchi" also have spectacular yellow and red leaves in the fall, so it provides beauty even when it's not in bloom, an important quality in the Midwest, where the growing season is relatively short and winters are harsh. There are also many options for propagation, including softwood cuttings, winter hardwood cuttings, buds, grafts and suckers.

This tree thrives in deep, moist well-drained soil. They thrive in the Midwest as long as they're not planted too deeply. Use mulch and improve tight or shallow soils. It needs to be watered during a drought. While flowering dogwood is an ideal plant for most of the Midwest, it's not reliably hardy in the northernmost areas.

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