Purple trees Virginia is the state to grow them in! Although many purple species aren’t directly native to the country, Virginia’s temperate climate offers plenty of flowering trees to be grown.
The only thing that will stand in the way is how much commitment and quality soil can you provide to these lovely beauties. Nevertheless, these unique beauties will be completely worth the effort!
Contents
The List of Purple Trees in Virginia
Virginia’s climate is often categorized as a subtropical one. Some portions of this state have a subtropical highland climate, especially near the Appalachian mountains.
The average winter temperature sits at a comfortable 64 degrees Fahrenheit, and the summer daily temperature averages 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
This puts Virginia in a moderately mild climate zone range of between five and eight, and these trees would grow perfectly well in these regions.
1. Eastern Redbud
This giant deciduous tree is admired for its purple colors. Scientifically known as Cercis Canadensis, it grows a beautiful rounded crown with extending horizontal branches.
– Characteristics
A bunch of rose and pink flowers will be emerging in the early spring, creating a fairly dramatic display. The flowers of the Eastern redbud are attracting honey bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to the canopy. The amazing flowers will turn into seedpods sometime during late spring and early summer. These will last for the remainder of the year up until early winter.
– Features
These beautiful trees have amazing leaves in the shape of hearts.
The leaves will be slightly blue at the beginning but will turn green in the summer. A striking golden-yellow fall color creates yet another impressive show.
– Growing Conditions
Eastern redbud will grow up to 30 feet tall and will reach a canopy width of 30 feet. It enjoys partial shade and moist soil. However, you’d want the soil to be aerated for its roots to breathe and develop properly.
Just as it is a Virginian tree, this beautiful purple tree will love to grow in mild climate zones of four to nine, and should easily grow accustomed to the regions’ climate.
– Problems
This tree is largely free of pests, but canker, mildew, and wilt may occur. Dieback is often an issue as well. Treat the tree with insecticide and fungicide as soon as the flowers show.
2. Crape Myrtle
Crape myrtle or Lagerstroemia indica ‘Tonto’ is a small upright shrub or deciduous tree known for its purple flowers. The flowers adorn the branch tips and are fairly long, which adds an effect to the appearance of Crape myrtle.
– Growing Season
Blooms appear somewhat later in the season, blooming from summer to late fall. Its dark green leaves will turn purple in the fall, just before they drop.
The falling leaves will reveal a beautiful winter silhouette with a uniquely gorgeous smooth bark. All in all, this tree is a wonderful specimen and provides great ornamental value throughout the year, not just for one season only.
– Growing Conditions
They love full sun and are grown easily in medium moisture, well-drained soils. They are tolerant to summer heat and will survive periods of drought. You shouldn’t neglect it, however – if you aren’t able to give it water in the summer, a top layer of mulch will do fine to protect the roots, and keeping them moist.
Basically, when the requirements are granted, these trees grow up to 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide. In addition, the myrtle family trees thrive in climate zones six to nine, so they should do well in your Virginia garden.
– Problems
The Lagerstroemia indica tree has amazing resistance to most pests and will even tolerate grazing animals, even though for other trees this may be a problem. However, if new flowers appear early on, you can remove them to ensure branch extension.
3. Cherry Tree
Cherry trees are award-winning small deciduous trees. The flowering cherry is one of the most attractive cherry specie. This is the perfect choice for landscape design, the flowering cherry is an ornamental tree that won’t let you down.
– Features
Starting from the pink buds in the early spring, a huge amount of pink and purple flowers profuse in clusters up until late spring. These amazing flowers are big and count up to 12 petals, providing a dazzling display for your spring garden. The flowers are replaced with dark green leaves, creating a refreshing summer canopy.
On another note, the leaves will turn orange for the fall color show. The winter silhouette is equally beautiful, with smooth red bark on the bare tree.
– Growing Conditions
The cherry tree will grow up to 25 feet tall and equally wide. Provided the conditions, of course. They love moist, fertile, and well-drained soils. This unique tree is perfect to have as a single statement tree. In addition, these beautiful trees thrive in climate zones four to nine, which should be good enough for Virginia gardeners.
– Problems
Being fruit trees, cherries will have issues with caterpillars, bullfinches, moths, cankers, and blossom wilt. Also, in the midsummer, silver leaf can become an issue. For best results, treat with good organic insecticide and fungicide every two months of the growing season.
4. Fringe Tree
Fringe tree or Chionanthus virginicus is a Virginia native! This beautiful deciduous shrub tree looks spectacular when in bloom. From late spring all the way to early summer, the tree is full of fragrant white and pink flowers.
As the flowers mature, they’ll fall and create a summer snow show. The female flowers will turn into dark blue and purple fruit in the summer, which will attract birds and wildlife.
– Features
The fringe tree’s foliage resembles long spear points and is a lovely hue of green. In fall, the leaves turn golden-yellow before they begin to drop. This is an ideal urban landscape design plant, as it tolerates high pollution levels. Try panting this one as a single specimen, or in a mixed tree border.
– Growing Conditions
The fringe tree loves full sun but will do okay in partial shade too. They’re incredibly well-grown in moist, fertile, and especially in a very well-drained soil. You should investigate how to make the soil a bit acidic, as they’ll love it.
These trees are ones that are highly tolerant to prolonged dry spells this one is low maintenance and perfect for beginner growers. On another note, these trees are virtually pest and disease free, with very low pruning needs. You can propagate them easily too from seeds in the colder fall months.
5. Sweet Bay Magnolia Tree
Bay Magnolias or Magnolia Virginia are a beautiful variety of blooming trees that can be grown as slender upright or small shrubs.
– Features
The Sweetbay magnolia tree is appraised for its handsome foliage, cone-shaped fruit, and gray bark. The blossoms give way to cone-shaped red and purple seeds of the oncoming fruits. The Sweetbay magnolia is perfect for small patios or in singles as a specimen tree.
– Characteristics
This tree is considered evergreen in the mild climate of Virginia and can create some wonderful scenes in your garden the whole year long.
Its flowers have the scent of lemons and appear in mid-spring, they will bloom up until late summer. They have the most interesting patterns, opening in the mornings and closing in the evenings.
– Growing Conditions
This one enjoys full sun and grows best in acidic, moist, and well-drained soil. They’re adaptable to all kinds of growing conditions. They will tolerate water-clogged soil too, making it a perfect feature for ponds and bodies of water.
On another note, you these magnolia trees are diseases and pest free. You can prune them anytime in the growing season, as the dormant trees won’t fare well with wounds. Being native to the Atlantic coast, these Sweetbay Magnolias will do great in climate zones of five to ten.
6. Chaste Tree
These trees will add some funky purple to your summer garden. Vitex agnus-castus or the chaste tree is a deciduous shrub, highly praised for the long flowering season and foliage virtually resistant to pests and diseases.
– Characteristics
This upright flowering tree sports sage-scented green leaves with silvery bottom, producing an astonishing effect in the wind. An astonishing array of fragrant blue and purple flowers appear and bloom from summer to autumn, attracting huge amounts of butterflies, singing birds, and bees.
This tree is fairly low maintenance – if you leave it untouched, it will naturally form a well-balanced posture, and this is one of its characteristics and reason why it is loved. It will do extremely well planted next to bed flowers and other blooming plants.
– Growing Conditions
This vigorous grower will grow up to 15 feet tall and 12 feet wide at maximum. They are full sun lovers and are easily grown in medium moist and well-drained soils. They adore the heat as well, and you’ll have no issues with the summer’s heat waves. However, once Vitex agnus-castus is established, it can tolerate prolonged droughts as well.
– Problems
Chaste trees can develop fungal problems, of which leaf spots and root rots are most pronounced, but they’re altogether very tolerant and recover well from any problems. It can show invasive tendencies, being an imported tree, but if you grow it as a specimen, you shouldn’t have problems in the beautiful climate of Virginia.
7. Tulip Poplar
This giant is a wonderful deciduous tree growing in a pyramidal-shaped way when young, and it is known as the Tulip Poplar. As it ages, the canopy turns to an oval shape.
– Features
In late spring the tree develops beautiful tulip-like flowers in pink and purple colors. The blooms are often yellow, green, and orange with soft hues of purple and pink at the base of the tree.
The flowers are magnificent to look at from close. However, they grow only at the top once the tree reaches maturity. In late summer, these flowers turn into lavender colored cone-shaped fruits, just as the fall season is approaching. The fruits stay there up until early winter, creating yet another beautiful scene.
This amazing flowering tree sports beautiful bright green leaves. These will turn yellow in the autumn before they fall. An ideal tree for large landscaping, it will call to a range of bird species that enjoy nesting in trees.
– Growing Conditions
Poplars will grow up to 70 feet tall and 40 feet wide. This is a full-sun lover and is easily grown in fertile, moist, and well-drained soils.
For it to grow vigorously, you should look for a more acidic soil mix. The tulip poplar will solemnly do well in too-dry conditions. Being a tree that thrives in climate zones four to nine, it’s a perfect specimen to be grown in Virginia.
– Problems
This tree isn’t subject to any pests or infestations and will show resistance to grazing animals as well. Which means overall it would not grant you big problems.
8. Jacaranda Tree
The awarded jacaranda mimosifolia or the Green Ebony tree is definitely a beaut.
– Growing Seasons
The jacaranda tree is covered with purple and blue trumpet-shaped blossoms from late spring to early summer. This flowering tree puts on a floral show unlike anything else. In warmer climates, the tree can suddenly burst into blossoms at any given time. The beautiful flowers give way to mahogany seed heads which are often used in floral arrangements.
– Features
The fine bright green foliage can be either evergreen or deciduous, depending on the climate.
This moderately-growing tree grows in an upright fashion with an umbrella-shaped canopy. The younger jacaranda trees often do not flower, so you’ll have to be patient and wait for them to mature.
– Growing Conditions
The jacaranda mimosifolia enjoys sandy, fertile, evenly moist soil and full sun. You shouldn’t allow the soil to fully dry, as the jacaranda tree won’t tolerate this.
Jacaranda mimosifolias typically grow to 50 feet tall and 30 feet wide, if the growth conditions are provided properly. Native to South America, they’ll enjoy climate zones in the range of 10 to 11, although they should do fine in Virginia.
– Pests and Climate Zone of Jacaranda Tree
Jacaranda trees are usually pest and disease free, however, you shouldn’t over water it. On another note, if you grow them indoors, they can develop aphid and white fly problems.
9. Dogwood Tree
A flowering dogwood tree or Cornus Florida is a large shrubby deciduous growing a rounded canopy and elegant horizontal luscious branches. Star-shaped blossoms emerge on dogwood in early spring right before the first leaves show up.
– Features
Flowering dogwood tree grows oval and glossy leaves. In autumn, the foliage turns red, making this tree even more gorgeous. The bark of a Cornus Florida tree is similar to alligator skin – catching on a nice gray and brown hue as the tree matures and grows tall.
Truly an attractive-looking presence in any garden. The blossoms are round and pointy, purple at the top and slowly fading to white towards their center. A rounded red fruit appears in the summer in place of the fragrant blossoms.
– Growing Conditions
Dogwood trees grow 30 feet tall and 30 feet wide. They will do well in partial shade, fertile, acidic, and well-drained soils. In addition, full sun to partial shade will do them good. Although they will tolerate the full sun, they are still considered to be shade-loving trees.
You can protect the roots by mulching the topsoil in summer. However, you must note that this tree is native to most of the US mainland, they will do perfectly well in the climate zones of four to eight, making them ideal to be grown under the Virginia sky.
– Pests and Climate Zone of Dogwoods
Dogwood trees are pest free, although they can experience chestnut scale issues and several other fungal diseases, and you must tackle them soon enough, or else they would harm your tree in the long run.
10. Star Magnolia
Star Platt or star magnolia is easily regarded as one of the best purple flowering magnolias. It is a large deciduous shrub, growing beautiful scented pale purple blossoms.
– Features
The blossoms generally grow in early and mid-spring. These incredibly beautiful blossoms are truly a sight – as many as 32 narrow and long petals protrude from the flower center keeping their royal appearance from the bud formation up until they fall off.
These petals form a star-shaped flower after which these beautiful trees are named for. The star magnolia blooms form on bare branches even before the foliage emerges.
– Growing Conditions
Star magnolias grow up to 15 feet tall and 12 feet wide. They love both the full sun and the partial shade. The plant will grow vigorously in moist, acidic, organic, and well-drained soil.
Provided the soil can retain moisture, they’ll do just fine in alkaline conditions as well. Although they can withstand clay and loamy soils, you should look to throw in some gravel to shake it up a bit.
They’re best replanted when dormant, and can be propagated easily by ripe cuttings in both summer and fall. Despite all of the issues, they will do perfectly fine in Virginia, as they perform best in climate zones of four to eight.
– Pests and Climate Zone of Star Magnolia
Star magnolias are often attacked by scale insects, fungi, and phytophthora rot. They won’t react well to a sudden late frost hit as well, so you should look to protect them in the early stage of development.
Conclusion
Purple flowering trees have a special place in everyone’s hearts.
However, regarding the trees of Virginia, here is what we covered in this article:
- They are seen as rare occasions and are very much appreciated for the scenes they create. If you’re from the Virginia area, you should count yourself lucky as you’ll be able to grow a wide variety of these beautiful blossomy things.
- Most of these trees would thrive as they are placed in the zones four to nine, and the climate is a little cold.
- These purple trees of Virginia are special ones, as they would bloom up showing their beautiful purple flowers in the spring when the state is in its blooming phase.
Whether you’re in to grow a tall purple giant, or a small shrubby delicate, from great eastern to the wonderful Jacaranda, you’ll be able to grow these specimens with no issues here!
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