Readers Respond: Which Small Trees Are Your Favorite Types of Trees?

What types of trees are your favorites among the small specimens (30 feet tall or less)? And why are those particular types of trees your favorites?

For example, among small flowering trees you might like flowering dogwood best, due to the beauty of its leaves in fall, as well as of its blooms in spring. Likewise, we'd like to know if, say, the combination of glaucous foliage and weeping habit is what sold you on weeping blue cedar.

Our reasons for assigning "favorite" status aren't always rational, of course. So don't forget emotional reasons such as "I grew up with a corkscrew filbert in my parents' yard."

Carob Tree

A proven favourite tree is the Carob tree. It is perhaps best known for being a chocolate substitute. This plant is shade, bird and bee friendly, and it is also an ancient food and money tree.

—Guest R.Horton

YES, Prairie Fire Crab

Agree with jenhartman1--Prairie Fire is absolutely gorgeous! With the blossoms in Spring and the purple leaves and bark, it stands out all year long. They remain shrubby and full and are not supposed to be trimmed at all. The fruit is small and never makes a mess; the birds eat most of it. Planted in groups, it make an outstanding statement on the landscape. They are fairing very well here in southeastern Colorado.

—Guest Kathleen Norris

Beautiful Foliage All Summer Long

Cercis canadenesis "Silver Cloud" easily tops my list. I just love those large heart shaped leaves with all that white varigation. It really stands out, the can't-miss plant in my yard.

—Guest Dave

Favorite Small Tree

Chinese Fringe Tree - Chiananthus retusus. This tree has beautiful white flowers, glossy foliage, blue fruit and shaggy bark. It should be used more.

—Guest Tim Wood

'Prairiefire' Crabapple

This tree has bright-pink, fragrant blooms in the spring, colorful leaves in the fall, and berries to feed the robins in the spring. I love it!

—jenhartman1

My Lovely Dwarf Bougainvillea

I have designed this tree as a small flowering tree, it provides lovely pink color many times during a year. It's behind my kitchen window and most of the time I enjoy looking at it.

—Guest mojgan

dwarf trees

I love true dwarf fruit trees especially compact stella and lapins cherry trees. I have a yard full of dwarf fruit trees, some I have espaliered instead of putting up a regular fence.

—Guest Charlie

Palms, Redbud Top Types of Tree

When we vacation in Florida, I fall in love with the small palm trees there. They symbolize "vacation" and "warm weather." Back home, my favorite type of tree for small trees is redbud. I like the way it looks when the branches are covered in pink fuzz when it blooms. None of the other small flowering trees strike me as being so delicate, refined.

—Guest Paul Bunyan