Flowering Trees in June

A large number of flowering trees -- including crabapple, maple, cherry and plum species employed for ornamental purposes -- bloom early in spring and are devoid of flowers by June. The number of trees that flower during June is small in U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness zone 2, where winters are frigid. This amount increases for zone 3, and the warmer zones such as 5, 7 and 9 give the landscaper more options. Planting June flowering trees gives you a colorful presence in your landscape as the hot weather sets in for the season.

For those living in USDA zone 3 who cannot get enough of lilacs, the Japanese tree lilac is an option. Growing to 30 feet, the species blooms during June, later than your average lilac does, turning out 12-inch-long clusters of aromatic flowers. Other zone 3 June flowering-tree candidates include the black locust, the fringe tree and the maackia. American linden, nicknamed "bee tree" for its yellow flowers' pull on bees, flowers in June throughout zone 3. Growing up to 80 feet tall, it blooms so profusely and attracts so many bees that an audible humming sound is common around the tree during June.

Moonglow is a sweet bay magnolia cultivar with flowers during the first two weeks of June. In USDA zone 5, this tree grows to 35 feet, has cream-white flowers and is highly tolerant of damp soils. Another June flowering tree for the landscape in zone 5 is the giant dogwood of China and the Himalayas. It grows up to 40 feet tall and produces flat clusters of white flowers that give it late-spring appeal. The Washington hawthorn, bean tree, snowbell and sourwood tree all have June flowers within zone 5.

Plant the smaller cultivar forms of the tulip tree, such as Ardis, in USDA zone 7 so you can get a good view at the tulip-like June flowers. The parent species grows so tall that it's problematic to view the flowers as they open in the tops of the canopy. Dogwood enthusiasts choose the Kousa dogwood for its June flowers in zone 7. The tree grows between 15 and 30 feet and comes with an added perk -- brilliant fall foliage. Common laburnum and the fragrant epaulette tree are other possibilities for June flowers in this zone. Laburnum, from 15 to 25 feet high, features hanging clusters of yellow June flowers. Fragrant epaulette grows up to 50 feet in full sun or light shade, with cream-white, aromatic, bell-shaped flowers.

The actual flowers on an evergreen dogwood, an Asian tree for USDA zone 9, are insignificant ornamentally, but the large modified leaves (bracts) surrounding them are pale yellow and eye-catching. Growing no bigger than 40 feet, evergreen dogwood works as a patio tree or a specimen plant on the lawn. The mimosa tree, Chinese parasol tree, blue elder and southern magnolia all flower during June in zone 9. Edith Bogue is a cultivar of southern magnolia with June flowers smelling like lemons, with some of the blooms as wide as 12 inches.