When’s the last time you stood outside in your condo, apartment, or HOA common area, took a good sniff and said “Aaahhhhh?”
If it’s been a while, maybe it’s time to add some beautiful aromatic trees.
Flowering trees are great for spectacular curb appeal with their bursts of bountiful blooms, but when your common area trees also offer an intoxicating scent, that’s a luxurious bonus.
Residents gather in condo, apartment, and HOA common areas, so sweet-smelling blossoms coax them closer for an intoxicating whiff under a fluffy pastel canopy.
Aromatic trees are a great choice for along sidewalks and near patios and seating areas.
Level Green landscape designer Richard Sweeney shares five of his favorites for condo, apartment, and HOA common areas:
Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana)
This native tree boasts big, fragrant, creamy white blooms that appear in May and June. Take a sniff, and you’ll smell a lovely lemony scent.
The elegant flowers are tucked amid glossy green leaves that offer their own stunning surprise: the undersides of the leaves are bright silvery white, revealing silver ripples in the breeze.
The fun continues into fall, when you can watch birds and squirrels tussle over the bright red seeds that burst out of its cone-shaped fruit.
This aromatic tree blooms best in full sun, but you’ll get fragrant flowers in partial sun, too.
Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
One of the most beautiful native trees, the Southern magnolia is famous for its fragrant flowers — creamy-white, cup-shaped, and a stunning eight inches across with six thick petals. The flowers appear throughout the summer and into fall.
This aromatic tree has a straight trunk and a dense growth of smooth, leathery evergreen leaves 5-10 inches long, shiny on top and rust-colored below.
This is a great tree for large sites like condo, apartment, and HOA common areas, as it needs plenty of room to grow.
Japanese Tree Lilac (Syringa reticulata)
Get ready for gorgeous fragrant blooms as big as your head.
The Japanese tree lilac boasts clusters of white, fragrant flowers about a foot long and 10 inches wide.
Available as a multi-stemmed shrub or a tree with a single trunk, both have a lovely shape that looks great in condo, apartment, and HOA common areas.
After the flowers fade, the aromatic tree produces seed pods that attract songbirds.
Interesting, reddish bark with white markings give it year-round interest, a great feature for common area trees.
The fragrant blooms last just a couple weeks in early summer, but the timing is perfect — after most spring bloomers are through for the year and before summer bloomers are in flower.
Bonus: the Japanese lilac tree is easy care, keeping its lovely shape without major pruning.
Black Locust (Robinia Pseudoacacia ‘Bessoniana’)
Rope-like clusters of fragrant pink and white flowers appear on this black locust in mid-spring.
But black locust is more than a springtime pretty face.
This aromatic tree is known for its ability to grow in almost any type of soil, from dry sandy soil to urban compact soil, great for condo, apartment, and HOA common areas.
A great tree for quick coverage, it’s also prized for its rapid growth. Want to block a less-than-lovely view? This black locust grows 40 feet tall and about 20 feet wide, creating a lush and leafy screen.
Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
A spring-flowering favorite, this beauty explodes in fragrant rosy pink flowers that line its branches.
The early blossoms attract several species of early-season butterflies, as well as several songbirds who snack on the seeds.
Leaves emerge a reddish color, turning dark green as summer approaches and then yellow in the fall.
This aromatic tree makes a bold landscape statement, with its irregular branching and graceful crown.
Discover The Best Aromatic Trees With Level Green
Whether you need one perfect aromatic tree to highlight your condo, apartment, and HOA common areas or a whole stand of fragrant flowering beauties for impact, let us set you up with the best aromatic trees for your landscape.
If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers.
Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.
Contact us at 202-544-0968.You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.
We’d love to hear from you.
Image Source: Sweet Bay Magnolia, Southern Magnolia, Japanese Tree Lilac, Black Locust, Eastern Redbud
