7 Showy Pennsylvania Trees to See This Spring

By: Andrew Conboy trees

The face-numbing winds, scarce daylight, and dormant vegetation of winter invite us to slow down, reflect, and relax. I do enjoy the first month or two of this slow season. But come early March, I long for the procession of rejuvenating blooms, fragrances, and flushes of green, delicate growth. Did the Virginia bluebells that I quickly buried last year make it through the winter? How much higher will my young white oak tree stretch this year? Will all the snowpack we got this past winter have a positive effect on our plant friends? My mind races!

So, to hopefully make my spring excitement contagious, here are seven amazing trees that you must see sometime this season. Read on for some tips on where to find them and how to identify them. Or join me on a guided hike at Black River Sanctuary where you can identify trees that interest you!

Thanks to the tremendous work by the folks at Wildlands Conservancy, there’s no better place in the Lehigh Valley to see these trees than in the wild at one of Wildlands’ 14 nature preserves. With over 33 miles of hiking trails across more than 60,000 protected acres, you’re bound to make some exciting discoveries.

My list of trees is ordered by spring bloom time, starting with the earliest bloomer. You can click each of the species names to be taken to my favorite community science platform, iNaturalist, to see observations of that species made within a Wildlands preserve!

1: Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

Red maple is one of the first native plants to bloom in the spring, and its flowers open up in early-to-mid-March! Look out for bright red, pom-pom-shaped flowers at the tips of the branches. You likely won’t see much insect activity around these flowers, as they primarily rely on the wind to move their pollen between flowers. It is one of the most popular native trees for landscaping, and it is known for its attractive fall color. You can find red maple commonly in the woods at South Mountain Preserve and Black River Sanctuary!

Photo by Jeff Davis (jtdavis05) CC0

2: Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

One of the trees I look forward to seeing the most each spring is the Eastern redbud! Bursting with unique shades of pink in early-to-mid April, few flowering trees can match the redbud’s radiance. I will seek out a redbud on a warm spring day just to observe the hundreds of native bees visiting its flowers. You can find Eastern Redbuds at South Mountain Preserve along the Alpine St Trail.

3: American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia)

Sometimes considered either a small tree or large shrub, the American bladdernut is not a very common one in the Lehigh Valley, so it’s a real treat if you find one in bloom. The whitish-green, drooping, bell-like flowers attract native bees and flies, and once pollinated, mature into unique, inflated seed pods that resemble a bladder-like bag. You must see them for yourself! Bladdernut trees can be found at Lock Ridge Park in Alburtis and Lehigh Parkway in Allentown.

4: Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Thanks to its beautiful blooms, the flowering dogwood is one of the most recognizable native trees. A smaller understory tree that sticks to woodland edges or dappled sunlight, it puts on an incredible display in mid-to-late April! But did you know that its flowers are actually tiny and yellow, and not white? The large, white appendages are called  “bracts” and are often mistaken for the flowering dogwood’s flower. The white bracts help attract pollinators to the tiny yellow flowers at the center. You can find some Dogwoods at the South Mountain Preserve along the Alpine St Trail.

5: Chestnut Oak (Quercus montana) and other oaks

It would be silly to talk about trees without mentioning our native oaks! Oak trees are the backbone of many of the Lehigh Valley’s woodland ecosystems, championing immense biodiversity. Their leaves feed hundreds of caterpillar species, helping to feed local birds, and their acorns are a top forest food item.

Many oak species can be found throughout Wildlands’ preserves, including an intriguing population of Bear Oak (Quercus illicifolia), a relatively uncommon species, at the Maple Tract Preserve! Keep on the lookout for dangling catkins (male flowers) drooping down from oak branches in mid-to-late April! Oaks are wind-pollinated, so their flowers aren’t incredibly showy, but if you look closely, you may be able to spot some baby acorns. Many oak species can be found in the woods at South Mountain Preserve and Black River Sanctuary.

From left to right: chestnut oak, acorns by Rachel Butler

6: Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

The tulip-tree bears hundreds of these pretty, tulip-like flowers on a single mature tree! However, they can be hard to see up close, since this species is among the tallest trees in our forests. If you want to see the flowers and the various pollinators seeking its nectar, look for open grown trees with lower branches at South Mountain Preserve, Black River Sanctuary, and probably most others!

7: Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

Pennsylvania’s state flower is a gorgeous and charismatic small-tree-to-large-shrub in the understory of acidic woodlands. The flowers have a unique “catapulting” mechanism to tag pollinators with pollen to help ensure successful pollination! You can expect these in late May or early June, and they are a must-see! Look for mountain laurel at South Mountain, Black River Sanctuary, and Maple Tract. Its closely related cousin, the sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) can also be found at Maple Tract Preserve.

About Andrew Conboy

I could go on and on about all the amazing trees and plants to look for during the spring, but the most important thing is for you to get out there! Bring your family, friends, or dog (on-leash), and take a stroll through any of Wildlands’ nature preserves! That is precisely how my arboricultural journey started about seven years ago when I was a graduate student at Lehigh University.

To help escape the pressures and stressors of academia, I frequently visited South Mountain Preserve, where I first learned to identify many of the species mentioned here. I became so interested in these trees and their ecology that I ended up pursuing a career —a really TREE-riffic one—in this field!

Join me on Sunday, April 19th at Black River Sanctuary for a guided tree walk! I’ll point out some of these amazing species, talk about how to identify them, and discuss some of their important roles in our ecosystems. 

Upcoming Trees-mendous Events

WOOD you join us out here to connect with nature, the plants, and trees?

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