By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

If you have a little space—a wide path or even a driveway—bordering rows of flowering trees can transform it. Two favorites are flowering plums because they are among the first trees to bloom in spring, and goldenchain trees, whose cascading flowers appear at the end of spring. Plant both kinds now from inexpensive bare-root stock, and they'll be working their full floral magic in four or five years.

The pink rows of 'Thundercloud' plums pictured here border J.R. and Carolyn Tiede's driveway in Winlock, Washington. They give a lovely country-casual elegance to what would otherwise be just a commonplace entry. If you're traveling from Portland to Seattle, you'll probably notice these in their glory about the end of March on the east side of Interstate 5 just north of exit 63.

The yellow goldenchain trees (Laburnum x watereri) shown below are in Dave and Pat Eckerdt's garden in Salem, Oregon. Because goldenchain's beauty is in its hanging clusters of flowers, the Eckerdts trained these trees over a steel frame. A slight caution is in order here: Laburnums are toxic in all their parts.