Environmental factors, i. e. precipitation, temperature, and sunshine duration, are considered the determinate factors of variation in plant phenology. However, whether environmental factors singly affect phenological change is still unknown. Phylogenetic structure refers to a developmental sequence of plants along evolutionary time; however, there is no consensus regarding whether phylogenetic structure affects plant phenology. In this paper, the initial flowering time, falling flower times, and duration of the flowering period of 31 woody plants, were investigated in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Subsequently, the distribution pattern in flowering phenology, the differences in flowering phenology between trees and shrubs, and the regression relationships between flowering phenology and phylogenetic structure were analyzed to explain the relationship between flowering phenology and phylogeny in woody plants. The results showed that:(1) the initial flowering time, falling flower time, and the duration of the flowering period was April 18th±9 days, May 5th±12 days, and 16 days±8 days, respectively, for 31 woody plants of Urumqi; (2) standard deviations of the initial flowering time and falling flower time of trees were higher than those of shrubs, indicating that trees have a greater stability of flowering phenology than shrubs; (3) the initial flowering time and falling flower time of trees were significantly earlier than those of shrubs (P<0.05), whereas the duration of flowering period was not significantly different (P>0.05); (4) the time interval of the initial flowering time, the falling flower time, and the duration of the flowering period had a significantly positive linear relationship with the phylogenetic distances between different species (P<0.05). In conclusion, the differentiation between trees and shrubs in the vertical space changed the flowering phenology across plant life types. Additionally, although environmental factors change flowering phenology, phylogenetic structure also may play an important role in variation in flowering phenology among species, among biotypes, and along temporal and spatial scales.