Peak Bloom Time: The flowering cherries peak in March through early April.
The Japanese apricot (Prunus mume) bloom time varies greatly with the weather but can bloom as early as the last week of February and is finished by the last week of March.
The weeping higan cherry (P. pendula) and the Kanzan cherries (P. ‘Kanzan’) will likely bloom all four weeks of April.
The Yoshino cherries (Prunus x yedoensis) are usually at their best the first and second weeks of April.
Whether you call it sakura (Japanese), yīng huā (Mandarin Chinese) or cherry, these members of the Rosaceae family grace our Garden with their majestic yet delicate beauty each March and April. The Missouri Botanical Garden displays over 230 individuals in the genus Prunus, the genus that contains not only ornamental flowering cherries, but also fruit trees such as cherries, peaches, nectarines, almonds, plums and apricots.
In the Japanese Garden map (pdf) alone there are over 150 examples, representing 9 species and 7 hybrid cultivars, while the proximal Chinese Garden houses nearly a dozen specimens that represent 5 species.
The earliest bloomer in our collection is the Japanese apricot, or Prunus mume, of which 7 are located in the Chinese and Japanese Gardens. P. mume can bloom as early as the end of February, exhibiting ‘spicily fragrant,’ simple white flowers. The P. mume cultivar ‘Peggy Clark’ yields is covered by full flowers with rose pink petals. The Chinese Garden also contains the cold sensitive P. persica ‘Alboplena Pendula’ and P. glandulosa ‘Sinensis', or the Chinese plum. This cultivar is noted for its double pink flowers.
Flowering trees are hard to miss while walking the 14 acres of the Japanese Garden during the peak spring blooming season. On display are P. cerasifera , or cherry plums; P. takesimensis, a Chinese flowering cherry; over a dozen 'Kanzan', noted for frilly pink blossoms throughout April; and nearly 20 of the late-March blooming P. subhirtella, or higan cherry trees. Perhaps the most dramatic flowering cherry in our collection is the P. pendula 'Pendula Rosea,' or weeping higan cherry, which produces sweeping branches covered with rosy umbels of flowers in April, before leafing out. There are over 40 weeping higan cherry trees throughout the garden, with dozens in the Japanese Garden alone. The Sargent cherry, or P. sargentii, blooms after leafing out in April, and its pink blossoms can be seen in both the Boxwood and Japanese Gardens. There are over 40 specimens of Prunus x yedoensis, or Yoshino cherry, exhibited throughout the Japanese Garden and the adjacent Carver Garden, blooming in early April with fragrant white blossoms. Also look for P. serotina, or wild black cherry, which is native to N. America and produces diminutive, fragrant, white flowers that hang in a cluster.
The Kemper Center for Home Gardening displays several other Prunus spp. of note, including some that bear fruit. P. persica var. nectarina 'Mericrest' is a dwarf tree that produces not only lovely blooms in April but also standard-sized nectarine fruit. P. persica 'Bonfire' is an ornamental peach that yields branches covered in blooms in late March into April, in the Kemper Family Vegetable Garden. In the Kemper Carver Garden, the Mount Fuji cherry 'Shirotae' produces white blossoms that are both light pink and fragrant in late March to early April.
Walking the Missouri Botanical Garden between the last two weeks of March through the first week of April will wipe away those memories of our most recent winter. |
