As March unfolds, London transforms into a canvas of delicate cherry blossoms. From the early blooms of Prunus ‘Accolade’ to the iconic Tokyo cherry, these trees paint the city in shades of pink and white. Discover the stories behind these floral wonders, from their Japanese heritage to their triumphant rediscoveries. Whether it’s the weeping elegance of P. Kiku-shidare zakura or the grandeur of the Great White cherry, each tree tells a tale. Join us on 24 March to explore the enchanting world of cherries and their springtime magic. Don’t miss this floral journey!
Article
Cherries
Whereas February tends to be dominated by cherry plums (Prunus cerasifera) with a smaller number of almonds (P. dulcis) and Japanese apricots (P. mume), March sees a much wider variety of species, hybrids and varieties. They all gradually increase in numbers as the month progresses. Many of the cherry plums could be identified by their dark barks, round buds and petals without notches. Now we start to see more typical ornamental cherries with their horizontal lines of lenticels, longer buds and distinctly notched petals. They are on the whole very difficult to identify exactly but you can get some idea of their parentage by looking at their size, shape and the number of petals in each flower as well as its colour.
One of the earliest to come into flower in March is P. ‘Accolade’ whose flowers like a number of other species are said to mark the end of winter. It has semi-double pale rose-pink flowers that hang in clusters of three. Being the first of the large-flowered cherries and also possessing long wispy branches it is often regarded as one of the most beautiful of all. The Fuji cherries (P. incisa) are another early group. The species itself grows wild on the slopes of Mount Fuji in Japan. There are many different forms but what we generally notice are trees completely covered in flowers. Ernest Henry Wilson, another famous plant hunter who collected in China and generally travelled by sedan chair, said of it “No cherry is more hardy, more floriferous or more lovely”. Another early cherry introduced by Wilson is P. conradinae which can have white or pink flowers but is always scented. The first cherry we see with pink frilled petals may well be the popular P. ‘Okame’. Its colour is described as fuschine-pink and its flowers are well know to attract bees.
As we get more towards mid March we may well start to notice a cherry with large, single, deep cerise-coloured flowers that are both wide open and made up of round petals. This could well be P. ‘Kursar’. A much more famous species typical of mid March is the Tokyo cherry P. x yedoensis.
It has the palest pink flowers that fade to white and smell strongly of almonds. It is found all over Tokyo where it famously scents the streets and forms the so-called ‘pink ceilings’ in parks. Like many cherries they quickly lose their petals en masse which for many Japanese is always a reminder of the tragic loss of life in the second World war. It is now the national flower of Japan.
As late March approaches it will get ever harder to identify the cherries coming into flower. The apple blossom cherry P. ‘Amanogawa’ is one of the easiest due to its strict upright habit and fragrant pink flowers. It is enormously popular, only growing to six metres and therefore a must for small gardens. ‘Amanogawa’ means celestial river referring to the milky way. Another widely planted easy to recognise variety is Cheal’s weeping cherry P. Kiku-shidare zakura. It is usually a dome of cascading bunches of deep rose-pink double petalled flowers. Its Japanese name means weeping chrysanthemum tree.
The star of the late March cherries is the Great White cherry P. Tai-haku which has the largest of all white cherry flowers often six centimetres across. Always regarded as one of the greatest of all it was believed to be lost to cultivation. That was until Captain Collingwood Ingram, a cherry specialist at Wisley, after being shown an eighteenth century picture of it realised he had re-discovered it in a Sussex garden. From there it made a triumphant return to Japan in 1932 and can now be found more or less all over the temperate world.
The Great Mountain cherry or Sargent’s cherry P. sargentii is also widely planted in London mainly for its autumn colour. However, it might be recognised now by its single pink flowers with dark edges and yellow anthers. Similarly P. ‘Pandora’ is another common cherry which has single white flowers with pink edges which can look very muich like apple blossom. Others with labels can be found both at Kew and Wisley but for sheer enjoyment all you need to do is walk along the cherry avenues in our larger parks, especially Kensington gardens and Regent’s park.
