Japanese flowering cherry

Photo: Myrabella — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 5 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Grown almost exclusively as an ornamental for its profuse spring blossom; the small blackish fruits are technically edible but sparse and astringent, so they are left for birds rather than harvested for eating. ⚠ Kernels/pits cyanogenic.

Hardiness

Zone 5–8

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Small tree 5–12 m

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Kew circumscribes it as eastern and southern China to North Korea. The Japanese flowering cherries long grown under this name belong to a complex with P. jamasakura, the wild yamazakura of Japan, and P. leveilleana — sources differ on whether those are synonyms of P. serrulata or species in their own right, which is why Japan is in some native ranges for this name and not others.

Status

Ornamental

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Medium — roughly 30–60 cm/year; commercial ornamental cultivars typically stay in the 4.5–7.5 m range versus 15–20+ m for the species in the wild

Spacing

550 cm (217 in) apart — about 30 m² (326 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Ovate to lanceolate leaves 6–13 cm long with finely serrated, often bristle-tipped margins, often flushing bronze-red when young before maturing to dark green.

Root system

Shallow and wide-spreading, like most ornamental cherries — will sucker if the roots are damaged or cut.

Fruit description

Small, pea-sized blackish drupes, 8–10 mm across, each containing one large stone, borne much more sparsely than on fruiting cherry cultivars.

Propagation

Ornamental cultivars are propagated almost entirely by budding or grafting onto Prunus avium, P. mahaleb, or P. serrula rootstock in late winter/early spring, since seedlings don't come true to type; species seed needs about 2–3 months of cold stratification.

Pollination

Hermaphrodite, insect-pollinated flowers — self-fertility isn't specifically documented for this species

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.