It’s a beautiful sight in early spring when it is covered with pure white single flowers.
It gives the warm fuzzies that spring is here or near.
Today Prunus cerasifera is grown as root stock for the grafting of well-known fruiting plums.
There are ornamental flowering varieties with the added attraction of purple foliage.
P. cerasifera ‘Pissardii’ has delicate pink blossom.
The foliage is the most distinctive feature where it starts off in a tender ruby red, changing later to claret colour and finally to a dull, heavy purple. It has the bonus of purple red fruit which stews up well for eating.
P. cerasifera ‘‘Nigra’’ has a slightly deeper pink flower and both the leaves and stems are blackish-purple and more intense.
P. ×blireiana is a small tree up to four metres tall and wide, therefore has a rounded habit. The flowers are borne on bare stems.
They are double and bright rose in colour with a slight scent, being equal in beauty to a double flowering peach.
The young leaves are bronze-red but become more or less green by late summer. This plum is believed to be a hybrid between P. cerasifera ‘‘Pissardii’’ and the double pink form of flowering apricot Prunus mume ‘‘Alphandii’’.
As well as being an attraction in the home garden, they are used frequently as a street tree.
Garden Life is produced by Dunedin Botanic Garden.
For further information contact David Askin.
