Ornamental cherry
Stake young trees for the first two to three years, and mark your calendar to prune in summer only for the tree's whole life.
Care
Needed for the best blossom display.
Water well while establishing; avoid waterlogged ground.
Fertile, well-drained soil; dislikes heavy, poorly drained clay.
Prune only in summer, never in winter — winter cuts risk silver leaf disease and bacterial canker entering the wound.
A general feed in early spring for a young tree or one growing in grass; an established specimen in a border needs nothing. Keep feed and mulch clear of the trunk, where they encourage rot at the graft union.
Not a home job: ornamental cherries are grafted onto selected rootstocks, which control the eventual size and habit, and nothing you raise from a cutting or a stone will resemble the tree you have.
Month by month
Months change with the climate: in southern Italy tomatoes go out two months earlier than in England.
- AprilEnjoy the spring blossom display.
- JulyPrune only now, in summer, if shaping or thinning is needed. how ›
- SeptemberEnjoy autumn leaf colour on many cultivars.
Months based on climate: UK. Your choice stays on this device.
- AprilEnjoy the spring blossom display.
- JulyPrune only now, in summer, if shaping or thinning is needed. how ›
- SeptemberEnjoy autumn leaf colour on many cultivars.
Months based on climate: Northern Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchEnjoy the spring blossom display.
- JulyPrune only now, in summer, if shaping or thinning is needed. how ›
- SeptemberEnjoy autumn leaf colour on many cultivars.
Months based on climate: Central Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchEnjoy the spring blossom display.
- JulyPrune only now, in summer, if shaping or thinning is needed. how ›
- OctoberEnjoy autumn leaf colour on many cultivars.
Months based on climate: Southern Italy and islands. Your choice stays on this device.
Common problems
How to spot it. Purple-silver sheen on leaves, branch dieback.
What to do. Caused by fungal spores entering winter wounds — prune only in summer, cut out and dispose of affected wood.
How to spot it. Gummy, oozing wounds on bark, dieback of shoots.
What to do. As silver leaf, prune only in summer; cut out affected wood well below the visible damage.
How to spot it. On soft new spring growth.
What to do. Encourage predators; tolerate low levels.
Popular varieties
Questions
Ornamental cherry: is it hardy?
H6: Hardy in the vast majority of UK gardens. It survives down to −20 °C.
Can it grow in a pot?
Compact and weeping cultivars do well in a large pot for several years; larger cultivars need open ground long-term.
Ornamental cherry: when do you prune it?
Prune only in summer, never in winter — winter cuts risk silver leaf disease and bacterial canker entering the wound. In the calendar for UK, pruning falls in July.
Ornamental cherry: when does it flower?
In the climate of UK it flowers in March–April.
When do you feed it?
A general feed in early spring for a young tree or one growing in grass; an established specimen in a border needs nothing. Keep feed and mulch clear of the trunk, where they encourage rot at the graft union. Feeding months, UK: March.