Know Your: Spring Blossom

Use our cheat sheet to help you identify spring blossom - even from a moving car! 

Or perhaps to help choose just the right one for a dreamy spring display in your garden.

 

Crabapple

Malus ioensis 

ID: Profuse crimson buds open to single white blossoms on the leafless tree.

Grow: gets to 8 x 8m and makes a handsome shade tree in warm and cool climates. Prefers good rich soil and supplementary summer watering. No pruning needed. The fruit makes delicious jelly!

Photo - Hiyoman / Shutterstock.com

Flowering peach

Prunus persica

ID: There are a couple of different forms: ‘Albo plena’ is white; ‘Klara Mayer’ is double pink; ‘Versicolour’ is smaller than the others and is red and white.

Grow: suited to cool and warm climates in moist, well-drained, fertile soils in full sun or part-shade. Flowers best when pruned immediately after flowering. Spray to prevent leaf curl. Grows 4m x 4m.

Photo - Olha Insite / Shutterstock.com 

Weeping cherry

Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’

ID: Curtains of flowers reminiscent of pale pink lace spill from a single trunk, grafted at 2m for 10-days in spring. ‘Snow Fountain’ has single white blossom and grows to 2.5m. ‘Rosea’ is pink and spreads to 4m.

Grow: For cool climate gardens. Makes a lovely avenue or feature tree with spring bulbs planted beneath. Remove any growth from below the graft.

Flowering pear

Pyrus calleryana

ID: This family of ornamental trees produces white spring blossom and glorious autumn foliage. ‘Aristocrat’ grows to an 11m x 7m oval. ‘Chanticleer’ is a columnar 10m x 5m.

Grow: Good in warm and cool climate gardens. Not fussy about soil but improved rich soil will produce a better tree. Moderate to fast growth rate. No pruning needed. No edible fruit.

Photo - Hikanzakura / Shutterstock.com 

Taiwan cherry

Prunus campanulata

ID: This upright, vase-shaped, small tree, 4m x 3m, is the first of the blossoms into flower with cerise, bell-shaped blooms in late July.

Grow: Great for small gardens, especially Japanese style gardens, in subtropical, warm and cool zones Hardy, no need for pruning, feeding or spraying, attracts honey-eaters.

Photo-  Chocosummer / Shutterstock.com

Cherry plum

Prunus cerasifera ‘Nigra’

ID: With darker foliage than the flowering plum this features shell pink blossom with a prominent boss of dark stamens.

Grow: This small tree, 5m x 4m, develops a rounded crown. Tolerates warm and cool conditions and dry soils. No pruning needed.

Dwarf flowering almond

Prunus glandulosa

ID: This multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub (1m x 1m) is smothered with shaggy blossoms. 'Alba' is a single white; 'Alba Plena' is a double white; 'Rosea Plena’ is double pink.

Grow: Is fantastic as an informal hedge in full sun. Plant the graft union well below soil level to encourage suckering. Prune to the ground after flowering. Suited to Asian style gardens.

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