Prunus First Blush - Ornemental Cherry Tree

Prunus 'First Blush' is a particularly ornamental variety of flowering cherry tree, with a narrow conical habit that makes it suitable for planting in small gardens. This small tree is remarkable for its abundant pink flowering, which appears early in spring, before the leaves. The leaves are a beautiful dark green during the growing season and in autumn, they offer a magnificent spectacle as they turn red and orange. It deserves to be showcased as a solitary specimen on a lawn but it will also find a place in a mixed border.

Prunus First Blush is a horticultural variety resulting from a cross-breeding between P. incisa, which is native to the slopes of Mount Fuji in Japan, and P. campanulata, or Formosan cherry, native to Japan, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam. This small tree has a moderate growth rate and typically reaches a height of 7m with a width of only 3m. It develops a fairly straight and short trunk, covered with grey bark, and forms a conical crown with distinctly upright main branches that branch out for width. Flowering usually occurs in April, earlier or later depending on the region. The flowers appear before the leaves and their profusion completely covers the bare wood. Measuring 3cm in diameter, the very double flowers have numerous petals with a rounded end that is curiously fringed. Grouped in 2 to 4, they bloom at the end of long, flexible floral peduncles. Their pink colour gives them a charm imbued with romance, and the yellow stamen cluster in the center of the corolla is in perfect harmony.
As the flowers decline, the young leaves emerge, changing from a tender green to a darker shade. Elliptical, with a pointed and tapered end, they are doubly toothed all around. With the onset of autumn, their colour begins to turn shades of red and orange, giving the tree the appearance of a vibrant torch.

This small tree is particularly attractive in spring when it is covered with a multitude of flowers, as well as in autumn when it blazes with red and orange. Easy to grow, it thrives in well-prepared ordinary soil and tolerates, and even appreciates, the presence of limestone in the soil. Its ornamental appeal justifies planting it as a solitary specimen on a laen, and you can also create a magnificent composition by associating it with shrubs with foliage in a mixed border. Cotinus coggygria Golden Lady, a smoke bush with leaves that turn from yellow-orange in spring to golden yellow in summer and finally to orange tones in autumn, can be one of them. To add a touch of yellow late in the season, choose Aesculus parviflora, a bushy ornamental horse chestnut that doesn't exceed 3m in height, but spreads much wider, strangely not widely found in our gardens despite its ornamental qualities. Its palmate foliage is architectural and its long white panicles of flowers in late summer are remarkable. And if your border is large enough to accommodate a second small tree, opt for a Ptelea trifoliata Aurea, another unjustly overlooked plant, whose aromatic trifoliate foliage displays a superb golden yellow in spring and autumn.