Early blossom is welcome in the country garden… or in any garden come to think of it! In our garden we have fruit trees which flower in April and May but right now that seems like a long time off, especially since a couple of beautiful really early flowering trees have just caught my eye.

The Fuji Cherry Prunus incisa ‘Praecox’ flowers in February before leaves appear on the tree. Blossom is tiny and fabulous. It’s pink in bud opening to white. This is often referred to as a bush cherry. It has a shrubby rounded habit and twiggy branches which are perfect for cutting for the house.
Multi stemmed trees like this are brilliant for adding a country feel to a  garden. Smart trees with nice straight trunks belong on smart city streets I think… this early flowering cherry says country garden through and through to me. It’s a small tree reaching about three metres tall in ten years and eventually peaking at just six metres.

I’m extending the Spring Garden this year. I have just bought a small flowering shrub to include in the planting scheme. It is Prunus incisa but this is a cultivar called ‘Yamadai’ which is new to me. According to the label it will grow to just 2.5 metres in five years. It’s only about 40 cm high now but I can already imagine it in years to come underplanted with spring bulbs.

The blossom is slightly larger and is pure white. It flowers in March just as the leaves are beginning to unfurl. That’s  a month or two later than Prunus incisa‘Praecox’ which may mean the blossom won’t suffer from frost damage. We’ll see. O_o