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Prunus subhirtella autumnalis

December

If I could only have one tree in my garden this would be it. Its most obvious virtue is its winter flowers, intermittent from late autumn to spring depending on the weather, sometimes spoilt by frost but soon having another go. Individually they are small, double, either pink or white, emerging from clustered pink buds. Even a scattering of them catches the eye, as much on a gloomy or stormy day as a sunny one.

This is not all, though. This is no heavy clumsy cherry, with thick limbs, big boring leaves, a scant fortnight in flower and greedy roots. The whole affair is light and graceful, the narrow leaves cast little shade in summer and often turn orange and yellow in autumn.

Over the years I have planted nearly a dozen, using them as winter eye-catchers that make a theme running through the woodland.

I commend this cherry to the garden.

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