Care-free tips for growing flowering cherry trees

Flowering cherries are among the most ornamental trees in the spring landscape. Here are some care-free tips to help you choose the perfect flowering cherry tree and help it thrive in your outdoor space.

• Ranging in height from 3.5 to 15 metres (11.5 to 50 feet), flowering cherry trees may stand upright in columns, spread out into broad canopies, or have arching branches.
• The flower colours are limited to white and pink, but the flowers can have flat profiles, open cups or frilly puffs of petals. Those soft pastel colours contrast beautifully with the red-streaked bark and bronze tint of young leaves.
• In fall, many cherry trees offer handsome foliage in shades of red, orange and yellow.

Some cherries are such delicate beauties that they are difficult to grow. But there are plenty of choices among care-free trees.

• One of the best is Sargent cherry (Prunus sargentii), a classic that stands above the rest at a height of 15 metres (50 feet). Hardy to Zone 5, it displays single pink flowers on a rounded crown, has crimson fall foliage and richly hued bark marked with horizontal stripes.
• If your yard doesn't have room for the Sargent's broad branches, try 'Columnaris' or 'Rancho', two flowering varieties with narrow, upright shapes.
• 'Autumnalis' is an unusual plant in that it bears long-lasting,  semi-double white flowers intermittently from fall to spring, depending on the climate.
• Higan cherry (P. × subhirtella) and its many cultivars offer a range of easy-to-grow trees. Most Higan cherries are bushy plants that reach 7.5 to nine metres (25 to 30 feet) tall and are hardy to Zone 7. Several cultivars are smaller and have been grafted to produce a weeping, or arched, shape. 'Pendula', 'Pendula Rosea' and 'Pendular Rubra' are slender trees with big, mushroom-shaped crowns of drooping branches that are smothered with flowers in varying shades of pink. Slightly more cold sensitive than the species, they grow 3.5 to 4.5 metres (11.5 to 15 feet) tall.
• A famous flowering relative is the Yoshino cherry (P. × yedoensis), the species of the famous trees planted in Washington, D.C. The slightly arching branches of Yoshino bears almond-scented white flowers and form a flat-crowned plant 12 metres (40 feet) tall.

• Plant cherries in spring in well-drained but moisture-retentive soil. Keep the soil moist the first year after planting, as drought-stressed trees can fall victim to borers.
• These pests are grubs that bore holes into the trunk, which "bleed" a sticky sap. Borers can rapidly kill young trees, but trees three or more years old can survive untreated. Replace young trees that show signs of borer damage.
• Prune young cherries in late winter to remove broken limbs, thin out crowded branches and help the tree grow into a strong, balanced shape. After five years, pruning should be limited to removing damaged limbs.

Flowering cherries make a colourful statement wherever they are planted. Keep these tips in mind and let them rise over a drift of spring-flowering bulbs or perennials. Plant them in the lawn or beside a path, where the faded spring blossoms will drop to the surface in a confetti of dainty petals. Or place one in a foundation grouping, where the flowers will enliven the green of foliage.