Prunus, Japanese Flowering Cherry, Kwanzan Cherry, Sheraton Cherry 'Kanzan'

I fell in love with Kwanzans when we moved into a house with one in the front yard. For two full weeks every spring, they burst into a ma...Read Moress of pink petals. That makes up for a lot of the faults that others have mentioned. Their moderate size and vase shape make them a good choice for a front yard, although the branches do start to droop lower with age and the roots can make growing grass underneath them a challenge. The leaves emerge with a bronze color and end with a nice fall color display. But let's be honest, it's really about the bloom. You can expect Kwanzans to bloom about a week after Yoshinos, a mid-April event in D.C. (depending on weather). Because they bloom later, leaves are starting to emerge at the same time, detracting slightly from the otherwise superior flowers. They are also different from Yoshinos in that Kwanzan flowers are distinctly pink and are double. I don't plant double flowers because they're not accessible to honey bees, but made an exception for Kwanzan. I bought one at Lowes and, to my surprise, it turned out to be a mislabeled Okame cherry. I've since come to realize Okames are a better tree overall, even if they can't quite match the sheer quantity of Kwanzan flower petals.

Happy to be able to identify this beautiful tree. Came with our 7 year old home. Love the smooth bark. Yes it only blooms for 2 weeks. Bi...Read Moreg pink double flowers. Otherwise the tree is low maintinance. No fruit.

This is by far the most commonly planted ornamental cherry around here. The pink flowers are huge, and this tree is the latest cherry to ...Read Morebloom. I enjoy the pink snowstorm that ends the display. And the leaves do give some color in the fall.

But I agree that this tree's habit isn't very graceful. And, like most cherries, its thirsty shallow roots make it hard to underplant with perennials in the garden. For 50 weeks a year it doesn't contribute much to the garden. And our 20-year-old tree is approaching the end of its life.

For the garden, I think 'Hally Jolivette' is a much better choice, for its more manageable size and its much longer season of bloom.

Very beautiful, but short lived. Many of the serrulata live for only 10-15 years, and Kwanzan is worse than most. Ours lived on 7 years a...Read Morefter purchase, and we later learned from Michael Dirr that viruses lead to gradual decline, and then death. In our experience, if you put one in of any size (ours was about seven feet) you will get only a few years from it, and then it must be removed. NOT RECOMMENDED!