Prunus, Flowering Cherry 'Okame'

This is a fantastic yard tree with an upright, ovate form. As a hybrid between northern and southern varieties, it's hardy in colder zone...Read Mores and is also tolerant of heat. It's covered with peachy-pink flowers for about two weeks, and is one of the best early sources of nectar and pollen for honey bees. If planted in full sun, it usually starts blooming in early-to-mid March here in the Virginia Piedmont (zone 7a), depending on weather. That's a month before other varieties. I haven't noticed any frost damage, but if you're in an area where that's a major problem you can plant them in morning shade to delay blooming by a couple of weeks. Ours are in poor clay soil, their roots are covered by grass, and I haven't given them any fetilizer. It took a couple of years to become established under those conditions, but with a wet autumn it put on three feet of vertical growth in one year. Okames disappear quickly from our local Lowes and, when I bought the last two, an older lady was apparently so unhappy about it she gave me a one-finger salute as she drove away in her Subaru.

The okame cherry tree does not survive in zone 9b. I talked to a professor that wrote an article for the university of Florida that state...Read Mored it did survive in zone 9. At the time he wrote the article they did survive there. Now he stated that they struggle in Gainesville Fl zone 9a.

These trees rarely fruit, but a seedling from this tree was selected as Prunus 'Dream Catcher' by the US National Arboretum. Propagated b...Read Morey cuttings. Has a beautiful reddish/bronze bark, and is 'semi-drought tolerant' when fully established.

I planted one of these 1 1/2 years ago in my zone 8b garden near Gainesville, Florida. I sited the plant in almost full sun on the edge o...Read Moref a concrete patio. Since planting, it has maintained excellent health and vigor, and has bloomed profusely each spring. Growth seems to be moderate to fast. This plant is a very promising experiment for me. I am tantalized by the beautiful pictures of mature trees that I have seen in periodicals and online. So far, this seems to be an excellent replacement to the pink flowering dogwoods which do not succeed in my area.