Introduction to Common Cherry Blossom Varieties and Key Management Points
What is commonly called cherry blossom refers to plants of the subgenus Cerasus within the genus Prunus (Pruns) of the Rosaceae family. There are over 100 species worldwide, distributed in the warm regions of Asia, Europe, and North America; China has 45 species, mainly distributed in the western and southwestern regions. Most are deciduous trees, 5-25 m tall, with broadly spreading crowns, grayish-brown bark with horizontal striations, grayish-white branchlets with small dot-like lenticels, oblong-obovate leaves with pointed tips and wedge-shaped bases, serrated margins, and often glands at the leaf base or on the petiole.
Cherry blossoms are a very important early-spring ornamental flowering tree. Their blooming period is remarkably uniform; whenever the season arrives, the entire tree can burst into bloom overnight, like clouds and rosy mist, magnificent and spectacular; once the flowers fade, fallen petals cover the ground, forming a scene of their own. At present, they are used very extensively in countries and regions around the world; in Japan this is even more so, where they are revered as the national flower.
In China, with the construction of parks and green spaces, spring cherry blossom viewing has become a favored activity in many areas, and their cultivation and application are becoming increasingly widespread.
(1) Cherry blossoms commonly cultivated in China:
Fujian cherry blossom (P. campanulata), also called bellflower cherry, known in Japan as kanhizakura. Native to Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Taiwan, China. Its bark is dark brown; leaves are long-elliptic with pointed tips, rounded bases, doubly serrated margins, and glabrous on both surfaces. 2-3 flowers form an umbel; all flowers are pendulous, the calyx tube is red and bell-shaped, half-opening; petals 5, the flower color is crimson; it blooms before leafing out, with a flowering period from mid-March to early April.
Hill cherry (P. serrulata) is native to North China, East China, and other regions of China, and is also distributed in Japan and Korea. The plant is tall; leaves are ovate-elliptic with caudate-acuminate tips, aristate-serrate margins, and glaucous undersides; young leaves are pale greenish-brown; 3-5 flowers form a corymbose raceme; flower color is white or pink, flower diameter 2-3 cm, stamens 30; flowers and leaves appear together, flowering in April. There are many cultivars, such as 'Hongnandian': petals 7-11, long-elliptic-obovate, purplish-red; 'Shirokiku-zakura': small white single-form flowers, double chrysanthemum-shaped, new leaves green with white undersides.
Tokyo cherry (P. yedoensis), also called Japanese cherry. The tree is tall; leaves are ovate-elliptic with doubly serrated margins; petioles have soft hairs; 3-4 flowers form an umbel or raceme; the common peduncle is extremely short, and the pedicels are 2-2.5 cm long; flowers are white to pinkish-white, petals 5, stamens 36; it blooms before leafing out and has a slight fragrance. The most famous cultivar is 'Somei-yoshino': flower diameter 3.5-4.5 cm; young leaves, pedicels, calyx tube, sepals, and style are densely hairy; flowering period is late March to early April; at this time the whole tree is covered in blossoms, a magnificent sight.
Japanese late cherry (P. lannesiana) leaves are usually obovate with acuminate tips, long-caudate, and the leaf margins have doubly aristate serrations; flowers and leaves appear together; 2-5 flowers form an umbel or corymb. Flower diameter 3.5-4 cm, mostly double. Flowers come in white, pink, red, and greenish colors, flowering in mid-to-late April. Common cultivars are: 'Sekiyama': tree form spreading; 3-5 flowers form an umbel; common peduncle 2.5-3 cm long; flowers purplish-red, flower diameter 5 cm; sepals ovate-long-triangular; petals 20-45; stamens 30-50. It is the most common cultivar in this group. 'Ichiyo': trunk upright; 3 flowers form a corymb; common peduncle 1-2 cm long, pedicels 3.5-4 cm long; flowers pale pink; new leaves green; petals 20-25; stamens 25-35, pistils 1-2 with leaf-like transformation, and the leaf-like portions have fine serrations. 'Fugenzo': branches slanting upward; corymb with 2-3 flowers; common peduncle 1.5-2 cm, pedicels 4 cm long; flower color pale red; new leaves purplish-red; petals 21-50; pistils 2 with leaf-like transformation; flowering later than 'Ichiyo'.
Yunnan cherry has purplish-brown branchlets; leaves are ovate-long-elliptic with long caudate-acuminate tips and sharply doubly serrated margins; flowers usually 2-5, semi-double, pink to deep red, slightly pendulous. The flowering period is from late February to early March; around International Women's Day (March 8), it reaches full bloom locally in Yunnan, with the whole tree brilliantly beautiful and delightful. It is native to southern Tibet and northwestern Yunnan in southwestern China.
Cherry (also called vermilion cherry) has long-elliptic-ovate leaves with pointed tips and doubly serrated margins of varying size. Corymbose inflorescence; pedicels short, 0.8-1.5 cm long; flowers white; stamens 30-32; flowering in early March, blooming before leafing out. Native to China, Japan, Korea, and other places. It is a type with strong resistance and tolerance to poor soil, and does not demand strict soil conditions for cultivation. Its flowers open in early spring, and in summer the fruit is red like coral, offering another kind of charm.
(2) Planting and management of cherry blossoms: According to different environments and functional needs, use specimen planting, mass planting, or clump planting, or establish cherry blossom groves, specialized gardens, and so on. In management, excessive trampling of the planting site, insufficient fertilization, and improper pruning should be given attention. Therefore, to grow cherry blossoms well, it is very important to master the following characteristics of cherry blossoms.
1. Cherry blossoms are a shallow-rooted, sun-loving tree species, and their root system is shallowly distributed. In surveys of mature cherry blossom plants, it was found that 60% of their root system is distributed within 60 cm of the soil surface; of that, 60% of the total is distributed in the top 20 cm of topsoil. For this reason, the planting site must be chosen in an open, sunny area with good drainage and loose soil. In daily management, waterlogging and dryness should be avoided; at the same time, heavy pressure and excessive trampling should be avoided, because these behaviors will make the surface soil excessively compacted and compressed, seriously affecting the growth and development of the root system. At the same time, cherry blossoms have a large annual growth increment and bloom profusely, so sufficient fertilizer must be applied. Generally, fertilizer can be applied twice a year: once in winter as a base fertilizer; the other time should be applied after flowering.
2. After the branches and trunk of cherry blossoms are injured, the wounds heal very slowly. Based on this characteristic, in daily management we must be especially cautious when pruning cherry blossoms. In pruning, the main task is to remove surplus branches and diseased or pest-infested branches; especially for branches thicker than 2 cm, pruning should be minimized; if pruning is necessary, it must be carried out strictly in accordance with scientific standards, and the cut surface must be treated with a preservative, or at least by applying black ink. In addition, when transplanting cherry blossoms, we should avoid transplanting large-sized cherry trees, because: during transplanting, the root system of the transplanted plant will inevitably be damaged; large trees have extensive root systems and suffer extremely severe damage, and combined with the fact that cherry blossoms themselves heal wounds quite slowly, this will inevitably lead to soil-borne disease and pest infection that triggers root diseases.
3. Cherry blossoms have soil sickness and should not be continuously cropped. If the previous crop at the planting site was cherry blossom or closely related species or genera in the Rosaceae such as peach, plum blossom, or plum, it will seriously affect the normal growth and development of the plants. Therefore, in cherry blossom seedling fields, special attention should be paid to the influence of the previous crop. To eliminate the influence of the previous crop, soil improvement can be carried out, such as planting green manure, fallowing, or relatively thorough soil replacement before planting. By all means, do not seek temporary convenience and ease only to achieve half the result with twice the effort.
4. Cherry blossoms are cross-pollinated plants. Their seedling plants have a much higher probability of variation than vegetatively propagated plants, and the variation traits are also greater, which is also the main source of cherry blossom cultivars. Of course, in addition to forming new cultivars, they can also form intergeneric hybrids, such as the famous Tokyo cherry 'Somei-yoshino'. For this reason, we must make full use of this characteristic to breed more and better cherry blossom cultivars.