We're Adding A Flowering Cherry Tree To The Arboretum

Earlier this Spring, I spent time in Tokyo where in addition to heading to Tokyo Disneyland and checking out the fish market, we were also there during the peak Cherry Blossom season.  I wrote about the trees here on the blog back in April.  I've been enamored with the trees ever since.  And trees have been on my mind lately as we continue to think about our yard.  I'm trying to get an early start on trees, because unlike sod or even flowers or bushes, trees take much longer to mature to the point to where they've grown into their size.  I've already posted about how we picked up a Dawn Redwood tree and planted it.  I also posted about the space we're going to fill in with either flowering pear trees or perhaps European Hornbeams along our northside.  And, of course, there's the Linden trees that I'm going to try to espalier.   (At what point, can we start calling it an arboretum??)

For Mother's Day, I also picked up Nat a Japanese flowering Cherry tree.  A Kwanzan Flowering Cherry tree to be exact.  Prunus serrulata Kwanzan.  You can read all the details on the tree including what I would normally consider some fatal flaws (and would give me great pause about planting this tree in our new yard) like it's susceptibility to diseases (leaf spot, root rot, powdery mildew) and pests (beetles, borers, aphids, caterpillars).  But, just take one look at what the blooms look like in the photo below.  They almost give peonies a run for their money, don't they?

Via Missouri Botanical Garden

That photo above is from the Missouri Botanical Garden, but this one below is from our actual tree.  I got  small caliper tree (1") that you can see at the very top of this post, but the blooms are massive and almost weigh the delicate branches down as they strain to keep upright.  

I'll find a home for this beauty somewhere it will get some sun but also close enough for us to enjoy the show during the Spring from inside the house.