I would like to plant three Japanese Cherries in the lawn in front of my house. I prefer a more umbrella shape as I would like some shade and, aesthetically, I prefer it to the upright style. The trees should also not become too tall as we are in a 'view' area of North Vancouver and my neighbours will be upset with me if I block their view. We are approximately 25-35 feet below them. I've viewed many of the pictures of various cherry trees in Vancouver and many seem to be HUGE. I did once have cherry trees planted in the same area when we first moved into our house but they caught some fungal disease from the neighbour's trees and died. Since this was 20 years ago I am assuming that there would be no lingering fungal spores in the soil. Does anyone have a good suggestion for which cherry tree would be best and which supplier might have the product. Also, is it still a good time to plant or should I wait until next Spring?
How tall and wide do you want? "Some fungal disease from the neighbour's trees": what, exactly happened would need to be known to have any idea what present risk might be. Best planting time is fall. However, garden centers have biggest selection in spring. If bought bare-rooted, would be purchased and planted in late winter.
I really don't know the exact disease that the cherries had. I remember reading up about it at the time and discovering that they should be sprayed with some kind of 'copper' spray, I think. It was the same stuff that the District used to spray their cherry trees. I did this for one or two years but then abandoned the task because the neighbours were not spraying theirs and it seemed futile. There was very little foliage on the trees and they seemed to have grey lichen attached to the limbs. I had the trees chopped down and the stumps ground. I am hoping that the trees would not get any taller than 25 feet with possibly a 15-20 foot spread. Alternatively, rather than planting three trees, I could plant just one or two if the spread is an issue. I also have a huge Magnolia which is planted about 25 feet below where I intend to plant the cherries. I'm not sure if that is too close to the proposed cherry location for them to receive adequate moisture, nourishment etc. By the way, do you know if it's okay to prune the Magnolia in the Fall? I really need to think of my neighbours view.
If you have to view prune (top) the magnolia then it should be removed instead of re-cutting it year after year into an ugly condition. If you are not locked into the specific appearance of a Japanese Flowering Cherry a Flowering Crabapple could be used instead. Disease-resistant and naturally small-growing kinds are available. Malus 'Adirondack'/'Prairifire'/'Professor Sprenger'/'Red Jewel' ---Crabapple Small colorful trees with pretty flowers and fruits; they are relatively disease-free. These four are but a few of the worthwhile ones. Good substitutes for problem-prone flowering cherries http://www.arthurleej.com/a-Trees of merit.html
I would still like some recommendations on which Japanese Cherry(ies) best fit(s) my preferences: not too tall at mature height; umbrella shaped, primarily so that I receive the maximum shade.
The most disease resistant flowering cherry that is available is 'Akebono', which will probably not grow more than 15' or 20' tall in 20 years, unless the area is shaded (but shading will reduce flowering, so in that case it would be better to reconsider cherries, anyway). 'Akebono' is upright-spreading in youth. 'Snow Fountains' is a weeping cultivar (and thus, generally mushroom-shaped) that can be trained on a high standard (to create a tall mushroom), but such a plant may be difficult to find. 'Accolade' and 'Shirotae' are wide-spreading trees, and will require careful management if crowded (copper sprays may be beneficial). Consider planting just one. For three trees, 'Shogetsu' would be ideal (in terms of size and crown shape) if it weren't so disease prone.
The thing about the flowering crabapples is that as I discovered when newly resident in the Pacific Northwest, these trees are as lovely as cherries, much much smaller and more delicate in appearance, with daintier leaves, and lovely dainty blossoms, and the roots don't take over the garden universe. The crabapples grown here themselves were a surprise to this Easterner [our crabapples are generous in size, like plums in size] with their tiny fruit more like some kind of cherry or berry in size -- I wondered what in heck these trees were for the longest while, never having seen that type of crabapple.
Next thing we know, we really are going to have to make this a Crabapple Festival, as Ron B suggested in a discussion that begins here in the Scouts Comments thread. Phooey. The Akebono our building planted about 20 years ago is a beautiful shade tree now and is much nicer looking all summer than the crabapple street trees in the neighbourhood. I haven't let anybody prune it, so all the people who used to sunbathe in that section of the garden have moved to the lawn on the other side of the building.
Yikes, I like cherry trees too, but we have the difficult case of having had a Kanzan cherry planted years ago in each of our front strata townhouse yards, and they have grown so big. The correspondent above indicated he/she would be planting three cherry trees...I hope the right ones are chosen, smaller-growing. Our Kanzans should be out in the middle of a parkland grassy space... I am enjoying mine more, now that our Fall tanglefoot procedure involving wrapping a band of duct tape or plastic around the trunk at about chest level, with tanglefoot spread on it, and leaving that on all winter, has limited the upward-walking incursions of fall and winter moths laying eggs-to-larvae in the branches, and we are losing fewer leaves in the spring and early summer; and in actual fact our landscaper has pollarded a small percentage of them on an experimental basis [not considered a tree-friendly procedure, I know] and those trees seem to be thriving as smaller representations of themselves... I just think these crabapples, when cared for, not let to survive on their own totally as boulevard trees in traffic-heavy, polluted areas, storefronts, etc., are a wonderful small tree for urban situations along with cherries -- the right cherries!
There are hundreds of kinds of flowering crabapples with varying characteristics, including ornamental value and disease resistance. New ones continue to be selected and put on the market. An old ugly planting of an obsolete variety does not represent the full range. As with orchard apple trees, stone fruits and rose cultivars, suitability of each selection varies regionally.
