Prunus 'Okame'

The okame cherry is a small, deciduous tree in the Rosaceae (rose) family and reaches 15 to 30 feet tall at maturity. This tree was a gift from Japan to our capital in the early 1900s and is the one currently featured in Washington DC’s “Cherry Blossom Festival” each spring. 

A hybrid of Prunus campanulata and Prunus incisa, okame cherry transplants easily, requires full sun to partial shade, and grows well in almost any soil, including in heavy clay as long as there is good drainage. It does prefer protection from hot afternoon or reflected sun.

This tree requires little pruning once scaffold branches are established, but the canopy can be pruned to best fit its planting location. The flowering part of the tree is grafted onto a root stock, so it is important to remove any suckers at the base of the tree, as they can be vigorous and they will not have the same beautiful flower show. It will grow at a moderate pace of one to two feet a year. Use an organic mulch on the root zone and refresh it each year to keep the roots cool and moist. Although it appears high maintenance, the tree is actually very easy to grow and is drought, heat, cold, and humidity tolerant.

Okame cherry is stunning as a specimen because it produces abundant, mildly fragrant, rosy-pink flowers with one-inch-long petals in early spring. The flowers completely cover bare branches, appearing earlier than most and lasting longer than other flowering cherries. This tree requires a low number of chill hours so it blooms reliably even in the south. The tree has polished, reddish-brown bark and fall foliage that ranges from bronzy red to bright orange. 

Use this as a patio tree, planted outside a window, to line a pathway or driveway, or in an Asian or cottage themed garden.

Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: Aphids and scale are occasional pest problems. Root rot, blight, and powdery mildew are occasional disease problems. Flowers bloom so early that they can be subject to a late freeze.