Prunus Pandora - Cherry

The Prunus 'Pandora' is a variety of flowering cherry tree cultivated for its beautiful compact vase-shaped silhouette and its early and abundant flowering. In April, this deciduous tree is covered with thousands of small pure white flowers with delicate pink tips. Its oval foliage follows, offering warm bronze tones when it buds and a red-orange autumn spectacle before falling. Its small to medium size and upright habit in its youth then widen at maturity, making it a perfect tree for decorating small gardens, flowering a country hedge, or illuminating the entrance of the house. Hardy and easy to grow, it prefers full sun and a rather rich, well-drained, deep, and moist soil.

The Prunus 'Pandora', belonging to the large family of Rosaceae, is a cultivar resulting from the cross-breeding between Prunus (x) subhirtella 'Rosea' and Prunus yedoensis. It is commonly accepted nowadays that Prunus (x) subhirtella is a spontaneous hybrid native to East Asia. Prunus (x) yedoensis is a hybrid obtained in Japan in 1864, through the cross-breeding of Prunus speciosa and Prunus subhirtella. All these small trees belong to the large family of Rosaceae.

'Pandora' stands out for its abundant spring flowering of pure white with a touch of pink, giving a rosy glow to its blooming crown. It is a deciduous tree with moderate development and rapid growth, reaching an average height of 6m (20ft) with a 4m (13ft) spread. It develops one or several very short trunks and a crown that is first upright and columnar, then widening with age. Flowering occurs in April depending on the region. The flowers, gathered in small clusters, suspended by a short peduncle, are single. They emerge from rose-washed buds and then open into 3cm (1in) diameter corollas, white infused with pale pink on the edge of its delicate petals and crowned with golden yellow stamens. As they open, they fade until they become pure white. The flowers are followed by the formation of a few small fruits that turn red when ripe. The foliage, deciduous, consists of alternate, ovate leaves, 5-7cm (2-3in) long, coarsely toothed along the edges. The lamina, bronze in spring, turns dark green in summer and orange and red in autumn. The bark is grey-brown and peels off in thin flakes.

Its twisted branch lines makes the flowering cherry tree suitable for bonsai cultivation. 'Pandora', shining from the first beautiful days of spring, of modest stature and requiring very little maintenance, is suitable for small gardens, where it will be particularly highlighted when isolated or at the centre of a perennial bed whose flowering takes over from spring to summer. You can also plant it in a bed or as a free-standing hedge. Perfectly hardy, it can be grown in many regions but dislikes compact and clayey soils or excessively dry conditions. For example, in a hedge or bed, it can be associated with other spring-flowering shrubs, simultaneously or staggered, such as forsythias, Japanese quince, hedge honeysuckle (Lonicera xylosteum), ornamental apple trees, flowering peaches, Chinese almond trees, hawthorns, Japanese apricot (Prunus mume). A carpet of blue hyacinths, liverworts, or grape hyacinths would be very effective at its base.