13 Most Beautiful Flowering Cherry Trees for Your Landscape

It would be difficult for any tree to live up to the reputation that precedes and follows flowering cherries. These are some of the most breathtaking and spectacular spring bloomers, and they’re an asset to the landscape during the other seasons as well. 

One of the nicest surprises about my forever backyard was a cherry tree that we didn’t discover for the first five years that we lived here. It wasn’t until we removed a large oak that it got enough sunlight to bloom. When it flowers, it’s one of the prettiest things in the spring garden. 

Some varieties are susceptible to a number of pests and diseases. They are not drought tolerant, and they need the right amount of sun to bloom. That said, they are absolutely worth the effort. Here are some of the most beautiful and popular flowering cherry trees available for your home landscape. 

‘Yoshino’

	common name ‘Yoshino’
	botanical name Prunus x yedoensis
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 30’-40’
	hardiness zones 5-8

If you’ve been to Washington DC in the spring, you’ve probably experienced the stunning displays of flowering ‘Yoshino’ cherry trees that grace the Tidal Basin. Native to Japan, the name refers to the city now called Tokyo. It’s a large cultivar with a beautiful open canopy and graceful branching habit. It’s not picky about soil, but it won’t tolerate drought, so keep it watered in the absence of regular rain. 

The fragrant white flowers bloom right at the foliage begins to appear. The blossoms open in small clusters and sometimes have a blush of pink. It’s an incredibly profuse bloomer. The fruit is small and dark, it tastes bitter, but is a good food source for birds. The fall colors are yellow with hints of bronze.

‘Kwanzan’

	common name ‘Kwanzan’
	botanical name Prunus serrulata ‘Kanzan’ or ‘Sekizan’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 25’-30’
	hardiness zones 5-9

This variety is a slightly smaller tree, though it can grow up to 30 feet at maturity. It has an upward branching habit that creates an attractive vase shape. This one is often grafted to alternate root stock. It requires minimal pruning, but has quite a number of pests that can become problematic. 

Though ‘Kwanzan’ tends to have a shorter lifespan, it is one of the most popular for its incredible floral display. In spring it produces an incredible number of large, double petaled blossoms in pendulus clusters. The flowers face the ground, so it’s an especially nice tree to sit beneath when it blooms. 

‘Okame’

	common name ‘Okame’
	botanical name Prunus x incam ‘Okame’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 15’-30’
	hardiness zones 6-9

‘Okame’ is a less problematic cultivar that is easy to care for and more heat tolerant than many other flower cherry trees. It’s grafted onto a rootstock, so make sure to remove any suckers from the ground, as they will not match the rest of the tree. It’s a moderate grower, putting on about one to two feet yearly. 

This variety was a gift from Japan to our capital city in the early 1900s. It is the other popular type that you will see there in the spring. It’s a hybrid that transplants well. The flowers nearly cover the bare branches before foliage appears. This one is a major bloomer. The blossoms are bubblegum pink and lightly fragrant, growing in large clusters. 

‘Pendula Plena Rosea’

	common name ‘Pendula Plena Rosea’
	botanical name Prunus pendula  ‘Pendula Plena Rosea’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 15’-25’
	hardiness zones 5-8

Our first weeping cultivar, ‘Pendula Plena Rosea,’ has a graceful, cascading growth habit with slender branches curving toward the earth. It’s commonly grafted, so remove any suckers below the 5′ level, as they will not have the weeping quality. It grows between 15′ and 25′ tall and fits well into more limited spaces. 

The blossoms are pendulous and appear in small clusters of white or blush pink. They’re double petaled with a ruffled edge and come from pink buds. It’s also beautiful in the fall with golden or red leaves that rustle as wind blows the flexible branches. 

‘Snow Fountains’

	common name ‘Snow Fountains’
	botanical name Prunus x ‘Snofozam’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 8’-15’
	hardiness zones 5-8

This is another weeping flowering cherry tree with arching branches that reach all the way to the ground. It’s widely regarded as the prettiest of the weeping cultivars. Its compact size makes this perfect for even small garden spaces, and it makes a stellar focal point. 

As you might imagine, the flowers on ‘Snow Fountains’ are pure white, and the cascading effect makes it look like a fountain. In the fall, this highly ornamental tree turns shades of orange and gold. Its branches are loosely hanging, so you can see through them to the other side of the tree. It’s a lovely effect. 

‘Accolade’

	common name ‘Accolade’
	botanical name Prunus x ‘Accolade’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 20’-25’
	hardiness zones 4-9

‘Accolade’ is a fast-growing, early-blooming variety with a spreading habit. It initially grows upright in a loose vase shape, but as the branches mature, they spread out to a more horizontal position. It’s a winner of the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society and is considered among the prettiest early-blooming cultivars. 

The flowering habit of ‘Accolade’ cherry trees is profuse and stunning. Large, fluffy clusters of powder pink blossoms are pendulous but so abundant that they won’t all have room to face downward. The effect is soft pink clouds of one—to two-inch flowers. This extra showy cherry tree makes an excellent focal point. 

‘Autumnalis’

	common name ‘Autumnalis’
	botanical name Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 20’-30’
	hardiness zones 6-8

‘Autumnalis’ is a unique and highly desirable cultivar that blooms in the fall and again in flushes through the winter and early spring. Its repeat flowering habit is a major draw. It’s a delicate tree with a horizontal habit and a domed shape. Its final flush of blossoms appears along with light green new growth. 

Sweet pink buds appear on bright green stems and open to blush or nearly white blossoms. The canopy is slightly open, creating a light shade beneath. ‘Autumnalis’ is among the longer-lived cherries.

‘Mount Fuji’

	common name ‘Mount Fuji’
	botanical name Prunus serrulata ‘Mount Fuji’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 12’-20’
	hardiness zones 5-8

‘Mount Fuji’ is another winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit. It has a wonderful growth habit, initially growing vertically and then spreading out to a wide horizontal tree at maturity. This habit makes it a bit shorter than other types that continue to grow vertically. It also creates denser foliage, so it makes a nice shade tree. 

This is a white-flowered cultivar that, when in full bloom, resembles a covering of snow. The blossoms are white but bloom from pink buds in double-petal form. They are fragrant. In autumn, the leaves change to a copper color. 

‘Tai-Haku’

	common name ‘Tai-Haku’
	botanical name Prunus serrulata ‘Tai-Haku’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 15’-20’
	hardiness zones 5-8

‘Tai-Haku’ is an ancient cultivar that was once extinct in Japan but has made a resurgence. It’s a medium-sized tree with an open crown and a spreading habit that can spread to a greater width than it grows tall. It won an Award of Garden Merit in 1993 and again in 2012. 

This is the largest flowering of ornamental cherry trees. The pure white blossoms can be as large as two and a half inches across. At the same time that it flowers, it also begins to produce foliage. The leaves have a warm bronze cast that contrasts beautifully with the snowy blooms. 

‘Shiro-Fugen’

	common name ‘Shiro-fugen’
	botanical name Prunus serrulata ‘Shiro-fugen’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 25’-30’
	hardiness zones 6-8

Another winner of the Award of Garden Merit, ‘Shiro-Fugen’ is a stunning tree that matures to an open crown and a slight spreading habit. Its spread isn’t quite as wide as the height, which can be up to 30 feet tall. It’s an old cultivar with more than 500 years of cultivation in Japan. The fall foliage is orange to bronze and coppery red when it emerges in the spring. 

‘Shiro-Fugen’ is famous for its incredible blossoms. This late bloomer has foliage and flowers at the same time. Pendulous bunches of flowers grow packed onto branches in great numbers. The blossoms are large, fully double, and fluffy. They range from white to pale pink and come from darker pink buds. 

‘Kiku-Shidare-Zakura’

	common name ‘Kiku-Shidare-Zakura’
	botanical name Prunus serrulata ‘Kiku-Shidare-Zakura’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 10’-15’
	hardiness zones 4-9

‘Kiku-Shidare-Zakura’ is a mouthful, in Japanese, it means ‘Weeping Chrysanthemum Cherry.’ It’s an older cultivar and a winner of the Award of Garden Merit from the RHS. It’s a small, weeping tree with sparse, cascading branches that create an open interior. 

It’s the blooms on this cherry that make it noteworthy. While it’s small and doesn’t take up an exceptional amount of space, the blossoms are incredible. They aren’t the largest, but they are the most densely petaled, with up to 125 petals per blossom! They are fluffy, and the clusters are full and lush. 

‘Shogetsu’

	common name ‘Shogetsu’
	botanical name Prunus serrulata ‘Shogetsu’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 15’-20’
	hardiness zones 6-8

Award-winning and spectacular, ‘Shogetsu’ has an open crown and a chalice shape. It’s a smaller cultivar, nice for spaces where a larger tree might take over. The name in Japanese means moonlight on the pine tree. It’s a late bloomer, flowering in late spring to early summer. 

‘Shogetsu’ has noteworthy flowers, though it’s difficult to say that any of these are otherwise. They bloom in large, fluffy clusters of small, white-to-blush blossoms that are pendulous. The view from beneath this tree is breathtaking.

‘Amanogawa’

	common name ‘Amanogawa’
	botanical name Prunus serrulata ‘Amanogawa’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 20’-25’
	hardiness zones 6-8

‘Amanogawa’ is unique for its tall, columnar growth habit. While it can grow up to 25 feet tall, it rarely spreads wider than eight feet. This makes for dense branching and concentrated flowers that almost obscure the entire tree. The blossom clusters are upward-facing another unique characteristic. 

This award winner’s name means ‘Heaven’s River’ in Japanese. It’s perfect for gardens with limited space. It casts a long shadow but a narrow one. The blush-colored blossoms open from pink buds and have a light, pleasing fragrance.