Flowering Plum

Other Names: Flowering Almond

Description:

A tall spreading shrub featuring showy light pink flowers in early spring before the leaves, very sparse plum-like fruit; rather dainty in bloom, makes a good accent or screening shrub, needs full sun and well-drained soil

Ornamental Features:

Flowering Plum is draped in stunning fragrant shell pink flowers along the branches in early spring, which emerge from distinctive pink flower buds before the leaves. It has dark green foliage throughout the season. The serrated lobed leaves turn orange in fall. The fruit is not ornamentally significant. The smooth brick red bark is not particularly outstanding.

Landscape Attributes:

Flowering Plum is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Flowering Plum is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• General Garden Use
• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening

Plant Characteristics:

Flowering Plum will grow to be about 12 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments.

This species is not originally from North America.