Wednesday Street Tree #20
‘Kanzan’ cherry
I’ve been very remiss in posting my Wednesday Street Trees over the last few weeks (er… months), so here’s something to brighten your day!
The flowering cherries started weeks ago, and now they are starting to wane. Arguably, the most charismatic of the dozens of cultivars that put on this wonderful springtime firework display is the popular and very frequent ‘Kanzan’ variety. It is unmistakable: copious big pink flower pompoms appear with bronze-coloured leaves in mid-April. After all the wonderful and often subtler types that precede it, this is the pièce de résistance, only the beautiful ‘Shirofugen’ with white flowers can match it, and that is rarely encountered as a street tree. There is more Prunus to come though – look out for bird cherry (P. padus), and other similar types with more or less apparent white flower spikes.
Every spring I am thrilled by the cherry blossom season, and each year I try to learn a new variety (this year it was ‘Ichiyo’, a lovely pale-pink cultivar which peaked a couple of weeks ago). But I never quite know what to make of ‘Kanzan’. Clearly, it is loved by many, but I think I find it just a bit too much – the pink is just too insistent, dare I say fake even (a ridiculous idea for ornamental plants I know). Perhaps I am mourning the ‘Tai Haku’ the yoshino and the ‘Ukon’ that have already flowered, ‘Kanzan’s flowering just reminds me that the season is almost over for another year.
If you’re a fan of ‘Kanzan’, I can reccomend no finer street to see the fantastic blooms that Cecile Park in leafy Crouch End. It is a long street almost entirely planted with these trees, and they are going for it right now.
What is it?
‘Kanzan’ ornamental cherry
Prunus serrulata ‘Kanzan’
Where is it?
Cecile Park, London N8 9AX
///hurray.energetic.appeal | 51.577498, -0.118561
More cherry blossom
I wrote an article for the now mothballed (and much missed) London in Bits Substack a couple of years ago about London’s blossom spectacle. The article is still available if you’d like to read more:
I know what you mean about Kanzan being OTT, I still like its exuberance though, as a triumphant Yes, it IS Spring! and maybe because I’ve known three which I was glad to welcome each spring with pleasure. That pink against a blue sky, and their autumn colour, makes them good value.
Lovely to see what we are eagerly awaiting here in Toronto, 🇨🇦.