Prunus sub Autumnalis Rosea - Autumn - Winter flowering cherry

It's the middle of winter, the sky is grey and dull, a slow misty rain is falling and to top it all off it's cold. I sit looking at the garden, trying to decide if I should venture out or just have a cuppa. Despite this horrid weather, our garden has a tiny glimmer of colour, my eye is always drawn to one tree that produces delicate, sherbet pink flowers in the heart of winter.

The tree is a Prunus sub Autumnalis Rosea - Autumn - Winter flowering cherry. On the cold and grey days it's tiny pink flowers provide much needed cheer. When the sun is shining bright they come to life, dancing in the light. Their colour is a gentle pastel pink, not the bold colours you get in the summer months, it somehow seems to reflect the winter light.

Pink Flower on a cold and bright winters day

Such pretty, delicate flowers

Cheering up a grey day

Dancing in the sunlight

It's a small deciduous tree that produces beautiful orange leaves in the autumn. It grows approx 5-10 meters. Our soil is pretty heavy clay and it's doing really well, I have been reading up and they do not like waterlogged soil. Ours is in a bit of a shady area, I would think it would prefer a little more light and plan to have the larger trees cut back allowing more light into this area.

The tree in its beauty against the cold sunny sky

The tree flowers late October to February. I really love it come November and December when it lights up these dark and cold months. They are the months when there are no real signs of life in the garden, the bulbs have not started to peek through as they do in January, giving you hope for spring.

So I want to say thank you to my beautiful cherry tree for making those hard months a little bit easier.