When do cherry blossoms bloom?
If you want to know when cherry blossoms bloom and the general introduction of the cherry blossom flowering period in terms of green plants and flowers, here is the specific introduction:
What are the characteristics of cherry blossoms?
Cherry blossoms are usually small trees or shrubs, with a few weeping varieties. We can make a comprehensive judgment based on their flowers, leaves, and stems, among which the ★★★ features are the most reliable, while ★★ and ★ can be used as auxiliary methods.
① The petals have a notched tip, which is a small indentation, a unique feature of the cherry genus, reliability index ★★★.
② Inflorescence: usually 2-4 small flowers grouped into an umbrella shape with a peduncle; however, the lengths of the peduncles vary, and pear, crabapple, and plum can also form flower balls, reliability index ★.
③ There are glands at the petiole, which are said to secrete nectar to attract the natural enemies of pests for defense, but peach and plum also have them, reliability index ★★.
④ The leaf margin has double锯齿 (serrations), with a pointed or acuminate tip; there are many leaves with double serrations in the Rosaceae family, and apricot and plum have obvious acuminate tips, reliability index ★.
When do cherry blossoms bloom?
⑤ The trunk has horizontally prominent lenticels, arranged in circles; however, different varieties have differences, and mountain peach has similar horizontal lenticels, reliability index ★.
Differences between early, middle, late, and winter cherry blossoms
According to the flowering period, this classification is not very strict, but it is indeed practical. For example, in the past, only early and late cherry blossoms were distinguished in planting design, with the early cherry referring to the varieties that bloom before leaves (now including early and middle groups), represented by "Yoshino cherry"; the late cherry refers to the varieties that bloom with leaves, represented by "Kanzan" and "Fugen." With the domestic market's involution, this classification method is outdated, and the mainstream cherry blossoms available in the domestic market can be divided into early, middle, late, and winter.
Early and middle cherry blossoms usually bloom before leaves and are mostly single-petaled; late cherry blossoms usually bloom with leaves and are mostly double-petaled; winter cherry blossoms refer to those that bloom in winter, mainly concentrated in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan regions, and now also refers to varieties that bloom twice.
Taking the Yangtze River Delta region where we are located as an example, here are some popular varieties:
Early cherry blossoms
The flowering period is from mid to late March, occasionally as early as the end of February. Usualy, the flowering period of the clock cherry is the earliest and longest, while the relative flowering periods of other varieties vary from year to year. According to my records of the past six years, the peak flowering period of the representative early cherry, "Yozakura," is almost synchronized with the beginning of spring in Shanghai. The average date for the beginning of spring in Shanghai over the years is March 11th, and this year it is March 4th.