This is Prunus serrulata 'Royal Burgundy', just opening at the U.S. National Arboretum's Flowering Tree Collection. If you are familiar with your basic cherries, think 'Kwanzan' with deep maroon foliage throughout the summer. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this arose as a sport of that common double flowering cherry cultivar. Late last summer when we took stock of the collection with Curator Barbara Bullock, I noticed that these trees are throwing some green leaved branches, undoubtedly reversions back to the parent cultivar. Barbara will just have to remove those errant branches to keep the trees true to their name.
I got a call on Tuesday from one of the tourism bureaus. Apparently tourists that are in town for the cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin and are not happy that the cherries are way past peak, to put it mildly. Last week's heat, followed by heavy rain and wind over the weekend sped the cherry blossom season to its conclusion. The woman from the tourist bureau wanted to know if we had any cherry blossoms left that are worthy of admiration by out-of-towners. Fortunately, we have a very diverse collection, and some of the late ones are just starting. Cool weather this week will delay them even more.
I shot this on the way home from work. I was relieved that frost damage was light Tuesday morning. Oddly, the plantain growing in the collection was hit hardest. The crabapples were quite heavily damaged, too, but the late cherries look good.
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