Prunus avium Plena (Wild Cherry)

Cultivated for over 200 years, award-winning Prunus avium 'Plena' (Wild Cherry) is a spreading medium-sized deciduous tree boasting profuse, brilliant white double flowers, packed with up to 30 petals, and hanging from the branches in pendulous clusters in mid or late spring. The leaves emerge with a bronze tinge, mature to dark-green before turning a vibrant crimson in fall. Plena is a sterile variety and so has no fruit unlike Prunus avium. A large tree that is pollution tolerant and is suitable for large urban gardens.

• Recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society
• Grows with a pyramidal shape, becoming rounded with age, up to 30-35 ft. tall (9-10 m) and 25-35 ft. wide (7-10 m).
• Performs best in full sun in moist, relatively fertile, well-drained soils.
• Perfect choice as a single specimen plant.
• Prune in midsummer if silver leaf is a problem
• Watch for caterpillars, leaf-mining moths, bullfinches, silver leaf, bacterial canker and blossom wilt.
• Propagate by budding or grafting, although softwood cuttings in early summer with bottom heat can be successful.
• Prunus avium species is native to Asia and Europe.
• Find where this species is invasive in the United States.
• Discover beautiful U.S. native plant alternatives.