Yoshino cherry has small white flowers in late summer

by Michael Martin
(St Albans, WV, USA)

I have a yoshino cherry tree that I planted two springs ago as a sapling. This spring it actually had a few blossom clusters that were beautiful. Just this week we noticed some small white flowers had blossomed on it. They do not look like the clusters that bloom in the fall. I was not aware that this tree did any type of blooming other than in spring. Could you help us figure out whats going on?

Also do you have any suggestions for pruning? I’ve read that you shouldn’t prune ornamental cherries but it seems to be growing a lot of new small branches near the ground and we are concerned that these are “suckers” that may be preventing the tree from growing vertically.

Thanks so much!

Comments for Yoshino cherry has small white flowers in late summer

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Sep 06, 2020

Some Trees
by: Jacki Cammidge, Certified Horticulturist

If a grafted tree starts producing weird looking flowers, start investigating.

These flowers are most likely coming from the root stock, which will be some kind of fast growing seedling.

The advice you've got about not pruning them is valid, but it's missing some information. You never prune stone fruits (ornamental or otherwise) in spring. If you do, they'll bleed, which can lead to other issues.

However, this does not apply to the suckers from the rootstock. Cut those off when you see them, before they take over the world and kill off the scion that was grafted onto them. You may have to pull back the mulch or soil from around the join, and cut them off as far down as you can.

This will be an annual event, for as long as you grow this tree. The only tree that won't do this is one grown from a seedling or cutting.

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