Species · Flowering trees like quince and crab apple
Japanese apricot
Prunus mume
Japanese apricot flowers on bare wood in late winter, often before any leaf shows, which makes it one of the earliest and most anticipated flowering displays on the bench. Fragrant blossom ranges from white through deep pink depending on cultivar, and the tree is pruned hard immediately after flowering to set next year's buds.
Care at a glance
- Watering
- Check daily in growing season; keep evenly moist while flowering. Roughly every 2 days in spring, 1 in summer, 2 in autumn and 5 in winter.
- Light
- Full sun.
- Winter
- Hardy once established; flowers on bare wood in late winter. Protect it when the forecast drops below -12 °C.
- Feeding
- Every 14 days, May to Sep, paused in the hottest weeks.
- Repotting
- Every 2 to 3 years, right after flowering, in Mar.
- Growth
- Moderate growth. Hardy in zones 6 to 9.
The work calendar
| Work | JJan | FFeb | MMar | AApr | MMay | JJun | JJul | AAug | SSep | OOct | NNov | DDec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prune | Apr | May | Jun | |||||||||
| Wire | Jan | Oct | Nov | Dec | ||||||||
| Pinch | May | Jun |