Sakura is a symbol of Japan. It really blooms fabulously, which is why it is becoming increasingly popular among us. Only here everything is not so simple. It cannot be propagated by seeds, since most of its species do not bear fruit. And its shoots are very difficult to dig up, since the roots go so deep into the soil that it is almost impossible to keep them intact.
By the way, sakura includes not only cherries with lush flowers. This is a collective group of beautifully flowering forms of plum, peach, cherry, bird cherry, almond... Such confusion can confuse not only gardeners, but also the sellers of seedlings themselves, who sometimes cannot say whether they are suitable for a given area.
Not everything is clear even with cherries, since there are many of them. There are microcherries, which include felt cherry, Besseya, ferruginous (it is called Japanese cherry). There are also typical cherries of East Asian origin. They are most often called sakura.
Most sakura are classified as serrated or serrated cherry. In nature they grow up to 25 m in height. Their flowers are collected in loose clusters of seven to nine flowers 5 cm in size. Unfortunately, all varieties of sharp-serrated cherry can withstand frosts only down to -29 ° C, and even then not for long. And most other cherry trees can withstand temperatures dropping in winter only to -23° C.
Now about reproduction. It is possible to graft sakura onto a plum tree in the spring, but not all varieties are compatible with it. Therefore, the most reliable way is cuttings. To do this you need:
The cuttings will give roots in a month and a half. All this time, you need to water them regularly, try to maintain air and soil humidity at a constantly high level.
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Hanami or cherry blossom viewing is one of the main holidays in Japan. Every year, millions of local residents and tourists come to specially designated places to see the blossoms of this amazing plant in person. You can enjoy the beauty of sakura in your summer cottage, but planting a tree requires special conditions.
Based on its origin, sakura is classified as a small serrated cherry. Fans will be surprised, but this is a tree of the Plum genus, belonging to the Rosaceae family, and its second name is finely serrated bird cherry. Japan and the Korean Peninsula are considered the birthplace of sakura. It is also found in some areas of China, growing mainly on mountain slopes in mixed forests.
Gardeners value sakura for its amazing beauty during the flowering period, when inflorescences appear on the tree, having, depending on the variety, a varied palette of shades, ranging from white and soft pink to deep purple.
In Japan, sakura is found with yellow, reddish and even green flowers!
You can grow a tree from a seed (seed) or from a cutting. The best specimens are considered to be seedlings from the island of Hokkaido. An important detail is that sakura, sprouted from a seed or cuttings, is planted on a hill, which will have a beneficial effect on its development.
Gardeners use only a few varieties of ornamental cherries to grow at home. This is a rather capricious type of tree, so not all conditions for growth are suitable for it. To increase survival rate, modern breeding involves crossing existing sakura species so that the new variety is more stable and adapts faster.
Sakura varieties suitable for cultivation by amateurs:
All of the listed varieties are resistant to stressful situations and low temperatures. They also successfully propagate by seeds, and not just cuttings. Another plus is the high decorative factor.
How to choose seeds?
Of course, you shouldn’t expect sakura to bloom lushly from an ordinary seed that was simply stuck into the soil and watered with water. Growing this tree requires special care. Competent cultivation includes a set of rules and regulations for the preparation of seeds, soil, planting containers and watering/lighting regimes.
If you devote enough time to planting during the germination stage and follow all instructions, the future tree will be healthier and stronger.
Sakura is not the most durable plant. A growing seedling can be destroyed by a draft, an excess of direct exposure to ultraviolet radiation, a sudden change in temperature and an incorrect watering regime. Do not allow the soil to dry out: the root system must develop without stressful situations so that the seedling is stronger and stays as stable as possible in the soil. When planting in season, the volume of required liquid per day in a container up to 5 cm deep is half a faceted glass (100 ml); in the winter season, watering is carried out less frequently.
The variety of sakura determines the type of fertilizing applied. The standard choice is nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. If there is a deficiency of nutrients in the soil, you can supplement the deficiency by regularly adding humus.
Additional care tips:
After two years, the seedlings are transferred to open ground. Conditions for transplanting sakura into open ground:
A planted tree needs no less careful care. It is also regularly watered, the trunk is covered for the winter, weak branches are cut off and fertilizing is applied. With proper handling, sakura will delight you with the first fragrant flowers three years after sowing the seeds. Flowering period is approximately seven days every spring.
A fascinating and very memorable event in Japan is the period when sakura blooms. The tree, a type of finely serrated cherry, is revered in this country as a symbol of female beauty and personifies the mystery of life.
Sakura refers to varieties of East Asian cherry species whose double flowers are usually pink in color. You can often find this plant in China and Korea, but most of these trees grow in Japan. No wonder the second name for sakura is Japanese cherry.
The height of the tree depends on its age and on average does not exceed 8 m. Taller trees are usually of considerable age and are rare. The smooth bark is covered with numerous cracks of various shades. The leaves are oval shaped and have slightly jagged edges. Due to its high resin content, sakura is a tree with fairly flexible wood.
Flowers bloom on this plant long before the leaves appear. The inflorescences clinging to the bare branches of the tree consist of double flowers, each of which has 5 petals. The most common is sakura, whose flowers are pink or white, but sometimes red, crimson, yellow or green are also found.
This period is considered a real event in Japan. Cherry blossoms cover all parks, squares and city streets with pinkish foam. This color is a symbol of the spring holiday, representing the beginning of life. A blossoming sakura tree gives you the opportunity to enjoy its beauty not only up close. Located at a distance, these plants look like pink and white airy clouds and look incredibly beautiful.
On cherry blossom days, hundreds of people flock to city parks to enjoy this beauty. Whole companies of them settle down right on the ground, having picnics. This period lasts no more than a week. It is during this time that holidays and weekends are planned so that as many people as possible can recharge themselves with the inspiring spectacle of the sakura tree blooming. Photos of these flowering plants often serve as decoration for many things and perform a decorative function. An ancient Japanese legend says that contemplating cherry blossoms prolongs life to a hundred years.
The duration of cherry blossoms depends mainly on weather conditions. At lower temperatures, flowers last longer. But strong winds and rain shorten this period.
Many gardeners in central Russia successfully grow this ornamental cherry on their plots. For it, you must definitely choose a place that is well lit by the sun, because sakura is a fairly light-loving tree.
The best time for planting is spring, when stable warmth already appears, or late autumn. For more abundant flowering, it is recommended to plant several different varieties at a time at a distance of 2 m from each other.
A mixture of humus and fertile soil is poured into the planting hole, then fertilizer is added - potassium and superphosphate, dissolved in 15 liters of water. After planting, the plant is watered and the area around the trunk is mulched with peat. In order for the plant to strengthen properly, this area should be kept clean in the future.
Fertile soils with a high content of humus and sunlight are the main conditions for sakura to take root well. The tree does not tolerate various atmospheric pollution, dryness or, conversely, excess soil moisture very well. All this can lead to illness.
It is necessary to ensure that the soil contains sufficient nutrients. The tree signals a lack of potassium or nitrogen by sparse flowering and dropping leaves too early. Water the plant abundantly only during the period of active growth, then only to maintain normal soil moisture. Like many ornamental trees, sakura needs regular pruning of excess branches and damaged branches.
During the winter, young plants should be covered. Before the onset of frost, it is necessary to wrap the bases of the largest branches with covering material. Wood is treated to protect against pests and diseases several times a season. The first time it is sprayed before the buds begin to bloom, and the next time only 3 weeks after fruit set.
The sakura tree, the photo of which is simply mesmerizing, needs to be protected from pests and diseases. Otherwise, instead of this stunning beauty there will be bare branches with dried leaves and scanty flowers. Some varieties are susceptible to a disease in which branches delaminate due to growths formed at their ends. To avoid this, you need to cut off the growths in winter, lubricating the cut area with some healing agent. Sometimes the leaves on a tree, before they even appear, immediately dry up. A mixture of coal and sulfur, which must be used to treat the branches, will help get rid of this fungal disease.
Pests contribute to the development of many fungal diseases by clinging to the trunk and branches. The ringed silkworm, which appears during the flowering period, is very dangerous for sakura. To protect against pests that cause rotting of the root system, it is necessary to add special products to the soil.
Sakura, or Japanese cherry, is a fashionable and beautiful decoration for any garden or summer cottage. Japanese cherries differ from the usual cherries, which are grown for their tasty and healthy fruits, in their flowers: they are larger, pale pink in color, and there are so many of them that the crown of the tree looks like a light airy cloud. Decorative cherries during the flowering period are a fascinating sight, attracting with their colorful freshness and overseas exoticism.
The luxurious overseas guest is capricious and whimsical to grow, but, nevertheless, it is increasingly found in our gardens, parks, and city squares.
As befits a cherry, a Japanese beauty grows from the seed of a cherry fruit. The long journey of turning a small cherry pit into a mature tree is not the easiest, but the end result is worth the effort and time spent. It starts, of course, with the acquisition of planting material.
If you have an adult fruiting Japanese cherry tree in sight (from friends or on your own farm), you can stock up on seeds from it by collecting ripe fruits and freeing the seeds from the shell. Another option is to purchase ready-made seeds from an online store.
Sakura seeds The species diversity of sakura is quite large, but not all varieties take root in the Russian climate. Our winters tolerate the following varieties of sakura without problems:
Thanks to selection and development of new varieties, today there are often cases of successful cultivation of sakura even in Siberia.
Before planting in the soil, the seeds should be soaked in warm (30 degrees) water for a day. It would be nice to add fungicides or growth stimulants to the liquid - additional protection for capricious fruits will not be superfluous. The outer shell of cherry seeds is very hard, therefore, to facilitate germination, you need to carefully prick or cut the shell, but in no case damage the inside.
On a note! Sakura seeds do not germinate well, so you need to plant them “with a reserve”, taking into account potential losses (even just 20 percent germination of the material is considered the norm).
After soaking for a day, the bones are ready for further procedures.
Sakura loves slightly acidic, loose soils; the ideal option is coarse sand. You can slightly dilute it with compost and wood ash. The soil, in order to avoid diseases of the seedlings, must be calcined.
The container for planting should be shallow and always have drainage holes. The seeds are buried in the sand by about a centimeter, and a three-centimeter distance is maintained between them. You can pour a half-centimeter layer of fine sand on top and cover the container with film.
The answer to your question: the best time to plant seedlings is spring (after the last frost) and late summer - early autumn.
Then the planted seeds undergo cold stratification: the temperature should be 2-4 degrees, the period should be two months. The best option is the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. After two months, you need to take out the box with seeds, and then germinate the seedlings indoors. It is necessary to ensure constant soil moisture and a sufficient amount of indirect sunlight. Shoots usually appear in one and a half to two weeks. With the emergence of seedlings, you can slightly lift the film so that more fresh air can enter inside.
Sprouted seedlings are immediately planted in separate pots or in larger common containers, leaving a 10-centimeter distance between the sprouts. Picking “trains” the root system, so seedlings are replanted annually - in spring and autumn, excluding winter. With each transplant, plants need to select larger pots and add humus to the soil (or feed them with special fertilizers from April to September).
Two-year-old seedlings are ready for planting in open ground. To do this, dig a planting hole with a diameter of about 35-40 cm, a depth of 40 cm. Drainage (pebbles, crushed stone, etc.) is poured onto the bottom, the soil from the hole is carefully separated from stones, roots and the like and poured onto the drainage up to half the height. The seedling itself is planted in a mixture of humus, compost, sand and field soil.
The rules for planting are standard for all tree seedlings: trample the soil, water, add the top layer, make a watering ditch around the trunk. A thin stem must be attached to a supporting post.
Planted trees still require careful care: they need to be watered without overflowing, weeded, loosened the top soil layer, and wrapped for the winter. In spring, when flowers and leaves form, nitrogen-potassium fertilizing is required.
Just 3-4 years after planting the seeds in pots, young sakura in the garden will already delight with annual flowering and continue to grow. An adult tree blooms with bright and fragrant flowers for about a week every spring; in the fall, sakura is also picturesque - the foliage takes on a yellow-purple hue.
When the god of the mountains invited Ninigi, the grandson of the Sun goddess, to marry one of his daughters, he decided that if he gave preference to the eldest, High Rock, the life of their descendants would be eternal and durable, like stones. But if he prefers the youngest, Blooming, then the life of their children, regardless of social status, will be beautiful, but short, like cherry blossoms. Ninigi chose Blooming and became the ancestor of the Japanese emperors.
The Japanese, annually contemplating the beauty of this amazing plant and looking at the fragility of its flowering, reflect on the fact that beauty does not last forever, and life is fleeting and fragile. Therefore, it very much resembles a crumbling sakura flower - although it is beautiful, it leaves too soon: it is not for nothing that cherry blossoms symbolize the frailty of life and the fickleness of existence.
Sakura is the name given to trees of the rose family, subfamily of plums (species: small-serrate cherry), most of which perform a purely decorative function: they bloom, but do not bear fruit (unlike other trees of its species, Japanese sakura is grown not for its berries, but for its flowers). There are 16 types of sakura and more than 400 varieties.
Despite the fact that sakura trees can be found mainly in the south of the northern hemisphere: in China, Korea, and the Himalayas, the largest number of trees of this type grows in Japan: nine out of sixteen species and a considerable number of varieties. There are especially a lot of someyoshino (white sakura with huge flowers) and shidarezakura (weeping willow) here - this color of sakura has a pink tint.
Sakura grows very well next to other plants of its species, which, depending on how they were planted, produce a different impression. For example, tree branches planted in parallel rows can intertwine with each other at the top, forming a blooming arch above your head - this looks especially chic if at this time the flowers have already begun to gradually fall and a person is walking on the carpet that the sakura petals created.
The height of the plant depends on its age, but is usually about 8 meters (but there are also taller trees, for example, one of the oldest sakura in the world, whose age is 1800 years, has about 24 meters in height).
The bark is smooth, cut across the entire surface of the tree with small horizontal cracks of a gray, green or red hue, and the wood of the tree is very flexible due to the high amount of resin in it.
The leaves are oval or spear-shaped with slightly serrated edges. When a sakura branch blooms, it is completely covered with flowers, mostly white or pink, with each inflorescence consisting of several double flowers, usually having 5 petals. The Japanese managed to develop species whose flowers contain about 50 petals, the diameter of which is about 50-60 mm - in appearance they even resemble roses, peonies, and chrysanthemums.
Sakura petals can be of different colors: white and pink sakura are common, but you can often see flowers in red, crimson, yellow and even green and variegated tones. Since sakura flowers bloom even before sakura leaves appear on the tree, it seems as if a huge number of delicate inflorescences are clinging to a dead and bare trunk (which is why the flowering period in Japan is also associated with rebirth).
When the sakura petals begin to fade, but have not yet fallen from the tree, and the sakura branch is overgrown with the first leaves, the plant looks extremely elegant and summery (the Japanese call it Ha-Zakura, which means “sakura with leaves”).
Few trees of this type bear fruit, and if they do produce a harvest, the sakura fruits (sakurambo) are usually very small, cherry-colored, have a large seed, tightly covered with thin pulp, and taste very sour and tart. They are sold in small boxes and are extremely expensive.
Cherry blossoms begin in January on the island. Okinawa (located in the south) and ends on the island. Hokkaido, thus moving north. The period when this tree blooms largely depends on its species: some plants begin to bloom in winter, others in late spring. For example, such well-known species as:
When the flower fully opens, it remains that way for about a week. How long it will bloom depends largely on the weather and temperature - the colder it is, the longer you can contemplate sakura flowers. But strong winds and rain, on the contrary, will significantly reduce cherry blossoms.
Cherry blossoms in Japan are celebrated at the state level: the official opening of Hanami (“Contemplation of Flowers”) takes place in Tokyo’s main park, Shinjuku, and not only famous politicians, but also members of the imperial family take part in it.
During this period, numerous gardens, parks, squares and other places where cherry trees bloom are visited by a huge number of people; viewing is especially popular in the evening, when the sakura branch is very beautifully illuminated. While contemplating, people have picnics, relax, and often use the Hanami holiday for their personal interests - they negotiate, strengthen contacts, and make new acquaintances.
The Japanese make sour wine from the fruits of this plant or add it to rice during cooking. They also found a use for leaves and petals - they pickle them, after which the leaves are used as an edible coating for “sakura-mochi” sweets made from rice, and sakura petals do a good job as an odorous seasoning. During the holidays, they are often dipped in boiling water or green tea. When they come into contact with hot water, the sakura petals open and delight guests with their appearance.
Experts consider sakura to be an ideal tree for bonsai - it grows slowly, so having bought a young plant, you don’t have to worry that in a year or two it will have to be replanted outside, especially since the vertical growth of the tree will be restrained by constant pruning of new shoots and pruning of roots.
You can buy such a plant in special stores. A small cherry blossom tree looks the same as an older tree, only the diameter of its inflorescences does not exceed one centimeter (usually pink). When creating a bonsai, you must remember that the plant, although small, is alive, and not a stone, insensitive toy, and therefore, if it is not given enough attention or the wrong approach is taken, it may die.
The container for bonsai should be shallow and its diameter should be from 15 to 20 cm. Sakura bonsai prefers to grow on well-fertilized soil. It is advisable to add organic fertilizers to the soil a month before planting, nitrogen - simultaneously with planting, potassium and phosphorus, which promote the circulation of nutrients in the plant - in the summer. If the soil is poorly fertilized, the amount of humus should be from 8 to 12 g/dm3, and in a moderately fertilized soil it should be about five.
Japanese sakura loves good lighting, and therefore must be in a bright place (if it stands in the shade, there is a risk of powdery mildew). When looking for a place for a plant, you should take into account that it really does not like drafts.
Water the bonsai tree once a day (half a glass of water), less often in winter. The small plant is replanted annually, cutting off 1/3 of the rhizomes (branches can also be done, but don’t get carried away, since sakura doesn’t like that). If caterpillars, woodlice, red mites, bark beetles and aphids are found in the soil, you must immediately destroy them with insecticides, otherwise they will very quickly destroy the plant.
