Total Commitment

Some people want to have it all. They have a small yard and they try to cram it with five trees, thirty shrubs, and a slew of perennials. Others, however, are content with just one. For three to five days a year, this yard is worth a considerable sidetrip to go see.

Scott

Another view.

Scott

One more. Prunus subhirtella Pendula.

Scott

That's incredible! How do you put a price on something like that? Does it put on a show like that every year, or is it a kind of hit and miss proposition?

This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 8:18 PM

Absolutely beautiful!

Unbelievable!

My yard is way too small for that. Bummer.

I am speachless except for one word...

STUNNING!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing such a beautiful photo.

It almost looks like it's covered with snow.

Scott,

What a magnificient tree! The weeping cherries are stunning when in flower. I wish I had more time to get out and around this time of year :(

Regards,
Ernie

Yeah, I love that yard. Maackia, I make it a point to visit every year and the display is pretty consistent. Usually there is at least one day where it is warm and clear and the tree just shines. Every now and then a hard rain or a bad frost will destroy the flowers prematurely, but not as often as you might think.

Scott

Great shot.

That's the epitome of answering..."if I could only have one tree..."

They made their choice count for them.

Makes me slink away from my now seemingly cluttered yard in shame.

snapple- you and me both. I must be ADDgarden- impaired.
Must say thanks Decumbent, for posting it.

Really impressive Scott. Sure beats the 5' whip with a few pale pink flowers just planted in front of the orange brick house. The chances are good that the current owners did not actually plant that tree (given that, what, the average time people spend in a house is 7 years?).

There are a couple of houses in the older part of town here that have huge yoshino cherries planted in front of them. The only tree in their small garden, similar situation. But the yoshinos are more upright - spreading, so it is possible still to do something below them. And they have a delicate, more ethereal quality.

If it were me, I think I would choose a yoshino instead. Or maybe a magnolia, or a kousa, or a stewartia, or a japanes maple, or a dozen different viburnums, or... ;o))) .....one of each, crowded in so nothing has space. I just don't have the discipline to plant one tree. That's the great thing about having 6 acres.....

It would be interesting to see it out of flower--with foliage and w/o. How 'bout it, Scott?

No problemo, Maackia. I might just need reminding though, even though it'll be just next week.

Scott

I agree, that is beautiful. I always thought that my yard would look bad if I tried to crowd too many of the plants I like in it. That yard gives me hope!
Nice photos, thanks for sharing.
Will

I have two of these that were given to us when we bought our house in 1997. They were fairly small seedlings from someone who has a mature tree. I finally got maybe a dozen blossoms on one of them last week. Has anyone else grown these? I've been wondering if I should be doing any pruning or limbing up . Right now they're like large shrubs and I can't get under them without crawling on the ground.

Scott, I realized that the 3 images you displayed above were not in the plantsdatabase when I sent the link to many of my (non-member) friends, who couldn't open the forum file. The tree is so spectacular - would you consider submitting the pictures?

Admiring member,
Pat

Thank you for posting that, it is breath taking. Mike

Thanks for posting this Scott, I need to show my step-daughter. She planted hers right up against the house, but has a little island bed in the lawn already dug. I will encourage her to move it now while it was still young, and maybe use a standard in place of it, closer to the house.

Well, maybe since this is a cherry thread, I can 'steal' it (hehehehe.....)

A nice weeping cherry at the Scott Arboretum, Swarthmore PA, April 1 2003

And how about a whole BORDER of cherries. Don't YOU wish you had the space and the gardening help for a whole border of cherries, especially on a foggy morning in April....?)

Another view

OOPS. wrong picture. Sorry.................

hee hee It was lovely both times but that last shot is truly beautiful.

Or how about the REALLY sublime? Raked gravel and cherry petals.


I think seeing this, at Chanticleer. in PA, on that same foggy garden morning, was one of my most sublime moments in a garden....... ever........... cherries have the capacity to do that somehow.

Very sweet. Reminds me of a sand castle I found near Notre Dame, complete with a cherry petal moat.

Scott,
You have such a good eye for trees and coupled with your photographic talents I see a book in the making.

david,
Last summer after listening to Andrew Bunting from Scott arboretum talk with Tim Boland from Polly Hill about Hydrangeas I knew I had to visit Scott but now after your gravel and cherry petals photo it is on the top of my must visit list. Thanks for sharing such a moving photo. kt

That first pic tree must look so cool in the winter too.

BTW, maybe the driveway is only for golf carts?

Thanks Runk! But after seeing David's pictures, I want to throw my camera onto the driveway and jump up and down on the microchips! How beautiful were they? Maybe, I'll write the book and let David do the pictures? But then, how could write a book knowing that Vib. Valley, just down the road south of me, knows more and can phrase it better? I'd be a fraud! So, maybe I'll just suggest that VV write the book, David does the photos, I'll buy the book and hope I can them both to sign it!

And while I'm linking great things together, allow me to attach this link for more great cherry pictures.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/706034/

Scott

WOW Scott. That is some planting of weeping cherries at Spring Grove, maybe the best I have ever seen. Will they still be in bloom on April 18? Probably not....

I do think these weeping cherries actually look best where they are away from buildings. The form is so strong that they look great alone in the landscape.

At Longwood Gardens, there is a beautiful old weeping cherry one can see across lawns and gardens, at the edge of one of the ponds. It is a magnificent setting for one of these plants.

Scott,
What beautiful weeping cherries at Spring Grove, I wonder if they are planting the newer sections with equal vision? I appreciate your cherry blossom photos all the more as Prunus isn't very happy in my world. Here is an example of my Prunus serrulata 'Kwanzan' this trunk splitting from freeze/ thaw activity (don't know what it's called) two winters ago shows how it split all the way up to where it begins to branch then started heading up one branch. I expected it to have died but it has just lingered on with minimal leaves. kt

Here it is going up the branch. kt

thanks, everyone, for these gorgeous pictures. I looked at david's and thought, "Wow! That looks like Grampy's yard." He lived near Port Huron, where I was born. I miss Michigan. These pictures, including yours, decumbent, are awesome. - From transplanted FlowrLady in Olive Branch MS. :)

runktrun - I know your pain. I lost a magnolia soulangiana the same way. It took five years before I was forced to take it down. It was fifteen years old. I remember the freeze that did it. After a stretch in the low 70's during the day and 50's at night a "Canadian Clipper" dropped the temperature to 9 degrees! It was about ten years ago on April 9th, a day that will forever live in infamy around these parts.

Scott, What absolutely wonderful Weeping Cherry tree. Great photos. Here is my 12 year old attempt . Actually I know it is not placed well, but at this late date can't be changed. Actually can't very well change the path either. Weepers are my favorites.

Donna

Donna~ Your yard looks so springy, cheerful flowers! Love that weeping cherry.