Overview
Prunus avium 'Plena' is a stunning ornamental, medium sized, double flowering cherry with attractive autumnal foliage.
Description
The Plena is a beautiful cultivar of the native Wild cherry offering a profusion of double white flowers that hang in dense clusters throughout the spring. This is a very popular cultivar which has dominated our street scenes.
The leaves are simple, elliptical and toothed. They remain green for most of the growing season and turn a stunning orange red in the autumn. The bark of the Wild cherry is particularly eye-catching. It is a grey-brown turning silvery in maturity with the typical horizontal patterning created by the large lenticels (pores in bark for the purpose of gas exchange). The cultivar Plena is sterile and as such bears no fruit.
This tree is wide spreading and can reach 10-15m in height at maturity. When planted as a street tree it is often subject to severe and unsympathetic pruning in order to achieve the crown height required for traffic and pedestrian clearance however, in the correct setting this tree requires little or no maintenance and makes a fabulous specimen in maturity.
Planting Position
The Plena will tolerate all soil types but prefers a neutral or alkaline pH. As with many trees it prefers moist, free draining soil and does not cope well with waterlogging. Given its ultimate spread in maturity this is not a tree for a small garden or site with spatial constraints however, in the right setting it is a stunning tree if left to its own devices.
Attributes
Cherry trees offer many benefits to wildlife and are particularly known for their attractive flowers. Although the Plena does not bear fruit it still has wildlife value and offers stunning flowers, foliage, bark and form.
Container options are available here
Prunus avium 'Plena' | Wild Cherry | Bare Root
Whilst smaller trees are often cheaper, easier to handle and more forgiving in terms of their level of care required, a more mature tree can provide a fantastic instant impact if you are able to care for it over the first few years.
- Standard or Feathered?
Standard trees - have a clear stem up to a minimum of 1.8m and a well-formed head of branches.
Feathered trees - Usually has an upright central leader and side brancehs that emerge down the main stem.
- Which Girth Size Should I Choose?
Our most common sizes we offer are relatively easy to ship and plant. The measurement is the circumference of the trunk at 1m above the roots.
6-8cm girth - 2.50m to 2.75m in height
8-10cm girth - 2.75m to 3.00m in height
- Standard or Feathered?
