Prunus 'Ichiyo'

Prunus 'Ichiyo'. Frome (beside Victoria Park), 12th April 2019.

A youngish cherry tree, planted beside new sheltered housing in Frome around 12 years ago.

It's a mid-season zakura cherry (later than 'Shirotae' and 'Tai-Haku', but earlier than 'Kanzan'). I'm fairly confident that this is Prunus 'Ichiyo'.

Though still young, this tree has grown quite tall and already has a flattened top, promising an impressive lateral spread in years to come.

The flowers are double... About 20 petals. 'Ichiyo' means "one leaf", referring to the small pistillate pseudo-leaf in the centre of some of the blossoms (though you can see this feature on other double cherries too).

The leaves struck me as particularly broad and short -- some are even obcordate -- but I haven't heard if that's a feature for which 'Ichiyo' is known.

*

New buds, on 2 April 2021.

Five years after the top photo, here's the same tree at twilight in 2024:

As you can see, I was wrong about the flat top. It's grown much taller but is still basically vase-shaped. 

Prunus 'Ichiyo' ?? in Rossiter's Road

Here's an older cherry tree in Frome (actually it's one of a pair, but there's not much left of the one behind). It's pleasant but is nothing like as spectacular as our main tree; it's smaller and has a domed shape. Nevertheless it flowers at exactly the same time and the blossom is actually pretty similar, but less vigorous: fewer flowers in a bunch, shorter stalks, and fewer petals in each flower. This could all be within tolerance for 'Ichiyo'. (Cherry tree individuals live about as long as humans and they are at least as variable, especially when of different ages.)

Blossom (Victoria Park)

Blossom (Rossiter's Road)