When it comes to cherry blossom viewing, Japan and Washington D.C. often come to mind. But St. Louis has its own cherry blossom season with Missouri Botanical Garden offering a breathtaking landscape each spring.
As Japan’s cherry blossom season begins in late March, the Garden’s season comes to an end. Luckily, our staff and volunteer photographers have captured the beautiful season for sakura lovers to enjoy year-round.
Taiwan Cherry Blossom (Prunus ‘Okame’)
Taiwan cherry tries, called ‘Okame’, bloom earlier than most other cherry trees. They are small deciduous trees with an upright, rounded crown and is mildly fragrant.
Captain Collingwood Ingram of England created the hybrid using Prunus incisa as the female parent and Prunus campanulata as the male parent. His goal was to create a cherry that had the hot pink to carmine red flowers of P. campanulata, but without its sensitivity to cold.
Weeping Higan Cherry Blossom(Prunus Pendula ‘Pendula Rosea)
Prunus pendula is an ornamental weeping cherry tree that is native to Japan. The white or pink flowers bloom in 2 to 5-flowered umbels in late winter to early spring before the leaves emerge.
The weeping cherry trees specific epithet means pendulous or hanging down.
‘Pendula Rosea’ is a cultivar that typically grows 15-25’ tall with a pronounced weeping form and light pink to rose-pink flowers. Nomenclature on this tree is a bit confusing. Many weeping cherries including those within the cultivar may still be incorrectly sold as cultivars of Prunus x subhirtella.
Yoshino Cherry Blossom (Prunus × yedoensis)
Yoshinos are graceful ornamental flowering cherry tree that typically grows 30-40’ tall with a spreading, broad-rounded, open crown.
Their fragrant white (sometimes tinged pink) flowers grow in 3 to 6-flowered clusters, before or simultaneous to the emergence of the foliage in a profuse and spectacular early spring bloom.
This hybrid cherry comes from Japan and is one of the predominant cherry trees planted in Washington D.C.
The Yoshinos’ specific epithet means of Yedo (now known as Tokyo), Japan.
Genus Prunus: plums, apricots, and Other beautiful blossoms
We know the cherry blossoms are the star of the season, but we encourage you to explore the other beautiful flowers in the genus Prunus.
The Garden displays over 230 individuals in this genus, which contains not only ornamental flowering cherries, but also fruit trees such as cherries, peaches, nectarines, almonds, plums, and apricots.
The earliest bloomer in our collection is the Japanese apricot that appears as early as the end of February and exhibits spicily fragrant, simple white flowers.
What to keep an eye out for
If you missed the cherry blossom season this year, there are still many beautiful blooms to come at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Some species to keep an eye out for in the coming weeks:
- Crabapple trees (Malus ‘Cardinal’) – Blooms in April
- Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) – Blooms April–May
- Tulips (Tulipa group) – Blooms April–May
- Check out the What’s in Bloom page for more
Extended Evening hours
Enjoy a sunset stroll through the Garden. Thursdays, April 3–September 25.
Copy by Jessika Eidson | Public Information Officer
Thanks to our staff and volunteer photographers who capture the beauty of the 2025 cherry blossom season. Thank you to the Kemper Center team whose Plant Finder information on various cherry tree species was used in this blog.
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