JollyBoomer, what part of Florida? There is an okinawan cherry tree that grows and blooms in Hawaii. Sorry but I don't know the specie. david

Hi, JB!

I'm guessing that you might be in zone 9? I've linked below to an old thread on this forum about cherry trees in zone 9. [to find more cherry tree threads, go to the search box and search This Forum for "cherry"]

Cherries tend to take up a lot of space, and are not used in many smaller Japanese gardens because of this. They don't respond well to the hard pruning used to keep some other trees in check in small gardens.
They also tend to grow with narrow branch angles that can make the tree vulnerable in high winds (does Florida ever get those? :) :) ;)
[OTOH, I don't know what a cherry tree bonsai takes in terms of care, etc., but that might be an alternative for a small garden.]

If you're just getting started in J. gardening, it might be helpful for you to sees what your library has on the subject. Three books recommended for beginners are:
Sunset's "Ideas for the Japanese Garden",
Ortho's "Creating Japanese Gardens",
and "A Japanese Touch for Your Garden", by K. Seike, M. Kudo, and D. Engel

Good luck, and enjoy your garden!
- Evelyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Cherries in Zone 9

Hi
Evelyn.
it is depend on variety of cherry. Yoshino, kanzan , higan
chery will take large space, and many of cheree trees cannot prune much
(large branchs to controle size.)

Amanogaw is kinda up right, okame , jugatsu zakura. Fuji zakura/ yama zakura ,those will not grow big. prone roots or grow on mound can controle gorwth and size.
since Florida off many intresting trees and plants, why you have to have something do not gorw well in Florida ?
I lived Miami for 12 1/2 years. and operated retail nusery.
some trees and plats are not meant be in Florida.

mike

Mike-san,

When you ran the nursery in Florida, did you find that no cherry trees at all grew well there?

I would have guessed that Florida's climate might be like Kyushu's, but come to think of it, cherry trees might not grow well on Kyushu either. (Oranges grow on Kyushu, but they have very different cultural requirements :)

Do cherries need a winter cold snap? Or can they just not take severe summer heat?

What flowering trees would you recommend for JB?

Thanks!

:) Evelyn

Well I wanted a yoshino cherry and it says it lives in zones 5 to 8. I was wondering if it could survive in 9 instead of eight. And if i cant can anyone recomend a tree with similar charistaristics that can survive in zone 9m (yes we do get strong wind occasionally in hurricanes and such)

Hi Evelyn and JB
zone 9 of close to Zone 8 or close to zone 10 makes big different. strength of sun close to equater and kushu , day light hours, humidity, days of rain, couldy day all so makes defference. sandy soil and very high soil PH of Floriad also deffernt than soil of kyoushu.
Kushu is zone 9 generaly speaking, but in-land of kushu and Miyazaki- ken of coast are also big different
Yoshino cherry grow kushu to hokkaido. also kushu had wild cherry as well as Shikoku. many of wild cherry are found skart of MT fuji, and Izu penusula ( nera Mt Fuji)

Jb can try to grow it in his middle of yard. If he can not find easly at local nusery, it will also tell how it grow in his area.

Since Jb do not tell much about his location nor his/her garden's condition. I do not have much to say....mike

Well I think I can handle the responsibility of caring for a yoshino cherry tree. I have the space, I can get the peat moss and i think i can take care of it pruning wise but I am still not sure If I do everything in my power to take care of it if it will survive. I would just like to know It was at any rate POSSIBLE for a yoshino cherry tree to survive in a zone 9 where I am located.

JB,

From what Mike-san (he's our expert of this forum, and IMHO, well deserving of the title) says, it is probably possible for a Yoshino cherry to survive in Florida, but the sandy, alkaline soil may keep it from looking very good (or resisting disease, insects, hurricanes, etc.) while it does.

If you want to prove that it can be done, by all means give it a try. But if you want a healthly and attractive tree in your yard, you might consider planting something else.

- Evelyn

[PS. Since you control the soil of a container plant, and can move it away from storms, etc., a bonsai cherry might do much better than one in the ground.]

Thank you yes I would want a healty attractive tree and I woulnt mind it being a bonsai but I do have 2 questions. One, will the bonsai cherrys bear the beautiful flowers that the larger ones do? And two, Is there any tree like a hybrid of the cherry or something that will survive in hot humid weather of Zone 9??? Oh and one more thing My Sister was wondering if a Japanese Maple would be healty or if there was anything like that which could aslo stand zone 9