Flowering Peach

Rosaceae
Deciduous, Trees, Flowers

PRUNUS

This rich genus includes everything from English laurel to flowering apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums. (For edible varieties, see individual listings for apricot, cherry, peach, plum, and plum hybridss.)

Ornamental species and forms can be divided into two categories: evergreen and deciduous. Evergreen types are used chiefly as hedges, screens, shade trees, street trees. Deciduous flowering trees and shrubs, closely related to the fruit trees mentioned above, are valued for their winter or spring floral display as well as for attractive shape and for foliage form, texture, and sometimes even fall color. Many of these deciduous kinds offer a bonus of edible fruit.

Flowering Peach

Produces blossoms about 1 1/2 in. wide in late winter and early spring, before leafout. More widely adapted than fruiting peach but identical to it in other respects—plant size, growth habit, culturalneeds, pruning requirements,and potential problems.

Some peach varieties produce both showy blossoms and good fruit; these are described under Peach and Nectarine. The following varieties have showyblooms, but fruit is eitherabsent or worthless. In areaswith late frosts, choose latebloomers; early bloomers arebest in regions with hot, earlysprings.

‘Early Double Pink’. Veryearly.

‘Early Double Red’. Deep purplish red or rose-red. Very early. Brilliant color is beautiful but likely to clash with other pinks and reds.

‘Early Double White’. Bloomswith ‘Early Double Pink’.

‘Helen Borchers’. Semidouble, pure pink, large (2 1/2 in.) flowers. Blooms late.

‘Late Double Red’. Laterthan ‘Early Double Red’ by 3 to4 weeks.

‘Peppermint Stick’. Double flowers striped red and white;may also bear all-white andall-red flowers on the samebranch. Midseason.

‘Weeping Double Pink’. Smaller than other floweringpeaches, with weepingbranches. Requires staking todevelop main stem of suitableheight. Midseason.

‘Weeping Double Red’. Likeabove; has deep rose-red flowers.Midseason.

‘Weeping Double White’.White version of other weepingforms listed above. Midseason.

‘White Icicle’. Double whiteflowers. Blooms late.