Early Bloomers

By Jos Van Hage

Double Flowering Plum, Forsythia  and  Purple Leaf Sandcherry are all  Spring Bloomers

The first early flowering shrubs are already showing their colours, amid the spring flowering bulbs and yellow dandelions.

There is a yellow flowering shrub that certainly stands out and that is the 'Northern Gold Forsythia'. This early bloomer flowers first before it breaks into leaf and the primrose yellow blooms go down the entire length of the yellow-gray barked branch. Northern Gold is the hardiest of the forsythias and is a zone 3, and the flowerbuds are hardy to -35 Celsius which is good because sometimes the flowers are not hardy enough to withstand the cold winter. This compact shrub grows 6-8 feet wide and 6-8 feet wide high. Plant forsythias in a sunny location where the soil is moist and well drained.

Double Flowering Plum produces a nice show of early spring flowers. The double pink flowers go along the entire length of the stem and last for 2 weeks before the leaves emerge. In the fall the leaves turn a yellowish-bronze. Hardy to zone 3 it grows 6-8 feet tall and has a spread of 8-10 feet. This variety of plum does not produce fruit.

Prunus cistena commonly known as 'Purple Leaf Sandcherry' has year round interest. In early spring it blooms first with soft pink fragrant blooms and then the colourful purple foliage appears and lasts throughout the summer along with little black purple cherries that will only last until the birds find them. In the winter the dark bark stands out in the white snow. Do not confuse the purple leaved sandcherry with the green leaved Western Sandcherry (Prunus besseyi) which will cross pollinate with plums, chokecherries, and early flowering cherries.

All three of these shrubs do not require a lot of maintenance or care. They should be pruned after they finish blooming.

Sometimes when the winter temperatures are very harsh these shrubs may not bloom or only the branches that were covered with snow will bloom the following spring and this is because the shrub itself is hardier than the blooms. One way to prevent this from happening is covering the branches with snow when it becomes severely cold in the winter if you want the blooms next spring but you want to use caution when piling the snow on the branches as you do not want to break or damage the branches either. Because they bloom so early they can be planted towards the back of the flowerbed and so after they have finished blooming other plants that bloom later can be planted in front of them so that something can always be seen blooming.

For many people the first signs of spring is when the Forsythias, Double flowering plum or Sandcherries come into bloom (along with the dandelions).

Another sure sign that spring has is here is the arrival of the humming birds which have been spotted in the Prince George area for the past 2 weeks, so make sure you put out the humming bird feeders as there is not a lot of food available yet!

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates  two Art Knapp Home and Garden Centres in Prince George:

• Highway 16 West at Kimball Road
• Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road

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