Yes I have a montm? that blossoms like a dream and fruits most years. I also have sweet cherries that blossom well but either the bees are to cold to fly or they are not compatable with the other cherries.

Are you looking for a ornamental cherry blossom?

Thank you, maybe sometime I'll try a montmorency sour cherry tree (if that's what you mean? I googled it). It's nice to be able to actually ask someone somewhere about their experience!

Yes, I'm interested in the trees for their blossoms, but if they ever have useful fruit that's all the better.

I'm just dreaming.. you see those pictures of cherry trees in Japan and wonder if you could ever have anything like that :)

Actually we have apple trees which are perfectly nice... you know how it is when you're looking through zillions of pictures on the internet.

But ARE there any *pink* cherry blossoms that come on trees that would grow up here?

What kind of cherry? Edible or just for show? Sweet cherries will work, but it might be hit or miss some years. Sour cherries will flower every year, but they aren't as showy as sweets (and no where near the smell/sweet cherries are the best smelling blossoms out there in my opinion).

peach or nectarine
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peach
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sweet cherry
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sour cherry
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I guess the sour cherries do have big blooms (or at least this one does...i think this is Meteor)

I've seen them in Vancouver,....nothing nicer then a weeping tree with pink blossoms, you might try something like this.

Here is a link that might be useful: Weeping Cherry Tree

I think this pink weeping tree above might be borderline for zone 4, some rate this one from zone 5 to 8.

I grow this almond shrub, it's one of the nicest pinks for early spring...perhaps a good substitute for your zone.

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Wow...I like that almond... I'll have to look into that. Do the blossoms smell like almonds?

Wow, thank you for the pictures!

That flowering almond is beautiful! Maybe I'll try that and/or sour cherries.

From the other threads it sounds like sweet cherries, as well as peaches, are unlikely to do well in zone 4, except for a not-great tasting variety called 'Reliance' peach.. I don't know if that's an accurate sum-up of fruit growing in zone 4?

I have a neighbour who's offered us his extra plum and grape plants; maybe I'll try those. (Our neighbour is a bit crazy and has a new 'scheme' every year. He was going to have a world-famous vineyard on his lawn a few years ago, and now in its place he's got a huge fixer-upper sailboat even though we're nowhere near water and he can't even swim, never mind sail, lol. He does have some nice plums though : ) )

From the thread 'wintering sweet cherries in zone 4', I see franktank reposted advice against planting tender fruit trees in sheltered sunny southern spots and that shady places can help keep the trees dormant through warm spells in the winter. I would have never thought of that!

Laura2424 - you might want to ask your question over on the Trees Forum as they deal with trees other than fruit trees and there are cold climate posters on there with lots of experience.

Laura-

Yeah. Its hit or miss up in these areas (i'm a solid zone 4, for some reason my thing always shows zone 5). Plums *hybrid* will work fine. Apricots will work too. Sweet cherries, so far for me, have done great. They must be a little hardier then the peaches. One problem with peaches is PLC. You either spray or you lose all the leaves in the spring (unless you get a variety that is immune to it). Sour cherries are very hardy. No problems there. Reliance works, but there are better tasting peaches (IMO).

thank you, I'll look at the Trees forum too.

Has there been any variety you can name of sweet cherry or apricot or peach that tastes OK and grows well where you are in zone 4, any you'd think would really be worth a try?

Laura -- how are you defining "SW Ontario"?

Are you in the Windsor to Toronto Corridor, or somewhere else?

Just asking, because I've always heard of the Windsor/London/Niagra regions referred to as Southwestern Ontario, and pretty much all of that is warmer than a USDA Zone 4, most of it is Zone 5 and there are a few pockets of Zone 6.

If you're anywhere in these regions, you should be able to grow a wide range of ornamental Prunus.

Hi, I'm a couple hours northwest of Toronto, about where most maps say zone 5 blends into zone 4. I'd say zone 4, because a lot more can be grown in the zone 5 areas south of me, and the Toronto and Niagara areas are still quite a bit milder than that.

>>Do the blossoms smell like almonds?Don't think so, I don't recall they have much of a smell at all.