Hi Daniel, I'm not familiar with Prunus mume, but the photos do look very pretty. I don't know if you are interested in the fruit, or just flowers. I grew an Evans Cherry for many years, just outside Rockland. I think this is similiar to a Montmorency cherry, but am not sure. It was described as "semi-sweet" in the catalogue I ordered from - McFayden's. (They are centred out of Brandon Manitoba and still have this and other cold weather varieties or fruit. You can check them online. Although it may seem odd to order from a catalogue they have things others may not. My father ordered apricots, peaches, plums and all sorts of fruit for cooler climates from them over the years. Of course he lived in zone 6, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them if they have something you are looking for.) Anyway, it grew quickly and usually had a nice show of flowers. Although supposed to be self fertile it didn't produce many cherries and they were actually a sour cherry. Once I found out they were sour I didn't care anyway and enjoyed the flowers. In my area there is a problem with black knot on plums and this spreads to cherry. I would try to cut out the problem spots and it didn't seem too bothered, but the tree appeared to become diseased over time. Eventually after it reached about 12 feet and about 15 years old it became weak and died. I don't think sour cherries have a long lifespan anyway. It did send out many babies and I still have a few of these. They are perhaps 5 years old and seem unbothered by black spot. There are actually wild plums - I think they are called Canada Plum, that grow on the edges of my property and they flower beautifully in the spring for a short time. They don't seem bothered by the black spot. My neighbour up the hill has several plum and pear trees and they do well for him with little maintenance. I think as he is on the hill he has a better air circulation and I bet his sandy soil helps because I tried unsuccessfully to grow pears several times. I'd spray and everything, whereas the old man just lets them go and gets baskets of beautiful pears and apples. Another source for hardy and unusual is Gardens North. They have mostly seeds, but may have some plants available. I saw they had seeds for Nanking Cherry a few years ago. Good luck Mary

Hi Kathy, I can't answer your fruit question directly as I tried to grow a Prunus mume 'Matsubara Red' a few years ago, hoping for some jazzy early red flowers each year, but after a couple years of struggling, it didn't make it past one particularly cold winter (moral: don't try to grow this one in Colorado, folks). Your Wash. location seems ideal, however. I believe there are varieties of prunus mume that are more for ornamental purposes and others better for fruiting, so make sure you get an appropriate species. I've heard ume is good for one's circulation, but I doubt it's a magic plant in that regard. I'd expect analysis would show the fruit to have a flavonoid profile typical of many other dark-skinned fruits, which would indeed make it good for circulatory health, but so are blueberries, bilberries, western plums, cherries, cranberries, etc. Good luck, I'd definately try to grow one in your area. Acidic soil is good. Jim

Just ordered a couple ume trees, and it sounds like their culture is similar to other flowering fruit trees. Does anyone out there have any experience with these?

The different varieties I grow bloom and leaf out at different times and the interval between the last blossom and the new leaf is equally variable. Almost all of them have a very few blossoms left now, but only Alphandii has started leafing out. If your plant bloomed well, I would not be concerned. Different weather patterns seem to affect the plants differently, too. We had an exceptionally mild winter this year, and omoi-no-mama bloomed at Christmas, 2 months ahead of what it did last year! But the others were ahead of schedule only by one month or so; and momozono, which last winter started blooming on 2 January, this year, despite the milder winter, bloomed only in February. So I have personally given up expecting patterns and regularities!