Japanese Mountain Cherry Tree Seeds | Hill Cherry | (Prunus serrulata 'Spontanea')

The wild cherry that inspired a thousand cultivated varieties. More beautiful than any of them.

Prunus serrulata var. spontanea, the Japanese Mountain Cherry or Hill Cherry, is the wild species from which virtually all of Japan's celebrated ornamental cherry cultivars descend, the original flowering cherry that has grown on mountain slopes and forested hillsides across Japan for thousands of years and inspired centuries of horticulture, art, and poetry. While the cultivated varieties bred from it are spectacular, the wild species has qualities they cannot match: natural grace, unpredictable variation in flower color from white through pale pink, deep pink, and near-red, brilliant fall color in copper and crimson, and a rootedness in the landscape that grafted nursery trees with their controlled genetics never quite achieve. If you are looking to buy Japanese Mountain Cherry seeds or grow flowering cherry from seed, this is the ancestor of the entire Japanese cherry tradition grown in its original, unimproved form.

• The wild ancestor of virtually all Japanese ornamental cherry cultivars, grown for centuries in mountain forests
• Natural variation in flower color from pure white through pale pink to deep pink depending on the individual
• Brilliant copper and crimson fall color that matches or exceeds the spring flower display
• Develops a natural grace and character that clonally propagated nursery trees rarely achieve
• Fragrant flowers in mid to late spring, attracting native bees and early pollinators

Things you probably did not know about the Japanese Mountain Cherry

Hanami, the Japanese tradition of flower viewing, was originally practiced under wild mountain cherries. The modern tradition of hanami, gathering beneath blooming cherry trees to celebrate the arrival of spring, originated in the Nara period over 1,200 years ago. The earliest hanami celebrations were held beneath wild mountain plum and later wild cherry trees growing on hillsides and in temple gardens, not beneath the cultivated varieties that line city parks today. The wild species carries the original meaning of the tradition.

Thousands of named varieties of ornamental cherry were selected from its seedlings over centuries. Japanese horticulturists working over many generations selected, named, and propagated flowering cherry varieties from spontanea seedlings that showed desirable characteristics. The Yoshino Cherry, the most widely planted ornamental cherry in the world, is believed to be a hybrid derived from spontanea as one parent. Every flowering cherry in Washington DC's famous collection traces back to this wild species.

The wood is used in traditional Japanese lacquerware and woodworking. Japanese Cherry wood, called yamazakura, is prized by craftspeople for its fine grain, warm pink-brown tone, and ability to take a high polish. Traditional Japanese lacquerware chests, sliding door panels, and decorative woodwork frequently use yamazakura as a substrate. The wood's natural color deepens with age into a rich reddish-brown.

Each seed-grown tree is genetically unique. Unlike the grafted nursery cherries that fill park plantings, every tree grown from spontanea seed expresses its own combination of characteristics. Flower color, bloom time, tree form, fall color, and growth habit all vary independently between individual seedlings. Growing from seed is the only way to produce a truly original flowering cherry.

Growing Details

• Botanical Name: Prunus serrulata var. spontanea
• Stratification: Required, 90 to 120 days cold moist stratification
• USDA Zones: 5 to 8
• Soil: Well-drained, fertile, slightly acidic
• Light: Full sun
• Height: 25 to 50 feet
• Spread: 25 to 40 feet
• Growth Rate: Moderate to fast, 1 to 2 feet per year

Grow it knowing it will bloom for the first time in 5 to 7 years and reveal a color and form you could not have predicted from the seed. That first bloom is one of the best moments in growing trees from seed.