When to prune cherry blossom trees

Cherry trees make beautiful additions to the garden with their profusion of spring flowers and vibrant yellow and orange fall foliage.

Left to their own devices, standard cherries will grow into small trees with thick branching and a dense canopy of leaves, creating deep shade below. But to keep your trees producing full crops of cherries each year, annual pruning is in order.

Whether you’ve planted just a couple of trees or a whole grove, here's what you need to know to easily and effectively prune your cherry trees for years of harvests ahead. 

How to Plant Cherry Seeds and Nurture Seedlings into Trees

Types of Cherry Trees

When it comes to fruiting cherry trees, there are really two kinds: sour cherries (Prunus cerasus) and sweet cherries (Prunus avium).

Pruning cherry trees in summer

1. Sour Cherries

Often called dwarf cherries for their smaller size, sour cherries will reach about 20 feet if allowed to grow unchecked on standard root stocks. These trees grow best in USDA Zones 4-6; they favor cooler climates and are also more disease and pest resistant tha

when should cherry blossom trees be pruned

when can fruit trees be pruned