Prunus

A small native deciduous tree (or thicket-forming, suckering shrub) of eastern and central North America, grown for clouds of fragrant white 5-petaled flowers that open in March before the leaves and for the edible red plums that follow in early summer. It forms a broad, spreading crown with attractive dark reddish-brown twigs that sometimes carry thorny lateral branchlets. A documented larval host for swallowtails and other butterflies, with flowers of special value to native, bumble, and honey bees.

A small deciduous Rosaceae fruit tree grown for its golden-orange, red-blushed drupes - fragrant, showy, edible, and ripening in summer. Fragrant white flowers (pink in bud) open in early spring before the foliage, two weeks ahead of peaches. That early bloom is also its weakness: the flowers are extremely susceptible to frost injury, so apricots are notoriously hard to crop reliably outside sheltered sites.

A low, densely branching coastal shrub of northeastern dunes, smothered in white spring blossom and prized for the tart blue-purple plums that follow. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents it native from New Brunswick down the Atlantic seaboard to New Jersey, growing in sand and gravel near the sea, where it is both salt tolerant and drought tolerant. It carries Special Value to Native Bees, feeds birds with its fruit, and is self-incompatible - a second seedling is needed to set a real crop.

The largest native cherry of eastern North America - a medium-to-large deciduous shade tree that hangs elongated racemes of small white flowers in spring, then ripens drooping strings of pea-sized fruit from red to near-black in late summer. The fragrant white bloom feeds bees while the fruit is eaten by 33 species of birds and many mammals; it is also a workhorse larval host, supporting the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a string of giant silk and sphinx moths. Every part except the ripe fruit is cyanide-bearing and toxic.

Blackthorn is a dense, fiercely spiny deciduous shrub native across Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa, famous for its clouds of white blossom in early spring and its bitter sloe berries used to make sloe gin. In garden settings it is valued as an impenetrable wildlife hedge and early pollinator plant, but the honest catch is its aggressive root-suckering: given space it spreads into spreading thickets that are almost impossible to eradicate, and its long, needle-sharp thorns cause "blackthorn disease" - septic puncture wounds that can require medical attention - making it a plant to site with eyes open rather than as a casual garden shrub.

Cherry laurel is a fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Black Sea rim - from Albania and Bulgaria east through Turkey to the Caucasus and northern Iran - prized for its bold, glossy foliage, spring racemes of creamy-white flowers, and unmatched tolerance of shade, drought, and heavy pruning. It makes an outstanding dense hedge, screen, or woodland understory filler in zones 6–9. The honest catch is a two-part warning: every part of the plant contains cyanogenic glycosides (prussic acid), making leaves, seeds, and fruit genuinely toxic to humans and animals; and in mild, moist climates such as the UK and Pacific Northwest it seeds aggressively via bird-dispersed fruit, is classified as invasive, and can smother native understory vegetation wholesale.

A suckering, thicket-forming native cherry that reads as a large shrub or small tree across most of North America. Fragrant white flowers open in elongated drooping racemes in spring, followed by dense pendulous clusters of pea-sized cherries that ripen red to dark purple-black in late summer. The astringent fruit is technically edible after processing, and the plant is a workhorse for wildlife - feeding birds and mammals and hosting sphinx-moth larvae.

A deciduous fruit tree of the rose family, native to Turkey and Europe and grown for its blue-to-black stone fruit. NC State describes it as a large shrub or small tree, 10 to 20 feet tall and wide, with an erect habit, smooth dark bark, and egg-shaped alternate leaves. Showy fragrant white flowers open in spring - it is the latest-blooming plum, which suits it to northern climates - and the fleshy 2-3 inch drupes ripen blue or black in September.

Japanese apricot (Prunus mume) is a small to medium deciduous tree native to southern China and long cultivated across East Asia for its intensely fragrant late-winter blossoms and processed fruit (ume). In a Western garden it earns a focal-point role as one of the few trees that flowers in the heart of winter, ahead of forsythia and weeks before cherries. The honest catch is timing: flower buds open in January through February and are routinely killed by even a single night below 23°F, making the display unreliable in USDA zone 6 and northward without a sheltered south-facing wall; the raw seeds also contain amygdalin and must never be eaten unprocessed.

Prunus serrulata is a small deciduous tree native to Japan, China, Korea, and Vietnam, celebrated worldwide for its spectacular spring blossom display and revered in Japanese hanami (flower-viewing) culture. In temperate gardens it serves as a standout focal-point tree with a dense, layered crown, good autumn colour, and ornamental chestnut-brown bark with horizontal lenticels. The honest catch is timing-dependent appeal: outside the brief two-to-three-week bloom window the tree is unmemorable, and the dense, wide-spreading canopy casts enough shade to suppress underplanting; shallow greedy roots make it a poor companion for lawns, and most double-flowered cultivars bear little or no viable fruit, which concentrates ornamental value but reduces wildlife value (Wikipedia).

Japanese plum (Prunus salicina) is a deciduous fruit tree native to central and southern China, Taiwan, and mainland Southeast Asia, grown worldwide for its showy early-spring white blossom and juicy summer drupes. It reaches 30 to 39 feet at maturity and rewards a full-sun site with fertile, well-drained soil. The honest catch is threefold: most cultivars are self-incompatible and require a cross-pollinator to set fruit; the tree blooms very early and flowers are routinely destroyed by late frost; and while the ripe fruit is edible, the pits and leaves contain amygdalin that breaks down to hydrogen cyanide, making them toxic.

A small, fast-growing deciduous fruit tree native to China and grown almost exclusively for its juicy, fuzzy summer fruit. Showy pink flowers open in early spring before the long, lance-shaped leaves emerge, followed by yellow-to-orange peaches blushed with red over a large rough stone. Self-pollinating but high-maintenance - peaches reward regular watering, fertilization, and pruning, and demand vigilant pest management.

The tart 'pie cherry' of the rose family, native to Europe and southwest Asia and grown for cooking, preserving, and baking rather than fresh eating. A small, rounded, spreading deciduous tree - typically 13 to 20 feet tall and wide - that bears clusters of white spring flowers followed by bright red, acidic drupes in early to midsummer. Unlike the sweet cherry (Prunus avium), most sour cherries are self-fertile, so a single tree will set a crop. The shorter stature, greater cold-hardiness, and self-fertility make it the easier cherry for a home garden.

The European wild cherry - also called mazzard or gean - and the parent species behind nearly every sweet cherry cultivar sold for fruit, including Bing. Fragrant white flowers open singly or in 3-5 flowered clusters in spring just before the leaves, followed by small sweet red-to-black cherries in early summer. A deciduous tree of 15 to 30 feet in cultivation (to 60 feet in the wild); birds and squirrels relish the fruit and have naturalized it from gardens into the wild across eastern and midwestern North America.

A graceful Japanese ornamental flowering cherry - the predominant tree of the Washington, D.C. cherry-blossom display - reaching 30 to 40 feet with a spreading, broad-rounded crown. Fragrant white (sometimes pink-tinged) flowers open in 3-to-6-flowered clusters before or alongside the emerging foliage in a profuse early-spring bloom, followed by small black cherries that are bitter to people but eaten by birds. Dark green serrate leaves turn yellow with bronze tints in fall.