When I first came to work here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, I recall sitting in meetings and struggling to keep up with some of the botanical names. (My background is in communication; not horticulture.) One name particularly kept coming up: Prunus mume.

“What is this Prunus mume and what’s the big deal about it?” I wondered.

Nearly ten years later, I am so hooked on the beauty of the Prunus mume that I start keeping an eye out for its blooms starting in January.

Prunus mume (or Japanese apricot) is a breath of springtime in the darkest days of winter. It’s a small tree (grows to about 20 feet or so) and you can see the beauty of its blooms in the image above. It is hardy to Zone 6 (we’re in Zone 7 at LGBG) and can – and has! – bloomed as early as January here at the Garden during mild winters.

If you’re in the area, you can simply drive by the Garden and see Prunus mume in bloom. There are some new plantings on our corner of Lakeside and Hilliard (thanks to a generous grant from Henrico County) along with some companion plantings of winter jasmine (also in bloom) and redtwig dogwood.

Prunus mume has long been loved in Japan where there are more than 300 named cultivars. In fact, my good friend Akiko commented on this blog a month or so ago that it was one of her favorite plants and I’ve been planning to highlight it ever since. (Akiko lives in Japan; we were exchange students together in Austria.)

Now that I think of it, one reason the Garden has Prunus mume may be attributed to the fact that our executive director Frank Robinson has traveled and lived in Japan.

A quick Internet search shows that Prunus mume is surprisingly unappreciated here in the States. It’s a good choice for many gardens – wonderful for a small garden or as an accent in a larger garden, hardy and not fussy.

And yummy eye-candy on grey winter days! Let me know what you think of it.

Beth Monroe is public relations director at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

Hi, Beth!
Thank you very much for your featuring Prunus mume.
I’m glad to know that your garden has Prunus mume, too.
In my neighborhood, I sometimes see Japanese white-eyes perching on Prunus mume.
For Japanese white-eyes, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_White-eye

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