Common Name - Japanese Apricot

Latin Name - Prunus Mume

Flowering Period - Very early spring

Care

This is an amazing tree, with only one live branch and a mostly dead trunk. Despite being planted in a very shallow inhospitable pot, which dries out too fast when the weather is dry, or drains poorly when it is wet, it is so vigorous that I had to forego most of the flowers this year in order to prune drastically in an attempt to regain some grace. The tree normally flowers profusely before the leaves appear in spring, and needs to be pruned heavily throughout the summer. If flowers are required (and they usually are), then pruning is not carried out after mid-July.

The great age signified by the bark on the trunk and the dead wood is such a vivid contrast to the grace and fragility of the flowers. The new growth is initially red, toning down to green as it hardens off. The flowers and leaf buds appear at the node where last year's leaf dropped. Flower buds are rounded, while leaf buds are pointed. As a general rule, if there are two buds then one will be a leaf, but I recommend it is safer to actually look to ensure that is the case. Care must be taken when autumn pruning to retain at least two leaf buds, because if no leaf buds are left, the shoot will die after flowering. Autumn pruning is really only to tidy up any over-long growths that may have appeared, while hard pruning is normally done after flowering has finished.

The characteristic lines of this species, with the dead straight new shoots, make it a very common subject for sumi-e painters.

The wood of Apricot is extremely hard and very much lends itself to carving. The natural contours of the wood are quite easy to find, but I must admit this is one tree that I revert to the use of power tools to carve.

Some articles refer to withholding water to some degree in July and August in order to encourage flowers for the following year, but I find with ordinary care this plant flowers profusely, although every third year is outstanding in terms of quantity. The plant is fed heavily, solid feed being given monthly from the time the leaves harden until the leaves drop. A break is taken in August in order to encourage flowers, although liquid feeds of fish emulsion will be continued, along with Maxicrop Professional. Solid feeding used to consist of rape seed cake, but last year this was replaced by a pelleted chicken waste product. I never use any inorganic feed products on my trees. In late autumn, a drench with ash dissolved in water is given as a potassium boost and to restore the ph. level of the soil. Repotting is done either very early (over the Christmas period), or after flowering and before the leaves have started to extend. My preference is earlier, since the buds are less prone to be knocked off. The soil used is neat, medium grain Akadama.