Species and varieties in the National Collection of Flowering Cherries at
Keele University
Prunus x yedoensis 'Tsubame'
This is a rare and beautiful cultivar of the Yoshino cherry with a distinctive habit. When mature it forms a wide-spreading umbrella shaped tree with gently cascading branches almost reaching the ground whose span can reach several times its height. One of the most superb examples in the UK is a 30 year-old specimen in the Dorothy Clive Garden at Willoughbridge (North Staffordshire), especially when in full flower in late March to early April. It flowers at the same time as Somei-yoshino. This is one of the trees obtained from Bridgemere (see below).
Very little information about it has been available hitherto. However, the origin of this very rare but beautiful cherry has been investigated by our cherry consultant Chris Sanders VMH and published in the RHS’s The Plant Review for December 2023 (pp 34-39). The following is a paraphrasing precis of his findings.
Although it has a Japanese name (Tsubame means Swallow - an allusion to its characteristic wide spreading branches), it is apparently unknown in Japan and very rare in Europe and North America.
In the last 70 years or so it was only being sold by Bridgemere Nurseries (North Staffordshire) between 1993 and 2001, who obtained scions from the Hillier Arboretum (Hampshire) where the source trees are now dead. A search of the archives there revealed a record from 1974 showing that it came from Rowland Jackman of Jackman’s Nursery of Woking in Surrey, a famous nursery from the first half of the 20th century. Their catalogues list it as available from 1961-62 but with no indication of origin.
There is a possibility that the original plant came from Collingwood (Cherry) Ingram via Rowland Jackman but in the absence of any written record this must remain speculation.
Location
- One near old University entrance; square N2; tag 4132. Planted in 2009.
- One in the Memorial Garden; square K11; tag 4376. Planted in 2024.