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Know your blossom: a spotting guide

AS Photography from Pexels

Spring is here, bringing a burst of beautiful blossom to our parks, gardens and streets. With its hues of whites and pinks, blossom comes in many colours, shapes and sizes, which make it tricky to tell them apart. Find out what type of blossom you encounter with this useful guide.

If, like me, you’ve been spending more time outside now that the days are longer, warmer and sunnier, you’ve probably noticed the arrival of one of spring highlights: blossom.

Blossom is one of my favourite things about spring. After the long dark winter months, where everything is grey and usually wet, few things beat spotting a burst of white or soft pink blossom while commuting or going for a stroll. The beauty and sheer number of tiny flowers on trees or shrubs will surely brighten your day, particularly if the sun is out!

And we humans are not the only ones who enjoy spring blossom. Pollinators such as bees and butterflies rely on early flowering fruit trees as they emerge from hibernation. Blossom provides these insects with energy-rich nectar and in turn, they transfer pollen from flower to flower, helping to ensure sufficient cross-pollination allowing the plants to produce fruit.

Red admiral on blackthorn blossom

Red admiral on blackthorn blossom ©Guy Edwardes/2020VISION

But what exactly is blossom? And how can you identify what kind you are seeing?

Unlike the flowering of any tree, plant or shrub, blossom specifically refers to the spring flowers of stone fruit trees in the Prunus genus and others from the Rosaceae family, such as cherries, plums, apples and hawthorns. Flowering from late February until early June, blossom comes in many colours, shapes and sizes, depending on which species of fruit tree they flower on, and telling them apart can often be quite challenging.

A variety of factors can be helpful to properly find out what type of blossom you are seeing, from colour and shape of the flowers to the time of year or type of tree they’re blossoming in. We’ve put together a short guide so you can differentiate between the most common types of blossom you might encounter when you’re out and about this spring.

Cluster of white blackthorn blossom flowers

Patrick Jefferies

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)

Blackthorn, also known as sloe, is usually the first blossoming plant to flower in February. Its small, white flowers with oval petals appear before the leaves either singularly or in pairs, densely covering the leafless plant. Blackthorns are spiny, shrubby trees with smooth dark brown bark, you can find them growing in hedgerows and scrub.

Branch of plum blossom with three white flowers and some buds.

Taryn Elliott

Plum (Prunus domestica)

The fragrant white flowers of plums appear in small, rounded clusters from March to April and usually around the same time as the leaves. Plum trees are most common in gardens and orchards, but sometimes also found naturalised in hedges and wood borders.

Cluster of white pear blossom flowers.

Aflo Images

Pear (Pyrus communis)

Pear flowers are white throughout and have a fragrant smell. They grow in dense clusters and have five broad flat petals and appear in March or April. Pear trees were introduced to Britain by the Romans and is common to find them growing in orchards and gardens.

Clusters of pink, frilly cherry blossom flowers.

Emiliano Lara

Cherry (Prunus spp)

Cherry is one of the most famous types of blossom, in part because of the many varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental purposes, particularly in Japan. Because of this, cherry blossom can look many different ways, ranging from the delicate white five-petal flowers of wild cherry to the pink dense frilly petals of ornamental varieties. 

Cherry flowers appear before the leaves and hang in little domed clusters. Some types of cherry blossom have a subtle scent. A key feature that can help identify a cherry tree is the smooth bark with lenticels, which are small, elongated markings.

Most cherry trees flower around March and April, and it is common to see them in parks, squares and town streets, such as the famous pink ornamental cherries in Oozells Square within Brindley Place in central Birmingham.

Clusters of small white hawthorn blossom flowers against a dark background.

Gillian Day

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Hawthorns flower in May as spring turns into summer, after they’ve grown their lobbed leaves. Its five-petalled flowers have a strong scent and grow in flat-topped clusters, they are most typically white with bright pink or red stamens. Hawthorn bushes are a staple of hedges and can also be found on the edges of woodlands and in scrubland.

Apple blossom flowers and buds.

Chris Maguire

Apple (Malus domestica)

Apple blossom is an easy one to tell apart from other varieties, as it has white five-petal flowers and pink buds, which grow in clusters and have a sweet fragrance. Present in orchards, gardens and hedgerows, apple trees flower from April to May a few weeks after the leaves appear on them.

I hope that this information helps you to identify which type of blossom you encounter when you are out and about this spring. Orchards, gardens, parks, and along hedgerows, streets and canals are all good places to spot blossom.

Go out and look for blossom in your area and share photos of what you find with us!

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