For the love of bees, stop planting this tree

It looks like spring, but it isn't.

Every Washington spring we fall helplessly in love with Kwanzan cherry blossoms. These ornamental cherry trees burst into clouds of pink floral frill, and for a brief time, every manicured roadside and front yard takes on the look of a botanical garden. It's truly beautiful. It's tradition. It's also, I argue, a quiet catastrophe for the very creatures that make spring possible.

Now, personal experience is important. Before you continue reading, if you have a Kwanzan cherry tree in bloom near you, go to it. Stand underneath it. Listen. Do you hear any buzzing? 

You probably heard silence. Maybe the wind in the leaves. Maybe you saw a bee come by and then quickly fly away. Here's the thing: those puffy pink, salon-styled cherry blossoms are essentially ornamental imposters. They've been bred to be gorgeous by mutating the flower's reproductive parts into petals. Without viable reproductive parts, bees and other pollinators have no pollen to gather. No nectar to eat. And there are plenty of bees looking for spring fuel.

The boulevard of broken bee dreams

Kwanzan cherry flowers were developed in Japan hundreds of years ago from interspecific hybrizations involving the Oshima cherry (Prunus serrulata). These hybridizations multiplied the petals on the flower, turning them into a fluffy-looking "double flower" variety. It sounds amazing when you read the tags at the nursery–the word double. But don't be fooled. That word is exactly what you should avoid when buying flowers. When you plant a double-flowered variety, you're playing a trick on every bee in the neighborhood. The bees see the flowers and think, finally, food! But there's nothing there. It's like getting invited to a fancy feast and finding a table decorated with plastic fruit.

Double the petals, none of the pollen and nectar

Now, I get it. These trees are iconic here. They mean something. But that’s exactly why in this era of bee enlightenment, we should care enough to plant something better.

The good news: you have options.

If you want spring color that actually feeds bees, consider fruit-producing ornamental cherry varieties with single flowers, or crabapples. Both bloom around the same time, both are beautiful, and both are loaded with pollen and nectar.

The idea is simple: look for single flowers, not doubles. Open centers, not packed petals. That’s where the resources are.

A Yoshino cherry - a single-flowered cherry with gorgeous blooms and tons of bees

Western Washington's spring is iconic because of what pollinators have helped build here over centuries. The least we can do is use what space we have to feed them. Before you plant that next Kwanzan cherry or double-flowered ornamental, ask yourself: is this tree for me, or for the bees? Better yet, plant something that's for both.

Substitutes that attract pollinators and produce berries:

Ornamental or agricultural trees:

Redbud: Cercis spp.

Flowering crabapples: Malus spp.

Yoshino CherriesL Prunus x Yedoensis, and other fruit-producing cherries

Portugese cherry laurel: Prunus lusitanica

Apple trees: Malus domestica

Cherry Plum: Prunus cerasifera

Natives - bring back the the rich wild heritage of Washington

Red-flowering currant: Ribes sanguineum (large shrub, but pink and vibrant)

Black Hawthorne: Crataegus douglasii

Blue elderberry: Sambucus cerulea

Madrone: Arbutus menzeisii

Happy planting!