October 11th, 2025Beetham’s Botanicals

Well here I am penning another article for you, the reader, to enjoy…
This time I’ll be focusing on exotic trees (and one rare shrub) with spring blossoms that are part of the botanical family rosaceae and include the genera of exochorda (pearl bush), malus (flowering apple), prunus (flowering cherry), pseudocydonia (quince) and pyrus (pear).
However I would like to pay tribute to another group of potential spring flowering candidates biting at my heals that include (in alphabetical order): amelanchier (service berry), azara (azara), camellia (camellia), Cchoisya (mexican orange), daphne (daphne), enkianthus (enkianthus), laurus (bay tree), magnolia (magnolia), osmanthus (sweet holly), pieris (lily of the valley bush), rhododendron (rhododendron), stachyurus (spiketail) and viburnum (viburnum).

So here we go.

1. Exochorda serratifolia Snow White (pearl bush – see image) is a deciduous rare medium sized shrub to 2m high which features clear white flowers with prominent anthers that are tightly wrapped in a bud looking like a green and red striped tennis ball. The species is originally from Asia-temperate (China Manchuria and North-Central) and Korea (both North and South) but the cultivar Snow White is what we see here in cultivation. I planted a specimen at home a few years ago and cut it back by half after its first flowering and now it looks great, laden with buds.

2. Malus ioensis plena (betchel crab – see image) is yet to come into flower here in the Central Highlands but is well worth the wait as this smallish deciduous tree to 7m or so kicks goals in the latter part of October with blossoms pink in bud opening to a flurry of truly double pinkish-tinged, white flowers that (in good years) smother the whole plant. Tiny little crabapples may follow but are not edible for humans. This tree is being used as street plantings in Kyneton and there is a lovely specimen you can see from the road growing in the Convent Gallery in Daylesford.

3. Prunus Sato-zakura group Tai Haku (weeping Japanese flowering cherry) has been planted by me in our back garden in Hepburn and right now is at its glorious best. The graft is set at just over 2m and after judicious pruning we can now sit in a chair under its spreading canopy. And here’s a little tip, watch out for vertiginous shoots that can appear from under the graft and head skywards at an alarming rate – these need to be cut off.

4. Pseudocydonia sinensis (Chinese quince – see image) is strongly related to chaenomeles (japonica or flowering quince) and is sometimes included as a species of it. This unusual species has many attributes that not only include its spring blossoms that initially open into a tulip-like flower and later produce a large fruit that can be treated the same culinary way as the common quince (cydonia oblonga), but has extra bonuses such as mottled peeling bark and an array of fine autumnal coloured foliage. Under the right conditions this deciduous, semi-evergreen Chinese tree may reach 10m but can produce suckers so best to keep on top of it and nurture a single main trunk.

5. Pyrus salicifolia (willow-leaved pear) has been noted as being one of the most ornamental of pears as it has beautiful emerging silver-grey leaves – they do eventually green up – that can be seen among the clusters of blossoms. This species (native to Asia-temperate (Iran, Russia (Caucasus) and Turkey) may become a tree of around 7m and would go well planted alongside purple-leaved plants such as corylus avellana Purpurea (purple-leaved hazelnut), deep-green foliaged, evergreen plants such as luma apiculata (Chilean myrtle) and one of my faves, pseudolarix amabilis (golden larch), a deciduous conifer from China with emerging feathery golden green foliage that later turn to yellowy-bronze in autumn.
And so there you have it dear reader, a snapshot (I told you I liked using that word) of spring flowering plants that give us locals joy after emerging from our (seemingly) long winter. Happy plant hunting & remember you’re only as good as your soil.
– Cheers JB (Trees in Australia)
Next time: Broad-leaved Plants for the garden
Scan the QR code to see JB’s Instagram post