Great White Japanese Cherry Trees

• Variety: Tai-haku, the Cherry with the largest flowers
• Common name: Great White Cherry
• Latin name: Prunus 'Tai-haku'
• Sold as: Bareroot half-standard, and standards of 6/8cm and 8/10cm girth
• Mature size: 4 to 8m tall and wider than 8m, over 10 to 20 years
• Flowers: Single, pure white, up to 6cm across, in April
• Leaves: Deep bronze-red when young, then green, to 15cm long
• Shape: A broad, spreading crown, wider than it is tall
• Best soil and site: Any moderately fertile soil that drains, chalk and clay included. Full sun
• Hardiness: H6, hardy through the British winter
• RHS AGM: Yes (1993)
• RHS Plants for Pollinators: Yes
• Delivered: Bareroot, November to April. Collection from Castle Cary also available

Tai-haku, the Great White Cherry, carries the largest flowers of any Cherry: single, pure white and up to 6cm across, opening in April against deep bronze-red young leaves. It makes a broad tree, 4 to 8 metres tall and wider than that, and holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Great White Japanese Cherry Trees

Tai-haku is known as the Great White Cherry tree. It's a medium sized, spreading tree with large, fragrant, pure white blossom that appears on younger trees than most other cherry blossoms. It grows vigorously and is low maintenance. This is a good sized tree with a flat canopy and spreading branches. The large, white, scented flowers are up to 6cm across and absolutely cover the tree in April, just as the new, coppery coloured leaves are peeking out. Many gardeners consider it to be the best white flowering cherry tree. The dark bark is an attractive feature in winter, especially on a snowy day.
Young trees are upright and goblet shaped, but old trees will often be wider than they're tall, to about 7 by 7 metres, with a canopy that is both uneven and elegant, like the profile of a rolling mountain.

Browse our variety of cherry blossom trees or our full range of ornamental trees.

Delivery season: Ornamental cherry trees are delivered bareroot from late autumn to early spring, November to April.
Choosing a size: Small trees are cheaper, easier to handle and more forgiving of less than ideal aftercare, so they're best for a big planting project. If instant impact is your priority, or if you are only buying a few plants for use in a place where it's convenient to water them well in their first year, then you may as well use bigger ones. All our bareroot trees are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Growing Prunus Tai-haku

Suitable for any well drained soil, and tolerant of urban pollution, it can handle light shade without affecting the flowers much, but as with most ornamental flowering trees it'll give you the most value in full sun.

A little formative pruning to remove ingrowing branches in its early years will help it to develop an attractive form.

History & Trivia

We think that Tai-haku is an honorary native tree. It was extinct in Japan and thought to be lost to the world, until Captain Collingwood Ingram identified one specimen in Sussex in 1923. Every Taihaku alive in the world today comes from that single plant, and it was re-introduced to Japan in 1932. This tree has most deservedly won the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

The main photo is shown with the kind permission of the talented Jasper Tupman.

Standard trees are measured by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level: their trunk's waist measurement. Unlike sapling trees and hedge plants, standards aren't measured by their height, which will vary quite a bit both between and within species.
So, a 6/8cm standard tree has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8cm and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10cm around. This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height.
On average, standard trees are 2-3.5 metres tall when they arrive, but we cannot tell you precisely how tall your trees will be before we deliver them.

Planting Companions

Plant it with Shirotae, another white, and Ukon, whose flowers are an odd green-yellow: white, white and the curiosity. A white-stemmed tree from the Birches repeats the colour below the blossom. Dust the roots with Rootgrow as you plant.

Why Ashridge?

Ashridge has sold trees since 1949 and is a Which? Best Plant Supplier 2025. Your Great White Cherry comes as a bareroot tree, lifted to order while dormant and guaranteed for 12 months. Plant it between November and April, and it will establish readily.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Cherry has the biggest flowers?

Tai-haku. The RHS gives the single, pure white flowers as up to 6cm across, and the National Collection of Flowering Cherries at Keele calls it the largest of any Cherry.

What does Tai-haku mean?

Great white. The name was given in 1925, two years after Collingwood Ingram found the last known tree in a Sussex garden.

How big does the Great White Cherry grow?

The RHS gives it 4 to 8 metres in height and more than 8 metres in spread, over 10 to 20 years. We have always said about 7 by 7 metres.

Is Tai-haku suitable for a small garden?

Only if you can spare the width. It is not tall, but the crown spreads wider than the tree is high, so give it room on all sides.

Is Tai-haku good for bees?

Yes. The RHS lists Tai-haku as a Plant for Pollinators, which it does not do for the double-flowered Kanzan. If the bees matter to you, this is the Cherry to choose.

When are the trees delivered?

Bareroot only, from November to April, while the trees are dormant. You can order at any time of year and your tree is lifted and sent once the season opens.