Image: Montlaker. All other images below by author, taken April 12th.
By Arthur Lee Jacobson
Montlake has many different kinds of Japanese flowering cherry trees. As of mid-April, most single-flowered kinds (such as Yoshino, in the image above) are finished blooming. Yet, many are reaching full bloom just now.
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The Japanese flowering cherries, collectively known as sato zakura (meaning domestic, village or cultivated cherry trees grown solely for ornament), have been extensively bred for hundreds of years, so there exists a multitude differing in form, flower, fragrance, and vigor. The cultivars bloom at different times from early March through late May, with large petals, pure white to creamy-yellow and all shades of pink, usually semi-double or double-flowered, and usually scentless. Compared to wild cherry trees, the twigs are stout, leaves large, and branches few. The young foliage is more often than not bronze rather than pure green in color.
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From most common to rare in Montlake, below are 10 of the sato zakura:
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Kwanzan or Sekiyama. Both the ‘Kwanzan’ and ‘Sekiyama’ names refer to the same sacred mountain in China. The most common of all sato zakura. Tree strong and massive (one in Seattle is 53 feet tall). Flowers large, double, with 20-30 (50) petals, dark rosy-pink, fading in time. Young foliage dark bronzy-red.
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Shirotae or Mt Fuji. Name means “snow white” or “snowflake.” Usually a vigorous, very strongly spreading tree, wide and low. It may be recognized any time of year by its flat-topped, horizontal growth. Flowers lightly fragrant, semi-double, 5-11 petals, pure white (except for sometimes a faint pink blush when first opening), appearing earliest of all: early March. Young foliage green. Leaves edged by delicate long-fringed teeth.
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Shogetsu. Name means “moonlight thru pine branches,” or “moon hanging low over a pine,” or “fairy queen.” Tree weak, delicately drooping, wide-spreading. Buds apple-pink. Flowers double (20-30 petals), large (to 2 and three-eighths inches wide), white. They are long-stemmed (to 2.75 inches) and dangle in clusters altogether about 6 inches long, blooming late in spring and long persisting, fading to pale pink near the end of their tenure. Young foliage green.
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Amanogawa. White-Column cherry. Apple Blossom cherry. Name means “celestial river” or “milky way.” At least while young it is fastigiate: its stout knobby twigs and branches all grow straight upward after the fashion of Lombardy poplar. Flowers slightly fragrant, single or semi-double, of (5) 9 (15) petals, very pale pink or practically white. Young foliage slightly yellowish-bronze.
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Shiro-fugen. Name means “white god” or “white red.” The Japanese common name for this cultivar is Fugenzo. If ‘Shiro-fugen’ is, as attested by certain writers, really a synonym of ‘Fugenzo’ then I need to find out the proper name for the extremely few Seattle ‘Fugenzo’ specimens (none in Montlake). Tree broad and strong, with relatively slender twigs. Buds deep pink. Flowers large, double (20-36 petals), first soft pink, then white, then fading pink-cerise in age. Two (or as many as five) tiny leaflike carpels in the middle. Late-blooming compared to most sato zakura. It has a habit of blooming again, sparsely, in mid-June or early July. Young foliage coppery-red.
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Ukon. Name means “yellowish.” Also called the green cherry. Tree tall, rounded and strong. Flowers semi-double, with 5-14 petals, at first creamy-white or pale yellow with green tones, fading to red in the center. Young foliage light bronzy-green.
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Horinji. Name is of an ancient Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Buds mauvy-pink. Flowers 1.75 to 2 inches wide, pale pink, becoming noticeably darker in the middle when fading; semi-double (10) 15 (20) petals); in large drooping clusters of 2-6; sepals and calyx dark purplish-brown. Young foliage faint bronze.
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Kiku-shidare-zakura. Name means “weeping chrysanthemum cherry.” A small tree, noted at most 13 feet tall, arching and more or less weeping from a top-graft. Tends to be gawky and thinly furnished. Flowers medium-sized, extremely double, with 50-70 (110) petals, dark pink. Young foliage faintly bronze, very soon green. Leaves dark, narrower than those of most sato zakura, and exceptionally glossy; prominently edged with incised teeth; stem rich red.
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Takasago or Prunus Sieboldii. Naden cherry. Japanese: Naden or Musha Zakura. The Takasago name refers to a classical song that praises the cherry blossoms of Takasago Island (Taiwan). Others say Takasago means “Good health and long life.” Not invariably considered in the sato zakura group. Flowers medium sized, single or (usually) semi-double (9-15 petals), pale pink, borne in compact clusters like snowballs; fragrant. Occasionally the flowers and leaves develop at the same time, in which event the flowers are paler, almost white, and more nearly single, with longer common stalks (peduncles). Young foliage yellow-brown to reddish-bronze, coated on both sides with persistent, fine hairs. Growth very slow; congested and twiggy.
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Temari. Name means “ball,” referring to the flower clusters. Tree broadly rounded, of moderate strength. Buds deep red. Flowers double, (15) 20-25 (30) petals, pale pink, with some leafy carpels in the center; in compact, heavy balls. Young foliage tardy to appear, very faintly bronze, essentially green. Leaves often rounded at apex.
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Far more information is in the 2nd edition of my book Trees of Seattle; it lists many more. Likely, a few, such as Tai Haku and Royal Burgundy, are present in Montlake, but I did not see them in my hasty survey.
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Arthur Lee Jacobson is a Montlake resident, arborist and plant expert. Visit his website here.
montlaker 
That was great, thanks.