Looks like a flowering peach. Maybe what they call double flowering?

Agree with fruitnut, a peach, but it may be producing. Watch to see if you develop fruit after blossom drop. What a pretty surprise!

Patty S.

Nice blooms. I bet your planning on pruning the dead wood out. Should Suzi prune/thin the peach tree at this stage? I don't know much about peaches but know that they like dry disease free areas. How exciting for you. Anything that color in michigan at this time is welcome! The vinca minor myrtle is flowering by the foundation of my house.

Even though you guys are the experts, I would have to say that it is not a peach at all, but rather a Dwarf Flowering Almond, a small ornamental shrub that is quite common in landscaping. I think you'll be convinced if you google this plant. Too twiggy looking and shrubby to be a peach.

In any event, it is purely ornamental as far as I know and if it produces almonds they are likely inedible. Sure is beautiful and tough though.

Fab, I don't know of anyone here who is especially expert on ornamental woodies (how would I know?)- we tend to be more involved with stuff that produces fruit. Almonds are extremely closely related to peaches and anyone without experience with this one would probably assume it's a flowering peach- they were common in S. CA when I lived there and I was never aware of ornamental almonds. Of course the nurseries might even have been mis-identifying them.

In any case, I don't believe either will produce worthwhile fruit. The ornamental peach on my boyhood home in S. CA did not.

I will try to keep you all posted when the blossoms drop.

The tree is woody because the property we purchased had been neglected for many years, and we just turned the water on. Actually we are in process of getting the irrigation fixed. We have 1.4 acres of very rocky hillside.

Yes, I will prune out the dead wood.

Saw my first snake on that hill yesterday! I did my research. It was a gopher snake. They look like rattlers, but without the diamond head and rattles! I welcomed it, but it didn't feel like chatting! I told it to go get some gophers, as it slithered off!

There is one definite peach on the property. It is BIG and covered with peaches. I can't possibly thin them all, but I'll give it a try on some lower branches. Since this tree is small and spreading, it just might be that dwarf flowering almond.

Time will tell! I am crossing my fingers it's a peach, but the almond will be nice too! Even if it doesn't produce fruit, I'll be happy! That is one pretty tree! I will have one nut producer, and it's not yet in ground. It's a Beaumont Macadamia. Love those nuts!!

Thanks!

Suzi

Many double flowers are sterile since the extra petals are formed from mutated stamens and or pistils. Double cherries, for example, rarely produce any fruit. I guess you'll just have to wait and see what yours does.

Suzi, would you be willing to swap that gopher snake for...uh...anything?

Purdy tree.

H-man, I did not mean any offense by my reference to some of you being "experts". You are more so than I, and apparently specifically in regards to fruit trees. I also realize that when an ID post is made on this forum the assumption is that it is of a fruiting species, which it turns out not to be in this case.

The common name "dwarf flowering almond" is indeed misleading, since it is not the same species as the edible almond, Prunus amygdalus, and probably why some have never come across it before. The Latin name is: Prunus glandulosa.

Interestingly, there is also a shrub native to the CA deserts that is variously called "wild almond, desert almond or desert peach" which has the Latin name Prunus fasciculata. It of course does not have double flowers.

Fab, I was not in the least offended and appreciate your illumination on this subject. I'm pretty sure FN was not offended either, as the whole point of this forum is to discuss and hash out answers by offering contrasting opinions.

I do consider myself an expert on fruit plants but am mistaken about issues even concerning them on a regular basis. I welcome informative contradiction.