Prunus pumila var. adepressa ‘Gus Mehlquist’ – This is a completely prostrate form of cherry that sprawls and stretches along at ground level. Single white cherry flowers blossom in spring as the attractive lanceolate leaves emerge. Foliage is held vertically erect above the branches. The flowers fade and are replaced with blackish cherries which you might never see as they are a popular treat for birds and small 4-legged creatures. The foliage turns a beguiling shade of dark red- to bronze-purple before it drops. You are left with sinuous arms of warm brown wood covered with lenticels – like a fantastical sea creature trapped in a tide pool. It is thought that this plant was originally found in southern New Hampshire. Whoever may have named it, it wasn’t Gus Mehlquist of University of Connecticut rhododendron breeding legend; he apparently railed against the abbreviation of his name from “Gustav” to “Gus”; this I am told by those who knew him. We just discovered on 4.6.2020 that this fine Prunus was named by Robert Nicholson who is presently a Botanical Collections Manager at Wellesley College. Established potted Prunus, cutting grown.

Cutting grown.