What are all the lovely pink blossom trees throughout Central London?

My family and I were driving through South East and Central London last weekend, remarking upon and admiring how many of the trees were heavily laden with beautiful pink blossom. The trees largely looked the same in terms of size and shape, colour of blosom etc.





Does anyone know what trees they are?





I thought they looked rather like Cherry trees but my Dad thought it was ridiculous to suggest they might all be cherry trees.

What are all the lovely pink blossom trees throughout Central London?
You're right, they're ornamental cherries! They come in all shapes and sizes, with dark pink to white flowers, which can be simple, single flowers, thru to big, blowsy double ones. In Japan, they have special Cherryblossom viewing days, where everyone takes time off to go and look at all the flowers in the parks etc. Apparently, It's a life-enhancing experience!
Reply:I've been to England and the pink blossoms you see are likely to be mostly Cherry trees at this time of year. Later on towards summer in England the pink blossoms you see tend to be the English Hawthorns which are beloved by Brits for trimmed hedges.





I'm in the US right now and most of the pink blossom trees are cherries.





However the "Judas Tree" as it's called in England or in the USA the American Redbud is one of the prettiest pink blossed trees [Legume family BTW] on the planet and is widely grown in Europe along with quite a few of our other beauties like Eastern White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, Biltmore Hawthorn, Ohio Buckeye etc.





Take a closer look at the tree. Cherry trees have the noticeable bark patterns namely very thin shiny bark with lenticles on most of them. Kwanzan is the commonest of the Japanese flowering cherries which are grown all over the world now.





On the other hand if the bark is rough when old and the leaves heart shaped, then you've got the Redbud or Judas tree and the Eastern pink dogwood, an American beauty that was discovered in Pennsylvania growing in the wild [mutant form of the normal white type] is now a favorite of the Japanese people! They gave us cherries and we gave them dogwoods! [The climate of Japan, China and the Eastern USA is similar]
Reply:Prunus kanzan.They are ornamental cherry trees.They produce cherry blossom,but no cherrys.Do not plant in garden,the root system is shallow and pervasive
Reply:You're right - the flowering cherries are just coming into blossom!
Reply:They are ornamental cherry trees. You can't eat the cherries.





Give your dad a smack.
Reply:they sound like cherry trees to me they are lovely at moment