Okame is best?

A year ago, the ‘Okame’ cherry (Prunus ‘Okame’, below) bordering the koi pond flowered gloriously alongside the massive paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha), both in the last week of February. While paperbushes have flowered here as early as late January, this was the earliest bloom I recall for the cherry. While the flowers of ‘Okame’ and the…