Are you totally sold on big, double Japanese cherries like these or would a crabapple work for you? Hundreds of kinds of these, with modern disease-resistant selections not having the pitfalls (so to speak) of cherries.

If you must have a Prunus, think about Japanese apricot - the "plum" of classical Japanese prints. Wonderful, piercing sweet fragrance of the early flowers puts it in its own class. I have 'Matsubara Red' in early bloom right now, most years it is well out during February.

Thank you for the ideas. Iwas talking to my sister this morning who also suggested the japanese apricot. You have sold me. I'll have to put it in another spot though as I went out to a wonderful tree nusery and came back with a Victoria magnolia. When I saw it ( have had them before in other gardens) it came to me that lookinf from the living rm. year round the evergreen would have a longer kick. I have one malus (prairiefire) just planted last year so am looking forward to this years blooms. Thanks again

I adore the flowering cherries Mt. Fuji and Akebono or Yoshino. The Mt. Fuji is a mid season, wide spreading double white flowered cherry. The last two are very very early blooming palest pink or barely blushed white flowered cherries that bloom with the flowering plums.

'Shirotae' (syn. 'Mount Fuji') is the earliest Japanese Flowering Cherry (Sato-zakura) seen here, opening early March. Yoshino cherry blooms mid- or late March to early April; 'Akebono' is a bit later.