Don looked at a new flowering cherry, Prunus 'Millennium Sunset', which has been developed at the University of Western Sydney. This is the first release in what is hoped will be a whole series of early flowering and low chill stone fruit, suitable for growing in much warmer climates than traditional varieties.

Major breeding program

Don met with Associate Professor Robert Spooner-Hart, Director of the Centre for Horticulture and Plant Sciences (CHAPS). He explained that the breeding program has taken about 20 years, starting with the collection of tropical and subtropical germ plasm (undifferentiated cells) from cherries, peaches, nectarines and plums in Asia and Central America.

The material was collected from plants in different countries and from plants which flower at different times, so they could never breed naturally. Part of the breeding process was to collect pollen from early flowering plants, then hold that pollen in the fridge until the female flowers from later flowering plants were available for pollination.

Prunus 'Millennium Sunset'

'Millennium Sunset' was developed after an extensive process of selection and improvement. Disease prone plants were eliminated, particularly those with foliar diseases, so that the tree would look good when in leaf, not just in flower.

The result is a stunning ornamental cherry, which produces masses of tightly bunched, deep pink flowers from early July to early August. It holds its petals well, and is very attractive to bees and nectar feeding birds. 'millennium Sunset' has been trialled successfully on the mid north coast of New South Wales around Nambucca Heads, and may grow and flower even further north, because it only needs around 350-400 hours below 10

Copyright CTC Productions 2002