Dwarf almond

Grows in Central and Southeastern Europe, Western Siberia, and Central Asia. Occurs in the zone of mesophytic grass-steppe, in hollows, along ravines and gullies. Restorative, irruptive, light-loving mesophyte, entomophilous, microthermic, mesotrophic, a dominant and co-dominant of shrub thickets.

A small deciduous shrub up to 1.5 m tall with a dense, spherical crown. Branches erect, reddish-gray, with numerous shortened twigs densely covered with narrow, linear-lanceolate leaves, up to b cm long, dark green above and light green beneath. Solitary, bright pink flowers open at the same time as the leaves and lavishly adorn the shrub. Flowering lasts 7–10 days. Fruit — a drupe up to 2 cm long, with a dry, pubescent pericarp of a whitish-straw color.

Appearance: a small ornamental shrub with slender shoots, 0.6–1.5 m high and 1–2 m wide, can form thickets from suckers, shoots grow vertically, slow-growing.

Flowers: before leaf emergence; buds red, turning pink when open, with a slightly bitter fragrance.

Fruit—a felted-hairy drupe with a compressed stone; seeds contain fragrant almond oil used in medicine and as a food product.

Leaves simple, linear-lanceolate, borne in clusters on short shoots.

Requirements: sun; tolerates high temperatures; prefers warmth; relatively winter-hardy; flowers require protection from wind.

Soils: from relatively dry to moist, from neutral to very alkaline, well-drained, sandy-loam or loamy substrates.

Note: branches should be cut back by 2/3 after flowering, since flowers form on last year’s shoots

Zone: 5a