Add bold color and seasonal interest to your landscape with Prunus × cistena (Purple Leaf Sand Cherry)—a striking ornamental shrub known for its deep burgundy foliage and fragrant spring blooms.

In early spring, it produces delicate pink-white flowers, followed by small dark purple edible fruits that attract birds and can be used for jams and baking.

Why Gardeners Love It

• 🍷 Rich purple foliage all season long
• 🌸 Fragrant spring flowers
• 🍇 Produces edible fruit for jams & wildlife
• 🐦 Excellent bird-friendly shrub
• 🌿 Ideal for hedges, screens & borders

What You’ll Receive

• Quantity: 1 live plant
• Size: 4.5” or 1 gallon pot (well-rooted)

Plant Details

• Botanical Name: Prunus × cistena
• Common Name: Purple Leaf Sand Cherry
• Plant Type: Deciduous ornamental shrub
• Height: 6–10 ft
• Spread: 5–8 ft
• Foliage: Burgundy / reddish-purple
• Bloom Time: Early spring
• Fruit: Small, dark purple drupes (edible)
• Hardiness Zones: 2–8

Care Instructions

• ☀️ Light: Full sun (best color)
• 💧 Water: Moderate; well-drained soil
• 🌱 Soil: Adaptable but prefers good drainage
• ✂️ Maintenance: Prune after flowering to shape

Best planted in full sun for the deepest foliage color

Important Growing Note

• This is a shorter-lived shrub (10–15 years)
• May require monitoring for pests/disease in some climates

(Being upfront here builds buyer trust and reduces issues later.)

Perfect For

• Colorful hedges & privacy screens
• Accent shrubs in landscape design
• Bird-friendly gardens 🐦
• Edible & ornamental gardens
• Cottage & traditional landscapes

Plant Condition Disclosure

Live plants may be shipped dormant, leafless, recently pruned, bare root, or partially defoliated depending on season, weather, and shipping requirements.

Natural variation in size, branching, foliage density, color, root structure, and overall appearance should be expected.

Important Note

You will receive a live starter plant (seedling/young plant). Listing photos show the plant at a mature stage for reference only. The actual plant size, shape, and appearance may vary and will be significantly smaller than the images shown.

Customer Notice for Live Plants

Live plants may experience normal shipping stress such as leaf loss, yellowing, wilting, or minor branch damage.

Please consider local weather before purchasing. Extreme heat, freezing temperatures, severe weather, shipping delays, or unattended packages may increase plant stress.

Due to the perishable nature of live plants, returns are generally not accepted. If there is an issue with your order, please contact us within 48 hours of delivery and provide the required photos for review.

• Photos of the shipping box
• Photo of the shipping label
• Clear photos of the plant from multiple angles
• Scratch test photos if the plant appears dead or dormant

Dormant, stressed, defoliated, wilted, or transit-shocked plants are not automatically considered dead.

Claims submitted without the required photos or more than 48 hours after delivery may not be eligible for review, replacement, or refund.