A beautiful upright tree grows 6-8 m tall and 4-5 m wide. Highly fragrant white flowers bloom in May. They provide nectar and pollen and are a bee magnet. It is best grown in full sun for more edible fruit that is ideal for the birds or in jams, jellies, preserves, and wines. All trees in the prunus family support an extremely high number of caterpillars. Caterpillars are the essential food source for nesting songbirds. 98% of them will serve as high protein food for baby birds. Decine in bird population is directly related to the decreasing number of native trees, especially trees that support high numbers of caterpillars, like oaks, willows and plums. The leaves turn yellow and then red in fall. 
 
Photo: Homer Edward Price, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons