Simulations from six global climate models participating in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 are used to project future changes in regional early spring (February–April) temperature and in cherry (Prunus yedoensis) first-flowering date (FFD) over South Korea in order to investigate a potential plant growth response to local climate change. For the study, we statistically downscale daily Historical (1986–2005), RCP4.5 (2071–2090), and RCP8.5 (2071–2090) gridded model data to 59 cherry FFD observation sites over South Korea.