North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

While ordering flats and whatnot, I succumbed to a saleslady's wiles,
and found myself ordering a nanking cherry, as well.  It arrived the
other day, looking pretty dead (or VERY dormant??) and I put it in the
ground.  But then I got to thinking. . .

There are other bush cherries out there.  I doubt this one will make it,
but the spot I put it in would look nice with a flowing shrub. . .and
wouldn't it be great if it had edible fruit?  Now I really like
cherries.  I like sweet cherries.  I like sour cherries, eaten fresh.  I
used to live near some non-eating cherry (maybe a black cherry) that
dropped little fruits - a full-sized pit covered with about 3mm of black
flesh.  It was sweet and bitter and very cherry, and I enjoyed them a
lot, although there wasn't enough fruit on them to do anything more than
chew on a few as I wandered past.  So sour/bitter/seedy doesn't deter
me, and I don't mind attracting birds.  But I would like to be able to
nibble at it myself, and I'd like something short and bushy.

Does anyone have experience with any of the bush cherries?  St. Lawrence
Nurseries offers a whole page of different ones (sand cherry, dwarf
ground cherry, Jan-joel-joy cherries, nanking cherries.)  Which might do
best with less-than-full sun - (bright shade for most of the day)?  The
spot is just downhill from a white pine, and is probably acid, too.  My
plan is to squeeze two into one large hole for pollination.

Thanks,
Ginda Fisher
eastern Mass. zone 6
Where we went from 90 to below freezing in two days.  (Little visible
damage, blooms still blooming away.)

 

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