Cherries are truly summer delights, especially when topped on soft serves, pies, and tarts.
Cherry wines and coolers are also hard to miss on hot summer days or wintry nights.
You might think that cherry trees are generic but there are actually hundreds of them.
Some bear fruits, some dont.
Some have sweet fruits and some have bitter and sour ones.
Some grow tall while dwarf varieties are grown as ornamentals.
There are a lot of cherry tree varieties.
Some are cultivated for their fruits and some are planted as ornamentals.
Its famed status is due to its unique floral display of pink and white flowers during spring.
The flowers bloom in clusters covering the entire branches until almost mid-bark.
After bloom time, it will produce small, red fruits that are not palatable for humans.
The flowers will gradually turn white as it enters winter.
It is also a prized ornamental because it can tolerate very hot summers and cold winters.
It does not also have a lot ofcare requirements.
Sweet cherry tree (Prunus avium)
This comes in many varieties.
It is where sweet cherry fruits that are eaten raw are taken from.
They are considered asdeciduous treesgrowing at a medium size.
They have deep green foliage during spring turning into bronze colors during summer and fall.
Fragrant white flowers in the spring pave the way for sweet cherry fruits after.
They love the sun and moist soils.
This variety requires close proximity to other cherry varieties.
This is because it can only grow fruits through cross-pollination.
Its leaves are serrated and its bark is copper-red in color and with corky stripes all over.
It needs other cherry varieties to pollinate and its pink flowers are heavily perfumed.
It produces some of the largest fruits among all sweet cherries.
Its fruits are unique for their deep, dark red color.
Its bloom time will last until early summer.
Like other sweet cherries, it also needs to be planted near other cherry variants for cross-pollination.
Source
This one is always sold with an accompanying cherry pollinator like the Minnie Lee.
It produces one of the smallest cherry fruits among the sweet cherry varieties.
It is also one of the fastest ripening cherries.
This one is distinguishable for its very large fruits that look like cherry tomatoes more than cherries.
This is because of their red-orange color.
Its white flesh, however, gives it its name white cherry.
It is actually a hybrid between Bing and Vans.
It is stunning for its spring floral display of very fragrant pink and white blooms.
Sour Cherry tree
This cherry jot down is also known as tart cherry.
It is where cherry fruits are made into jams, tarts, and preserves are taken from.
Fruits from this tree are not to be eaten raw because they have a sharp, sour taste.
As such, they are also preserved for alcoholic beverages and liquors.
They can grow as shrubs or medium-sized trees.
Their natural round shape also makes them good in hedging.
This one is considered as one of the oldest varieties of tart cherries.
It originated in France and was used for commercial purposes such as in liquor production.
They bloom white/pink flowers during late spring and dark red fruits are harvested in June.
It is considered as a small-sized sour cherry bang out because its mature height is at 10ft only.
Like the Montmorency, it is disease-resistant and is appealing for its heavy fruit production.
Its fruits ripen late in the season and require 800 chill hours.
It grows upright and has a rounded shape so it makes an umbrella-like canopy when it becomes mature.
It blooms pink flowers before the leaves emerge.
After the flowers bloom, dark purple fruits appear.
These fruits are very sour and are not made for human consumption.
It is, however, the favorite of birds and other wildlife.
Its leaves are unique as they are serrated.
They turn yellow, orange, or red in the fall.
It is unique for glossy, copper-colored bark.
This characteristic makes it a favorite winter ornamental.
Green leaves emerge in spring and turn golden yellow in the fall.
After white, tiny flowers bloom in the spring, small berries sprout.
The fruits can be edible depending on the variety.
It provides food for birds and other wildlife, however.
This is a slow-growing cherry and thrives in many soil conditions.
It gets its name from its long, drooping branches.
Some varieties have arching branches while others have low cascading ones.
Their small, pink flowers will emerge first before their leaves.
From flowering in spring, dark, pea-like fruits will be visible.
These are not edible for humans but provide food for birds.
The leaves turn orange during fall and will be bare during winter.
This cherry tree is a hybrid known for its arching or upright branching habit.
Its flowers appear before the leaves.
The flowers are small but bloom in abundance covering all of the branches.
It produces red berries that are not edible for humans but a source of food for birds.
Its leaves turn yellow or orange in the fall.
Growing
it’s possible for you to plant your own cherry tree through seeds.
However, unlike other fruit-bearing trees, you cannot plant the seeds directly after gathering them.
Cherry tree seeds need to be refrigerated first.
The length of refrigeration depends on the cherry variety that you will plant.
Another thing to consider is that some cherry varieties need pollinators to go with them.
The best time to plant cherries would be spring when the soil is consistently moist.
Cherries need deep soils and they have to be planted far from buildings where there is more shade.
Sweet cherries are planted 35-40ft apart and sour cherries at 20-25ft apart.
Caring
When it comes to caring requirements, there are no differences between sweet and sour cherries.
Cherry trees are specially hardy and they can survive weeks without being watered.
you could also use organic mulch to retain moisture even in irregular watering.
Spreading compost around your growing cherry tree will surely encourage new growth.
Cutting overgrowths helps you in maintaining the natural shape of your cherry tree.
By eliminating overgrowth, you are also eliminating chances of pest infestation and the niching of unwanted wildlife.
Pruning once in a while also encourages growth.
The best time to prune cherry trees will be during spring or early summer.
Humans are not the only ones feeding on delectable cherry fruits.
Mites, fruit flies, birds, fruit worms, and tree borers.
To top it all off, here are some frequently asked questions about cherry trees.
Are there poisonous cherry trees?
Yes, there are and they are called black cherries or wild cherries.
Their twigs and leaves are the sources of poison.
It contains a punch in of cyanide called prussic acid which can be fatal when ingested.
However, they also prove to be commercially useful cherries because of their sturdy, decorative bark.
Its wood is also used in making furniture and its fruits are used in making preserves and wine.
Are all types of cherries edible?
Generally, yes, all types of cherries are edible.
There are some considerations, however.
If you are looking for the sweet, archetypal cherry, they usually are varieties of sweet cherry.
Specifically, you are looking for Bing and Rainier cherries.
Sweet cherries are the safest to eat and they can be eaten raw.
Some cherry trees, however, could be sour or bitter and cannot be eaten raw.
There are also cherry trees that do not bear fruits at all.
Can you eat the fruit of a wild cherry tree?
Conclusion
Cherry trees are diverse and this diversity adds more to our fascination with them.
Some may also be considered as poisonous like the black cherry.
Growing and caring for cherry trees are also easy and so anyone could grow one out of seeds.
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