Juliet Cherry

[Colorado]

Prunus fruticosa x prunus cerasus

Picked this up at a local nursery this last weekend. It was a beautiful day, and my wife suggested we go get a few clematis for the garden.

Lo and behold, as we were browsing she showed some interest in the cherries. This was the first time she’s shown much interest in trees, so I was quite happy to help her pick one out.



None of them had great trunks, but this one was the thickest and had at least a little movement in one sub-trunk.

Anyway, does anyone have any experience with these? It will be planted in the ground. The soil is sandy/clay. I have the basic information: full sun, compatible hardiness for my zone. Looking for some more advanced information from the B’Nuts.

I really want to make this tree as healthy as possible so that my wife has a good experience and wants more trees ?.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

That's an interesting cherry. I've read it is being tested for the commercial market. If you prune the bushes to remain a bush, rather than tree, you can use a mechanical blueberry harvest machine without having to make many engineering changes. But that is not what your interested in.

As a yard tree, it should be winter hardy and trouble free. Plant in full sun, water any week you don't have rain for more than 5 or 6 days, at least for the next year or so. Prune out crossing or tangled branches, step back and let it grow. No need to worry about fertilizer or pesticides, unless a specific problem shows up.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

This cherry should air layer relatively easy. You can air layer off a branch or two for bonsai.

It can be a pollenizer for any Prunus cerasus, sour cherry, or Prunus fruiticosa, a cherry I'm not familiar with.

 

[Colorado]

Thank you. I was hoping you’d chime in on this. I think it’ll be a fun little experiment. Best case scenario we harvest a bunch of delicious cherries...”worst” case scenario it’ll spend a number of years in the ground developing a couple potential trunks

I’ll post updates in this thread.

 

[Colorado]

Beautiful flowers on this little tree