I have never heard of a “cherry bush” until today and I am curious to know if they are really a good choice for zone 9 where cherry trees don’t do well.
I came across the add in the Louisiana market bulletin, so I called the guy. He told me that the cherries are very good fresh eating and cooking, if fully ripe. At $6 per one gallon container, I think it‘s a bargain, but is he pulling my leg?
Thanks Karl

I'm in California Zone 9 and found the cherry bushes to be a pain. And after much pain, it will reward you with somewhat bittersweet tasting cherries which is almost all pit and not meat. These bush cherries are actually Sand Cherries, and more related to plums than they are to cherries. I am open to new breeds though so cannot really put a judgement on all of them.

Thanks Joe
It did sound suspicious. If they were that great everyone would have them.

I am in zone 9 and I don’t have problem growing cherries
Heres my Prince Ranier last summer- their second and Stella,s third year fruit.
Stellas' 1st year fruit was one single cherry only. Out of over hundreds of flowers.
It was an experement that I thought my area did not have enough chilling temperature but it came out OK.



And my Stella

Benny,

I have no problems with normal Cherries like you do. The "Bush" cherries are different types of trees altogether. Their fruits looked like cherries, and often grow to only about 6 ft high. There are several types of Bush Cherries, like Joel, Hansen's Bush, Joy, Jan, Pin, Western Sand Cherry, Nankings....

This is what karpes is talking about and I have tried most them. Except for the Nankings, I uprooted my last bush cherry and threw into the street along with the grass clippings for recycling.

Benny
Joe is correct , I was talking about the bush cherries, but I think that you have given me a good option with the Stella cherry.
I found a description at the following link that said that they have been grown in Galveston Texas and St Peter Florida.
How do they taste?
Karl

http://www.ediblelandscaping.com/Plants/Cherries.htm

I have 40 or 50 Red Nanking Bush Cherries. I use them as a divider between two fields. Nanking Cherries make a nice looking hedge, and produce a lot of blooms in the spring, that are quite stunning. However, the fruit (cherries) really are not worth picking. I just let the birds have them. - Millet

Nankings make a good rootstock to show off Cherries, plums, peaches, almonds, pluots, apricots, peachcots, apriums, plumcots, nectarines, all in one tree. I'm keeping one to assemble another shorter version of my multi-species multi-graft stone fruit tree. Haven't started grafting yet, just making sure I will have enough branches.

Thanks Joe for the correction.

Karl :
Stella is good just as good as Bing but the sweetest is the Prince Ranier, my favoriite eating fresh.

No harm done Benny, but instead you opened other possibilities for Karl. As we know from your pics, you are showing us that you can keep your cherries into "bush" height and still produce tons of fruits.

There is a new patented low chill cherries called Royal Lee and Minnie Royal developed by Zaiger genetics but haven't seen them in the market yet. This would be perfect in Benny's area and of course mostly in our area too.

short description can be found here:
http://www.davewilson.com/z_file/zaiger_varieties.html

I have a couple of cherry bushes (Prunus jacquemonti x japonica) that produce many fruit each year.



The quality of the fruit is fair, but I have made "cherry pies" out of it mixed in w/ regular cherries that tasted pretty good. They are only about 4ft tall and wide. I saved some seed if anybody is interested.

The plants originally came from here:
http://virginiaberryfarm.com/Fruit_berry_plants/specialty_fruits.htm

G,

Wow! Those bush Cherries are awesome!!

Have you tried to root any cuttings?

Thanks,

Keith

I finally planted a Black Tartarian and a sugar sweet bush cherry. These were the varieties that I finally discovered will grow here. The sugar sweet is used to pollinate the Tartarian and has decent fruit.
Those cherries sure do look good!
Karl

Keith -I haven't tried rooting any cuttings, but I could try or even attempt a layer since the cherry load brought the branches to ground level. Maybe I'll have something for you by the time you come for the Expo.

Okay. Thanks!

I will bring your Goumi too.

Did you see the Pomegranates Bob posted from W-S on the Hardy Palm and SubTrop board?