I have a lilac hedge (in progress - the shrubs are all pretty young and still have space between them) and where one lilac shrub was killed by frost, I keep eyeing that empty spot and wondering if I can plant the dwarf sweet cherry I ordered there. Is that a dumb idea?
The cherry tree would be 5 feet from its two lilac next-door neighbors, 10 feet from a semidwarf sweet cherry, and 12 feet from a standard Seckel pear that I plan to prune to keep semidwarfish.
It’s supposed to arrive today so I hope someone wiser than I will spot this soon and reply!
I would not do it if you meant a sweet cherry fruit tree. It should be a stand alone tree because air ventilation is helpful to lessen fungal diseases. Don’t be full be the word “dwarf” for sweet cherry. It depends on a rootstock, dwarf sweet cherry can grow to 15 ft or more.
If you talk about sour cherry bushes, that’s possible. They can be grown as hedges. These bushes cherries tend to spread and grow to 8-10 ft tall if not trimmed. They also sucker like crazy.
I’m in a dry climate (7" average annual rainfall) - does that reduce the likelihood of fungal diseases? I haven’t yet encountered diseases of any kind on my fruit trees.
It’s on dwarf rootstock.
Sour cherry bushes sound good to me! Are they productive?
Dry climate helps a great deal. Bush cherries are not grafted. They are either from cuttings or suckers. There are several varieties. The most productive one is Carmine Jewel but the fruit are smaller and more sour. I prefer Juliet as the fruit are larger and less tart (relatively speaking. It is not as productive.
If you use the search function hear on sour cherries, there are tons of threads about it.
Smallest bush. I haven’t seen the fruit ripe. I’ve only seen a row of different mature bush cherries, which is very enlightening of the growth habits of each one.
I have 2 seed grown Montmorency cherry trees in a lilac grove. They are doing fine. I have to trim the lilacs so they don’t shade the cherry until they are big enough.
Thank you all for the speedy replies. You’ve answered my questions and fed my addiction. I decided to fill in the hole in my lilac hedge with a bush cherry, and extend another lilac hedge that I started. I only planted lilacs because my husband loves them… but he also loves cherry pie! And I love fresh cherries.
I just ordered 2 Juliets, a Romeo, and something new they’re calling FE Cherry (patent pending) from Honeyberry USA. I’ve never ordered from them but had a good feeling about them so… wish me luck…
They say the FE is like an Evans in hardiness, etc. but blooms a little later, and tastes better. My Evans has been the hero of my little home orchard, so far. We shall see!
Honeybery USA has been good. The only complaints people often made are that their plants tend to be on a small size. I have not ordered from it for several years now. Once you have a bush cherries, after a few years, you can’t get rid of suckers.
I order from honeyberryusa quite a bit. No complaints, some plants are small… but always healthy. Ive never lost a lilac for frosts, and they sometimes drop dormancy in March. Dont think FE was an option when i orderd in April, hope it is awesome.
Yes, FE is supposed to be quite new; you can read about it on their cherry page - a family propagated it among themselves and were convinced to go public… Thanks for the Honeyberry endorsement!
I’m excited at the prospect of lots of suckers! If I’m still around in a few years I’ll try to remember to report back! Thanks again for your insights.