Good intel! thank you!
I am growing some Nanking and Cornelian Cherries myself. They are cheap and seem to be decent from what i read. Im not a big cherry guy but i do see the benefits of them both for wildlife and pollinators as a good thing to grow… i will likely only hope for handfuls of them for myself.
I bought a bundle of row-run Nanking cherry seedlings from Gurney’s or someplace similar, 20 years ago, for a grafting project (dwarfing understock for peach and Japanese hybrid plums - Nanking is actually more closely related to plums than to true cherries).
Still have a few of them stuck out there in a nursery bed/row. They must have been the worst possible fruiting strain of Nanking out there. TINY little fruits, with barely a rim of pulp surrounding the pit. I don’t think even the birds bother with them… but I’m not often over in that area of the orchard to even observe them, when in fruit.
C.mas is a far better choice than my Gurney’s strain of Nanking.
I think they need two genetically different strains to do well… im no expert but it makes sense.
A cherry in Switzerland with a very unusual background is the Schauenburger cherry, also called Flurianer. In about 1900 a Swiss hotelier called Emil Flury went on holiday in the country of Lebanon. From this trip, he brought back scions of a cherry variety. These he grafted on a wild cherry tree next to his hotel, which was called Bad Schauenburg. In time, these cherries were propagated and widely shared so that in 1937 when Fritz Kobel published his work Die Kirschensorten der deutschen Schweiz (Cherry-varieties of German-speaking Switzerland) in 1937 the Schauenburger had already become a main commercial variety in the Canton of Basel, which was (and still is today) known for its great production of table cherries (compared with Central Switzerland (where I am from) which was mostly known for Brennkirschen, cherries for distillation.) Since the Schauenburger is too small by todays standards it is mostly grown in gardens, by connoisseurs or by direct-marketing farmers.
Sadly, Emil Flurys story did not end as well. As far as I was able to find out, he lost the Bad Schauenburg due to financial mismanagement. He may have been cheated by his suppliers, but wasn’t able to prove this, because of his own lack of account-keeping. He lost his Hotel, converted to Catholicism and went to live in a monastery, where he died in 1940. The Bad Schauenburg is still a Hotel today.
The whole story has a very fond place in my heart. It is beautiful and sad in one and even has a little mystery. I have often asked myself: Does this cherry variety still exist in Lebanon and if yes, what is it called? How beautiful would it be to find out its name, and history, in this country that is so far away. I hope it is as loved and cherished in Lebanon as it is in Switzerland.
In this post 2020 pick of the day - #139 by Oepfeli I have posted a picture of them, since I seem to have forgotten to take pictures this year.
the Garfield king cherry was a sour cherry sold by Fedco from what ive read in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s. it was discovered by him in Ft. Kent, 23 miles from here. from what read it was hardy here and 1 of the only fruit trees to not get damaged at the University of Presque isle’s test orchard in the winter of 08’s record cold. ive been looking to source this local cherry to no avail. i grow a superior cultivar of yellow transparent apple bearing his name also discovered by him on Charette hill in Ft. Kent that we used to pick when i was a kid. its offered by Fedco now. wish they would bring back the cherry.
Its a very good story. Does the tree still exist?
Do you mean if the original tree grafted by Emil Flury still exists? I don’t know, but I doubt it because there were extensive renovations and changes in the surroundings of the hotel since the 50ies…
Utah Giant looks interesting…its a seedling of Bing.
Seems like a small tree at only 12’ or so…
Dumping here the old doc I made years ago when I started experimenting with sour cherries in the CA Central Valley. Most links are not functional anymore and I lost the last two accessions in this doc. The file summarizes the info on the Eastern EU cherries, I found at the time.
Cherry data.pdf (302.9 KB)
Marta, you ended up having the most early success with Sumadinka, I recall. Have you had other successes since that time? Thanks.
I have a big patch of Mongolian Cherries (Prunus fruticosa) and it only fruits maybe a handful of cherries, but they are delicious as a sauce or in pies. Wish someone would develop a productive variety of those.
I moved my orchard last winter-spring. Starting from this year I should have more data. A number of trees fruited right after replanting, but I didn’t take any notes, as the transplanted trees were heavily pruned and stressed. I also made a number of new trees. Sumadinka still growing well and hope it will be fruiting in Woodland too.
Canadian bush cherries developed by University of Saskatchewan are hybrid of P. fruticosa x P. cerasus. There’s a ton of discussion and observation notes about these bush cherries on this forum, use the search button to find relevant topics.
I have 3 Evans shrubs growing in Salem, OR, zone 8B. They’ve been in the ground 3 years now, having been transplanted from Montana to New Mexico to Salem. One produced a few cherries last year. My Evans hedge in Albuquerque produced gallons of cherries each year for 8 years. The Salem specimens are root sprouts from that hedge.
Original trees came from dNa in Alberta.
Clark, I just saw this. So here goes. I live in the south of France in the ‘stone-fruit belt’. I am lucky! Apricots, plums (all euros), buckets of cherries and white peaches grow here. We have a number of apple orchards as well, few pear orchards.
Uzès is the medieval town where I live. There are about 9,000 residents year round. The summer is overcrowded with tourists for all of July and August. That is when I go to Italy! Uzès was the first Duchy in France and the entrance and what we would call the first floor is renaissance. The second and third floors are 18th century. I live in the second oldest (most historic) house in Uzès. It name is Hotel de la Rochette. Hotel means simply mansion. It was built by Comte de la Rochette who was a secretary of state to Louis XIV. Old place. I love it! The house has very large terrasses. I only have one as the owners (original family) have the rest. I am lucky to live here. The walls are all limestone and all of the floors are terracotta. Just as you would imagine a house to look like. The other houses in the town, have 3-5 stories and some with beautiful gardens. The houses are rabbit warrens of tiny rooms. Many being bought and renovated. I am about 40 minutes from Avignon by car, 25 minutes to Nimes and 1 hour by TGV (bullet train) to Lyon, where my doctors are located. The TGV take 3 hours and 15 minutes to Paris to fly out of. But it is easier to go to lovely Marseille and use the airport there. There are orchards everywhere, even in the cities. The French insist you eat 5 fruits a day. I must say its all good for you! There isn’t much I miss in RI or NYC. This is a dream!
That sounds wonderful in France 
. Would love to see more fruit pictures and more of the historic sites! Thanks for posting that great description it does sound heavenly!