Sand cherries

I have two sand cherry bushes I’m ready to put into the ground. For starters they are part of my plant library (38 varieties and counting). The question I have is whether the fruit quality and quantity is good enough to give them a prime spot, or if I should relegate them to the back of the lot. There is plenty of summer sun but not as much. Fresh eating is not a big concern.

the ones ive tried from a friends bush were rather bland and astringent. they were dark purple when i picked them. wasnt a named cultivar either. maybe processed they will be better. reminded me of chokecherry but not as dry.

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Yeah steve gives a good description. Better than chokecherry but not as good as my local kansas sand hill plum. I have all 3. I would put them way in the back in a sunny spot. Drought hardy and good for something im sure., i like them ripe but i like standard sour cherries or sand hill plums much better.

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Put them where they will ‘look good’…the fruit might or might not be to your liking.

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The one time I tried chokecherry preserve i was rather impressed. Fruits with astringency work amazingly well for sauces and vinaigrettes. My daughter’s favorite cheesecake is chokeberry (aronia, not the Prunus virginiana one). She finds most other fruits on cheesecake too candy-sweet.

Once I retire I plan on running a backyard nursery. Out of the ordinary plants, specially anything with the word cherry on it, sells well. I need to stash a white sand cherry as well as a choke cherry tree somewhere.

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I bet the sand cherry are good for preserves. I havent tried preserving it yet. I just have 1 nice bush i planted 5+ years ago one each of sand and choke. Both have some suckers. But i havent tried either yet in preserves or anything. Just fresh. Sand has a good unique flavor and gets decent sweetness in the taste at the end, unique and worth keeping fresh imo. I like it and plan to plant out some seeds i gathered last week. I bet it would be great for flavor! Real dark! I got mine from montana so theyre hardy. Like full sun. :slight_smile:

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