so I ended up getting a Coral Blaze and a Yellow variety from one green world. I still would like some more yellow fruited cultivars so I reached out to Dan at Cricket Hill Garden in CT and he said to check back with him in May to see the status on Aloysha. I found Flava online (but out of stock) at broken arrow nursury in CT and I’m on a waitlist for that one. if you know of any other yellow fruited varieties sold and shipped to the US as grafted trees (bare rooted or potted) please let me know.
@wildforager should I cage my cornus mas for their first season to protect it from deer? they have ravaged a decorative dogwood of mine (stellar pink cultivar) so I suspect they may also have a taste for cornus mas.
Does anyone know if they are juglone resistant? Several Cornus trees are documented with resistance, but I have no info on cornus mas.
Years ago I read an article about Cornelian cherries in a certain country that prized them for fresh eating fruit and a wide range of delicious varieties could be found at open markets. The writer said none of the varieties available in the U.S. compared to the best he’d tasted there.
Here’s what chat ai has to say about the importance of the crop in other countries but doesn’t mention fresh eating of sweet varieties.
"Cornelian cherries (Cornus mas) are most valued as a crop fruit in various parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. These small, red or yellow fruits are highly appreciated in countries like Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, and some parts of the Balkans. They are used in a variety of culinary applications, including making jams, jellies, compotes, and beverages.
In these regions, cornelian cherries have a long history of cultivation and are enjoyed for their tart flavor and nutritional benefits. They are often used in traditional dishes and are considered a valuable fruit crop. The fruit is also known for its health benefits, as it is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants."
@Bigmike1116 Those seem like good selections. Have you considered the Yugo Sweet that wildforager mentioned? It is likely a good idea to protect the trees from deer to be on the safe side. It would be great if you could update the thread in the future with your experience as the trees mature.
@alan Maybe some of the more recent introductions in the US have better fresh eating quality. Based on what you found, it seems like the fruit that isn’t great for fresh eating still has uses so that is good as a fallback if fresh eating still isn’t great.
I wonder if anyone has made a comprehensive variety search in the areas where they are so prized. This seems like a fruit worthy of breeding for improvement. wildforager seems to be doing this.
@Cgardener Yugo sweet is Wildforager’s own cultivar and is only available as scion wood from him (I don’t graft) or as a tree from cricket hill nursery and they are sold out. It just so happened that I was getting a black sea jujube from one green world that I was on the waitlist for since February and I noticed both the yellow and coral blaze varieties were also available so I pulled the trigger knowing I was more interested in the novelty of a yellow fruited cultivar over sweetness and the coral blaze has a documented sweetness of 12.7%. I’m just going to stick to these 2 cultivars unless I can get additional yellow fruited ones like Flava or Aloysha.
Also I just want to be clear that I’m under no illusions that this will be “eat out of hand” sweet. I was simply probing for the sweetest cultivars so they need less added sugar for jams, jellies, syrups, compotes, and other processed goods.
@Bigmike1116 Thank you for the reply! That makes sense for Yugo sweet just wanted to note it because it sounded like one of the varieties with good potential. I hope your two cultivars work out well and look forward to hearing about how they turn out!
@Robert While all Cornus mas are yellow Flowering, the standard fruit color is shades of red, only a select few are yellow fruiting and they are much more rare in the united states. Only one of the cultivars available at planting justice is yellow fruiting, ‘Yellow’ also called “Yartarnii” or “Yantarnyi” or “Yantarny” or “Kyiv Yellow” or “Jantarnyj” which is the same cultivar that I just purchased from One Green World.
I’m looking for other unique yellow fruited cultivars sold and shipped to the US as grafted trees (bare rooted or potted) because I don’t graft like:
Aliosha: (Syn: Alesza, Alesha, Alyosha) - being cultivated at cricket hill from scion wood provided by WildForager
Bukovynskyi
Chemshir
Early Yellow
Flava: aka Lutea: aka Luteocarpa - found at broken arrow nursery
Gelbe Selektion
Jalt: (Syn: Jaltskyi)
Jantarovy: aka Jantanovik - Could be the same as ‘Yellow’
Lagodekhi Yellow - Could be the same as ‘Flava’
Nana - might have yellow fruit?
Nizhyi
Prezent
have been trying to grow 3 common varieties near St. Paul for 6 or 7 years now with poor results. The trees are barely alive. It seems one is Elegant and one Sunrise. I planted a third a couple years ago, whose name I would have to look up. Something red.
I got a notification that Yugo sweet was available from cricket hill nursery at 9:27am this morning and by 1:30pm it was sold out. not sure if this was a mistake or if they really did sell out this quickly. even if they did have just a few for sale this would represent some high demand.
it looks like other more rare (in the u.s.) cultivars are in stock and still available from them right now like ‘Vavilovets’ and ‘Black Plum’
verified from cricket hill via email that they did sell out the few yugo sweet they had in stock in a matter of hours. they should have more available in the spring. that’s some strong demand from the niche cornus mas community!
My red is good when dead ripe and terrible when unripe. My yellow is quite good, but squirrels and birds tend to like it. Our climate is getting hotter and drier so my tree really suffered this year. I biocharred it and I put a whole lot of wood chips over it. I’ll watch it more closely next year and hopefully it will do better.
I got them both from Raintree about 20 years ago.
John S
PDX OR
@alan I found frozen cornelian cherry in a store in CT today. It was the same product that kakasamo had found in an international market in Baltimore (mentioned in a different thread). I thawed the frozen fruit in warm water and tried it alone. I likely leached some of the flavor by soaking in the water, but for me the fruit was good for eating on its own. I’m not sure of the cultivar but this makes me think that there is definitely the potential for fresh eating.
Question, I have read that Cornus Mas is very early blooming, like late winter early spring. We have frosts most years into the first week of May. Would I lose blooms to frost every year? When do the fruit ripen?
It is early blooming but it seems that there is frost resistance. Cornelian cherry was tested in Wisconsin and seemed to have success (the following link discusses fruit bud damage at temperatures below -20 degrees F) : Cornelian Cherry – Uncommon Fruit (wisc.edu)
They do well here, blooming about with forsythia as much as 3 or 4 weeks before other stuff is pushing. They are quite frost resistant, handling temps in the 20’s sans issues.
Looking at my photos they bloomed April 15 of this year and April 28 last year.
They ripen in about mid-August here. Yummy stuff. Underrated. They make the best jelly - top 3 anyway (red currant and cider jelly are my other top picks) and you dont even have to cook them! Just pick em hard, let em soften and sweeten a couple of days in a bowl, and then foley mill em and add sugar. Done!
I read somewhere that each bud grows not one but a cluster of 15-20 flowers that bloom at different times as a way of adapting to a very early bloom cycle. while some of the flowers will be sacrificed to the cold and early frosts, it only takes a few pollinated flowers in a cluster to make a few fruit. the clusters are close together so that is how coruns mas can still produce well when blooming in the bitter cold of late winter.
