I hope your trees are doing well. I love keeneland and brooke ledge
Iāve never been able to find them. Sorryā¦
Whatās everyone planting this year? What are you excited about?
Going in the ground for 2026:
Honey Jar jujube
Sugarcane jujube
Crandall currant
Poorman gooseberry
Hinnomaki gooseberry
Pixwell gooseberry
Blizzard honeyberry
Beauty honeyberry
Beast honeyberry
Aurora honeyberry
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Iām doing a bunch of seedling trials:
American Hazelnut
Chinese chestnut
Blackhaw viburnum
Hybrid Passion flower
Alpine strawberry
Wild Black cherry
Goumi
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The wild black cherry wonāt produce tasty fruit imo. They have a cherry like taste, but have a weird after-taste and are sour.
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Not this one. I tried fruit from the mother tree and it was delicious. I ate at least 100 cherries from it. Hopefully the seeds from those fruit will grow into trees similar to the mother.
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I am south of Lexington Kentucky in Lancaster, and also glad to find this group with similar weather and challenges.
John
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I am in southern middle TN and have lots of wild black cherry on my place. One nice one with long limbs that hang out over my backyard.
Love the blossoms..
The fruit has a dark rich mostly tart flavor. I like them and eat some every year.
They would definately be better if they were a little sweeter but I do enjoy them as they are.
TNHunter
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I will be adding by graft to a wild dv rootstock.. Giboshi (Smiths best) Persimmon.
Also found another nice wild dv in the edge of my field that I am grafting Kasandra persimmon too. I already have a fruiting tree of Kasandraā¦ but having a backup of that wonderful persimmon seems like a good idea.
I am adding grafts of Rain Tree select goumi to my existing goumi bushes.
Adding grafts of Waneta and Alderman (later bloomers) to my JPlums.
Adding grafts of Enterprise apple and Trailman crab to my existing apple trees. Mostly for pollination partners..but also they are good eats.
Have already recieved from Gurneys.. Oh Yes muscadine and Razzmatazz and got those planted.
Also.. got a 25 pack of Evie-2 strawberries and got those planted last week.
I have recieved several packages of bocking 14 comfrey and have that planted already.. some of it is up and growing nicely already.. got that via trades.
Will be grafting Clarks mulberry to a couple of BRN russian mulberry rootstocks that I have.
One thing that I have ordered but not recieved yetā¦. From Indiana berry.. 3 Anne raspberry and 3 Caroline raspberry.
I will be adding grafts of apple and persimmon to rootstock trees for a couple friends from our Church. Enterprise apple and Kasandra persimmon.
Think that is about it.
TNHunter
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Thereās a P. serotina in Falls Creek Falls state park that has really good fruit. Itās very similar to commercial sweet cherries, albeit a bit less sweet and smaller. Iām growing out seeds from that tree this year.
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This year Iām growing a lot of things from seed:
- A pound of Chinese chestnuts from Route 9 Coop
- 20 Nitka hazelnuts from Zās Nutty Ridge
- 18 Wango Bo goumis from Englandās
- P. serotina var. Falls Creek Falls (thatās the one I discovered last year)
- Blackhaw viburnums from Oikos
- Heartnuts from 2024 that FINALLY germinated
- Hybrid P. incarnata
- Jujubes from Cliffās orchard
- Asparagus
- bee balm
- pink dandelion
- a crazy dandelion I found in my yard
Iām also rooting a bunch of cuttings:
- 20ish varieties of cold-hardy figs, looking for The One thatāll fruit on time without winder protection here
- 8 cuttings from an elderberry that tastes like blackberries
- A dozen or so cuttings from Bob Gordon elderberry as well as one I found wild that has 2-foot-wide flower heads
Then thereās grafting:
- Mulberries: Lawson Dawson, Clarkās, Black Prince
- Heartnuts: Stealth, Imshu
- Euro Pears: Clarkās Small Yellow, Lazy J, Karlās Favorite, Warren
- Asian Pears: Shinsui, Drippinā Honey, Chojuro, Korean Giant
- Darrow Che
Prep for next year:
- Save honeyberry seeds
- Locate local hairy blueberries for dormant cuttings and/or seeds
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Nice plans! What are your plans for 18 goumi seedlings? A hedge? Hoping to find a new cultivar?
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I plan to pair them with most of my tree and shrub crop plants, but I will probably have excess. Interested in trading for some? You can also buy the seeds directly from Cliff.
Good idea buying seeds from Cliff! Much cheaper than plants. We stopped by Englandās last year and bought 3 Wang Bo seedlings. Iām very excited to see what they turn into! Sure, Iād be happy to swap scion or seeds in the future. This year Iām getting as many named varieties in the ground as possible, but in the future Iād like to focus on growing out seedlings.
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Those wretched squirrels took my entire 20 gallon pot full of black walnut seeds! Guess I will just wait till next year to grow some seedlingsā¦
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When those Wang Bo seedlings start fruiting, you might decide to graft over all your other named goumis. Wang Bos are very large and have no astringency. Cliff actually has another cultivar interplanted with Wang Bo called Crimson Passion. That latter variety is my absolute favorite. Crimson Passion berries are smaller than Wang Boās but they have an almost maraschino cherry flavor.
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The only info I can find online for crimson passion is for a bush cherry. 
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Yeah, I also tried googling it and came up with nothing. I wonder if Cliff bred and named it, or if itās only available in Asia. Itās also possible that Iām not remembering the name correctly.
NE Kentucky here. FWIW, I had a Crimson Passion bush cherry, along with a Romeo and Juliet cherry, I planted them all in 2017. They are all from the U of Saskatchewan bush cherry program. I got them from Honeyberry USA.
My CP was a wee twig when I got it, and never grew much after planting. It bit the dust a couple years later. From what Iāve heard it hasnāt been a very good product.
The Juliet has grown into a huge bush, about 10ftt tall and 8ft across, the Romeo is much smaller. Both have bloomed over the last few years, but birds get the fruit before they start to turn dark. The Juliet started to bloom last week, but we had a couple nights around 27-28, so donāt know how many survived. Romeo is starting to bloom now.
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