cherry prinsepia

Survives zone 2 through 7

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Red, juicy fruit with a pleasant, slightly tart, cherry-like flavor — eaten out of hand or made into jam, juice and pies. Extremely cold-hardy. ⚠ Kernels cyanogenic, as with other stone fruit in the rose family.

Hardiness

Zone 2–7

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Summer–autumn

Mature size

Arching spiny shrub 1–2 m

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

North-east China, Korea and the Russian Far East — Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia through the Korean peninsula to Primorye, in thickets and on forest margins at 500–900 m.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

2–4 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

200 cm (79 in) apart — about 4 m² (43 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, 4–8 cm long, bright green with finely toothed or entire margins, borne on arching stems with a sharp spine at each node.

Root system

Fibrous and moderately deep, suckering lightly at the base — tough, hardy and undemanding, which is much of the reason it survives in zone 2 gardens.

Fruit description

Cherry-like red drupe about 1.5 cm on a short stalk, ripening in mid to late summer. Juicy and acid, with a single stone; used for preserves and country wine more often than eaten fresh. The seed, as in other Rosaceae stone fruit, should not be eaten.

Propagation

Seed after cold stratification, or semi-ripe cuttings in summer. Suckers can be detached where the plant produces them.

Pollination

Self-fertile

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.