Photo: MPF — CC BY 2.5 · source
Survives zone 3 through 8
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
Sweet, juicy fresh-eating flavor in cultivated forms — from firm and mild to deep and richly flavored — while the wild type's smaller, more bitter fruit is traditionally distilled into kirsch and maraschino liqueur. ⚠ Kernels/pits cyanogenic.
Spread warning. Naturalized and locally invasive in parts of the northeastern and mid-Atlantic US, including listed populations in Northern Virginia and 13 Maryland counties.
- Hardiness
- Zone 3–8
- Habit
- Tree
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- June–July
- Mature size
- Tree 15–30 m on its own roots; dwarfing stocks (Gisela 5, Colt) hold it to 3–4 m and containerable
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0 (near-neutral)
- Environment
- Temperate
- Native range
- Native to most of Europe, extending into western Asia (Turkey, the Caucasus, northern Iran) and northwest Africa.
- Status
- Cultivated
- Years to fruit
- 3–5 yrs
- Growth speed
- 30–60 cm/year while young
- Spacing
- 550 cm (217 in) apart — about 30 m² (326 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Oblong-ovate, 6–15 cm long, unequally serrate with a drawn-out tip, dark green and rugose above, downy beneath.
- Root system
- Initially shallow and spreading, developing deeper roots with age; suckers vigorously if the roots are disturbed.
- Fruit description
- Round drupe about 2.5 cm across, glossy skin ranging from pale yellow to nearly black depending on cultivar, with a small, round, smooth stone.
- Propagation
- Budded or grafted onto Mazzard (P. avium seedling) or Mahaleb (P. mahaleb) rootstock; Mahaleb suits calcareous, drought-prone soils.
- Pollination
- ⚠ Most cultivars SELF-INCOMPATIBLE (S-allele groups). Self-fertile: 'Stella', 'Lapins', 'Sunburst'
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.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. A light feeder — a low-nitrogen formula such as 5-10-10 is usually enough, and many well-sited trees need no fertilizer at all until they begin bearing.
How it spreads. Suckers readily from the roots and colonizes forest clearings via bird-dispersed seed, often forming secondary woodland thickets.
Growing tips. Most cultivars are self-incompatible and need a compatible pollinizer; blossoms are frost-sensitive; susceptible to black knot, bacterial canker, and brown rot.
Companion planting. Host to the black knot fungus (Apiosporina morbosa), which readily spreads between sweet cherry and cultivated plums — avoid planting near infected Prunus domestica or P. cerasifera.
Grow journal
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