Mayday Cherry vs Nanking Cherry

Mayday Cherry is a small deciduous tree known for its early blooming and fragrant white flowers.

A favourite specimen tree on prairie homesteads, Mayday Cherry produces small black berries that are inedible to people but highly desirable to birds.

Nanking Cherry is a small deciduous shrub known for its attractive white blossoms and edible fruit. Its dark red berries are excellent for pies, jellies, and even fresh eating.

Nanking Cherry is highly regarded as a shade tolerant fruit. We often see it planted as a hedge on the north side of a house where few other plants will survive, let alone thrive.

Expect fruit mid to late July. The fruit can vary in sweetness and size considerably. We often hear that people prefer it to sour cherries. Perhaps this is because Nanking Cherry is more closely related to plums. In fact, it is sometimes used as a dwarfing rootstock for plums.

Compare Mayday Cherry with

Compare Nanking Cherry with