Nanking Cherry vs Japanese Tree Lilac - TreeTime.ca

Nanking Cherry vs Japanese Tree Lilac

Prunus tomentosa

Syringa reticulata

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Nanking Cherry
Japanese Tree Lilac

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.

Japanese Tree Lilac is an attractive, heavy-flowering lilac with fragrant white blossoms. It can be pruned to a single stem or grown as a multi-stemmed shrub.

Japanese Tree Lilac's dark reddish-brown bark peels as the tree ages, creating visual appeal for any yard, especially in the winter.

This tree is often planted along boulevards and its attractive white flowers signal spring to all who drive by.

Nanking Cherry Quick Facts

Japanese Tree Lilac Quick Facts

Zone: 2a
Zone: 3a
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Height: 6 m (20 ft)
Spread: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Spread: 6 m (20 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: full sun
Moisture: normal
Moisture: normal
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: medium
Life span: short
Life span: medium
Suckering: low
Suckering: low


Flowers: white, early spring
Flowers: white with yellow anthers
Fruit: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Berries: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


In row spacing: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Between row spacing: 5 m (16 ft)
Other Names: ando cherry, chinese bush cherry, chinese dwarf cherry, downy cherry, hansens bush cherry, korean cherry, manchu cherry, mountain cherry, shanghai cherry