Nanking Cherry vs Garrington Chokecherry - TreeTime.ca

Nanking Cherry vs Garrington Chokecherry

Prunus tomentosa

Prunus virginiana Garrington

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Nanking Cherry
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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.

Garrington Chokecherry is a self-fertile and rare chokecherry that is commonly used for commercial orchards. This highly prized selection is known for its heavy yields of large, reddish-black fruit that are easily harvested with an over row harvester.

Garrington Chokecherry is also commonly used for hedges and edible landscaping. This shrubs' chokecherries are commonly used in baking, preserves, wine, and jams or jellies.

Nanking Cherry Quick Facts

Garrington Chokecherry Quick Facts

Zone: 2a
Zone: 2b
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Spread: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Spread: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: normal
Moisture: dry, normal
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: fast
Life span: short
Life span: medium
Suckering: low
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: medium


Flowers: white, early spring
Flowers: clusters of white flowers
Fruit: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Berries: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Berries: large, tart, reddish-black
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Other Names: ando cherry, chinese bush cherry, chinese dwarf cherry, downy cherry, hansens bush cherry, korean cherry, manchu cherry, mountain cherry, shanghai cherry