Nanking Cherry vs Boughens Golden Chokecherry - TreeTime.ca

Nanking Cherry vs Boughens Golden Chokecherry

Prunus tomentosa

Prunus virginiana Boughens Golden

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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.

Boughen's Golden Chokecherry typically grows into a shrub form with yellow fruit and beautiful green foliage. This type of chokecherry is particularly sweet because it is non-astringent, meaning that it does not produce tannins. Tannins are what create the puckering, or sour taste when eating something unripe.

The Boughen's Golden Chokecherry is high yielding and the berries are excellent for sauces, jellies, preserves and wine making.

NOTE: These seedlings were grown from seed, not all will be true to type but some will be.

Nanking Cherry Quick Facts

Boughens Golden 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: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: any
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
Fruit: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Berries: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Berries: yellow
Flavor: sweet
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