Nanking Cherry vs Bracted Honeysuckle - TreeTime.ca

Nanking Cherry vs Bracted Honeysuckle

Prunus tomentosa

Lonicera involucrata

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Nanking Cherry
Bracted Honeysuckle

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.

Bracted Honeysuckle is a shade loving shrub that is distinguishable from other honeysuckles by its square stem and pointed leaves. Native to most of North America, this honeysuckle is found along swamps, rivers, riparian zones and moist wooded areas.

If you have a erosion control project in mind, consider Bracted Honeysuckle.

Nanking Cherry Quick Facts

Bracted Honeysuckle Quick Facts

Zone: 2a
Zone: 4a
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Spread: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Spread: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: medium
Life span: short
Life span: short
Suckering: low
Suckering: 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: shiny, purple-black berries produced in pairs
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, NU
Other Names: ando cherry, chinese bush cherry, chinese dwarf cherry, downy cherry, hansens bush cherry, korean cherry, manchu cherry, mountain cherry, shanghai cherry
Other Names: bearberry honeysuckle, black twinberry, twinberry