Nanking Cherry vs Sweet Thing Cherry

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.

Note: This species is currently unavailable. Grow your own using Nanking Cherry seeds at SeedTime.ca.

The Sweet Thing Cherry is a sour cherry hybrid of Carmine Jewel and Erdi Jubileum that produces sweeter and firmer berries than other cold-hardy sour cherry varieties. The berries are a deep burgundy red and quite sweet, making them excellent for fresh eating and also desserts, jams and jellies.

The Sweet Thing Cherry, or the Jubileum, is highly suckering so it can establish your hedge quickly, or fill in gaps.

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