Nanking Cherry vs Flowering Raspberry - TreeTime.ca

Nanking Cherry vs Flowering Raspberry

Rubus odoratus

Prunus tomentosa

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Flowering Raspberry
Nanking Cherry

The Flowering Raspberry is an ornamental shrubby plant that blooms with fragrant light purple flowers throughout the summer and has a large, decorative foliage of bright green leaves. The flowers resemble that of a wildrose, and the foliage turns a bright yellow in the fall. This cultivar produces small red raspberries, similar to that of a thimbleberry, but the fruit is mostly tasteless.

The Flowering Raspberry, also known as Virginia Raspberry or Purple-Flowered Raspberry, makes a great hedge plant and is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard.

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.

Flowering Raspberry Quick Facts

Nanking Cherry Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 2a
Height: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Spread: 4 m (12 ft)
Spread: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Light: any
Light: full sun
Moisture: normal
Moisture: normal
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Suckering: high
Suckering: low


Bark: thornless orange
Flowers: purple
Flowers: white, early spring
Fruit: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Berries: red to purple, seedy
Berries: scarlet sweet but slightly tart cherries, 8-12 mm diameter
Firmness: firm
Flavor: tasteless
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: ON, QC, NS
Other Names: purple-flowered raspberry, virginia raspberry
Other Names: ando cherry, chinese bush cherry, chinese dwarf cherry, downy cherry, hansens bush cherry, korean cherry, manchu cherry, mountain cherry, shanghai cherry