Nanking Cherry vs Debbies Gold Apricot

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.

Debbie’s Gold Apricot is a cold-hardy variety known for its firm, sweet, and aromatic fruit. The white to pink flowers bloom several days later than other varieties, making them less susceptible to spring frosts. Their orange-yellow, freestone apricots ripen from late July to mid August and are well-suited for fresh eating, baking, canning, and preserves.

Debbie’s Gold Apricot is generally considered to be partially self-pollinating, but planting with another variety for cross-pollination can increase yields.

Note: While the bloom time is later than other varieties, the flowers are still vulnerable to spring frosts, which can reduce or eliminate the fruit crop.

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