Wild Black Cherry Tree – 3 Gallon Pot

Prunus serotina 

The Wild Black Cherry tree is an easy-to-grow North American native tree that produces the most absolutely delicious wild fruits available anywhere. Though the fruits are smaller than common cherries you might find at the grocery store, they taste exactly like cultivated sweet cherries such as ‘Bing’, with no bitterness at all. What’s more, the Wild Black Cherry produces huge crops that can literally be harvested by the bucket full over a two month period in summer. That said, if you’re not into cherries yourself, over 70 species of birds will certainly enjoy them! In spring, elongated spiked clusters of pretty white flowers adorn the tree. The attractive bark is smooth when young but becomes attractively shaggy with age. The green leaves are typical in shape to other cherry trees and turn vibrant golden and orange shades in fall. An excellent tree for sunny landscape and woodland borders.

Wild black cherry trees can vary in shape and growth habits, depending on how they’re pruned when young. If you want a shorter tree for easier harvest they can be coppiced when young so that the tree will form multiple trunks and stay much shorter over time. In subsequent year these multiple trunks (shoots) can be cut back by a third of their height. Doing so keeps the tree very bushy and short for easy cherry picking. If allowed to grow freely, they’ll become tall straight trees with a thick trunk(s).

The flowers of Wild Black Cherry provide nectar for butterflies and other pollinators and is a larval host plant for several species of butterflies. You may see Coral Hairstreak, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Spring Azure, and Red-spotted Purple butterflies. As mentioned, over 70 species of birds and animals enjoy the fruits including songbirds, wild turkeys, quail, white-tailed deer and small mammals.