cornellian cherry

Who is growing this and what should I expect for fresh eating? I understand the taste is a bit strong and not good for fresh. Tell me your experiences. I know I cant get fruit in my zone but my friend in zone 5b is looking into this.

I am growing this. Have Pioneer, Yellow, Elegant and Golden Glory. - Lost a couple of others to the Easter freeze two years ago. The fruits are very strong unless allowed to fully ripen, then they are excellant. In fact, the ripening process might be closer to what is called bletting, in that the fruit must ripen to the extent that they almost look like they are rotting. This actually depends on the variety, as some do not have to go through this. Elegant is probably the easiest starting large fruited var that I have tried. It does not need to "blet" like Pioneer does. Elegant's taste is very good - sweet, complex and rich. Pioneer's taste when ready is perhaps the best, but I get few fruits and fewer that ripen properly. Golden Glory has lots of small fruits and works as a good pollinator for the others. Yellow has a good taste, and is intermediate between GG and Pioneer/Elegant in fruit production and size. It's taste reminds me of a plum.

I consider these to be very worthwhile small fruiting trees as they produce in late fall. I have had little problems with birds bothering the fruit, but this may change as the birds wise up. Keep in mind that these can be messy. The fruits do not all ripen at the same time. There is a larger cornelian cherry tree that I have followed for years at a local nursery (since gone out of business) that produced a lot of fruit, but the ground around the tree was a mess. The fruit stains strongly.

They are among the first to flower in the early spring and considered decorative, but that is mostly for the foliage and fruit, as the flowers are small. If your friend wants to get started with them, I would definitely recommend Elegant and Yellow to start out.

Uhhhhh.....
All the info I wanted and more. You rock!!!!!!

I meant to also add that Lee Reich's book Uncommon Fruits... has a lot of information about them as well. Last year, a couple of very nice Dave's members sent me a bunch of seedlings of Cornus mas that I am using as rootstock for grafts of these named varieties - I want to make some combo trees. So far no success, but my technique is not that great.

(and Lee, thanks for the plug!)

Ya, I have that book right in front of my computer screen. There seems to be more emphasis on northern plants but I found a few useful for Texas.

I traded for a couple of cornus mas last year and was disappointed to read,I don't get enough cold for them. I haven't a clue as to what variety they are but I'm still going to plant them out and hope for the best.


Peggy