Cerasus tomentosa Seeds | Nanking Cherry
LATIN NAME: Cerasus tomentosa
COMMON NAME: Nanking Cherry
Plant Profile
Known to gardeners as Nanking Cherry, Cerasus tomentosa is a low, deciduous shrub. It grows steadily into bushy, twiggy form, and it stands cold, dry winters well. It likes sun, and deep, well-drained soil. It is the sort of plant that quietly justifies the space it occupies.
Science & Biotechnology
Within the Cerasus group, Cerasus tomentosa is of continuing interest to researchers working on plant diversity, seed biology and the selection of improved garden forms. The Nanking cherry holds its own in studies of cold-climate dwarf cherries, and tomentosa species appears in work on early-bloom shrub fruits and fuzzy-leafed stone fruits. Little about its garden performance is mysterious; it has been grown and observed for a very long time.
Uses & Benefits
Gardeners value Nanking Cherry for its ornamental character, and the plant also fits naturally into herb, vegetable and cutting gardens. In open field, the Nanking cherry fuzzes grey-green twigs with early blossom before leaves unfold. Red cherries follow in a good crop, flowers feed early bees, and shrub makes fine fruit hedge, windbreak and the ornamental. It takes well to deep, well-drained, sunny ground. Once it has settled, the workload drops to almost nothing.
Cherries, especially tart ones, are among the best-studied functional fruits, with trials on anthocyanin-rich tart cherry juice for exercise recovery, gout and sleep; the stalks are a traditional diuretic tea in Europe.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Nanking Cherry under ordinary good conditions. Level a tray of loose seed compost, sow evenly, cover to about the seed’s own depth, and keep it moist in full light. When the young plants are big enough to handle, space them into pots or a nursery row and let them size up before their final move.
Our Take
Nanking Cherry has real presence in the garden without demanding much in return. Established seedlings need little beyond ordinary attention.
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