Stunning White Confetti Blossom And Delicious Juicy Cherries! (Cherry Tree)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	Cherry Tree
Date:	16/12/08 (501 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Will grow on a north facing wall or fence.

Disadvantages: You have to watch the birds or they'll beat you to the fruit!

The Morello Cherry Tree

Just to clarify I asked Dooyoo to allow me to write about Morello Cherry trees and this review is about those and not about the eating variety which have different needs and which I hope to write about at a later date.

When I first moved into our current house 20 years ago I was pregnant with my daughter and I remember thinking I must plant a lovely garden which we can use to feed ourselves. I scoured books and articles and planned the garden, which is quite small and compact trying to include as many things I could which would be edible and pretty. I remember that year because everything smelled wonderful- if you have ever been pregnant you will know what I mean, and flowers and fruit in the garden seemed extra special. My daughter has grown up to love gardens and flowers too so maybe that is why!

My biggest challenge was that although the house faces south the fence we view is north facing and so is dark and shady, and I also wanted something to help provide privacy from the houses behind. It was a challenge since this is one of the most difficult areas to plant up. Most of the summer loving plants hate this sort of position which is why the morello cherry is the exception.

I purchased two and we planted them against the fence. They are self fertile and when you buy them they will come with all sorts of advice about pruning. Well I can tell you that we have never pruned them. We did buy them on a dwarf root stock so their growth should not exceed 12 feet -this is important as traditional free standing trees can grow to enormous sizes which are too big for the average garden and make fruit picking impossible unless you are a giraffe. So just check the root stock when you buy. There is a new root stock now called Gisela which means it is possible now to buy tress even for very small gardens and I understand these even do well in tubs.


Mail order from seed merchants like Unwins, Thompsons, Dobies etc are a good bet and you can also buy them in garden centres where you will find them at different stages of growth. Expect to pay upwards from £20. We actually purchased ours from an excellent nursery on the Isle of Wight. These are tree specialists and are great for advice and help and they do mail order. They also have an excellent section on their website devoted to planting trees and this is a detailed guide which we found very useful.
www.deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk

The first thing I must tell you is that every year in our house no one wants to go anywhere in April- why?- because they flower and it is the most gorgeous picture you can imagine with paper like white blossom which stays on the trees for over a week and hangs like Christmas snow confetti. It is so picturesque to be honest if they never fruited it is worth it just for that! Incidentally the eating desert cherries usually have pink blossom which is really pretty too. They however would not grow against a north facing fence-hence why we chose the Morello for this reason.

They blossom just when the baby blue and great tits are nesting, so if you place a bird box near to the trees you can enjoy both from the house.
It is always a wonderful sight and you know winter is over.

After about 2 weeks the petals fall and within another two weeks you see little buds which are the beginnings of the fruit. They are self pollinating but if you do only buy one and have limited success it may be you need to boost pollination by getting a second. They flower quite late so frost isn't usually a problem, and you don't need to rush out with fleece on frosty nights like you do with peach trees.

By the end of July to early August you have a spectacular display of red berries which gradually turn to dark red. You can eat them raw if you wait for this stage when they are as sharp as a grannie smith's apple, but if you pick them immediately you will have to cook them or make them into jam.
However you pick them you must use scissors as you don't want to tear the tree and introduce infection.

We make ours into crumbles and pies and you can freeze them. To do this it is a good idea to stone them first and Lakeland sell a great little tool to do this
www.lakeland.co.uk/F/keyword/Cherry+stoner/produc t/7096
If you have a lot to do you can even invest in a more upmarket machine and you can find these on Amazon for about £25.

Whatever you do you have to watch the blackbirds because this to them is a tea party to which they have been invited, and guess what?- they get there before you early in the morning so you have two choices either to net the trees or to kindly allow them to share. Beware though they can strip it bare especially if they invite some starlings too!

You will probably read about pruning and they will tell you that they fruit on new wood so you must prune in the summer and never in the dormant winter period as this causes bacterial growth and may kill the tree. We have never pruned ours at all and they crop so heavily we can't use them all so that is really your choice. It is suggested that you prune hard after fruiting but leave some new growth. This is supposed to reduce infection and so we should probably do that but really haven't tried it in 20 years. Infact these trees have been ideal for the lazy gardener!


If you are going to plant them you need to do it when they are dormant between November and March so plenty of time now to put one in!

In my opinion one of the best plants in the garden!

Summary: A beautiful tree with spectacular blossom.