Anyone Grow Hansen's Bush Cherries

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday Fed Ex delivered my order of Hansen's Bush Cherry from Gurney's. Their "offer" consists of three 12-18" bareroot plants for $17.99. Catalog description:

"As handsome and cold hardy as fruiting shrubs come! Hansen's Bush Cherry Tree's branches are covered with pure white, dainty flowers in May and absolutely loaded with purplish-black fruit in July. Its silvery-green leaves turn red in the fall. The bush grows 4-5 ft. tall with a similar spread and bears at an early age. It's able to tolerate a range of conditions. Hansen's Bush Cherry is not able to pollinate other cherry varieties. For best yield, plant two or more Hansen's Bush Cherry Trees. Zones 2-8. "

I'm hoping these do well as I'd love to have some cherries. I've not had success with regular cherry trees, even the Lapins cherry which is supposed to be self fruitful. It was planted in 2009 and is still here. It blooms every year but not one stinkin' cherry ever. I think I'll remove it this spring.

Have any of you ever grown these?

[Wildcat82]

Bush cherries are often recommended for Northern states (several varieties of bush cherries grow wild in Nebraska). I'm not sure if you get enough chill hours where you live. I think Lapins cherry needs about 1000 chill hours.

I always wanted my brother to grow some of the Romance cherries on his farm since they supposedly have a BRIX value in the mid 20's.

[AKgardener]

i really hope they do well for you. I will be buying cherry and apple trees when the snow melt..

[bower]

I'm also obsessed with getting some cherries... I hadn't heard of Hansen's but they may be better suited to the south.
I'd like to try some Nanking cherries for the bush berry scene.
Yea I have my eye on the Romance dwarf cherries as well.
Even the wild pincherry trees here can flower away and not see a fruit. Late spring frosts are deadly.

[GoDawgs]

I hope we get enough chill hours. The catalog says these are for Zones 2-8 but we all know how zoning goes in catalogs. I'm in zone 8 but some years are 7b-ish. And yes, we do get some late frosts that knock out fruit flowers. Last year the peach industry around here got whacked really hard. At least bush cherries will be coverable IF the 4-5' x 4-5' size description is accurate!

[bower]

People seem to have trouble getting pollinators on their cherries as well.
Makes me wonder what strategy would work, to attract them at the right time.
There's a lot of talk about willow being a huge early season pollen source, that might attract native pollinators to overwinter at your site.

My black currants never seem to have any problem getting pollinated really early in the season.
Maybe I should plant the bush cherries in the same row with them? Guess I'll see, how early do they flower.

Edited to add: here's a useful post about pollinating cherries by hand and other issues.
https://www.torontomastergardeners.ca/a ... -fruiting/

[Tormato]

I've had Carmine Jewel and a variety that I forgot the name of, in my garden. After more than a decade, the trunk of CJ started to rot. It also started to produce suckers, so I transplanted a couple of those.

Great tasting fruit, to me (and the birds). You WILL need bird netting. My CJ got to about 8 feet tall and 8 feet wide.

[Wildcat82]

I'm also obsessed with getting some cherries... I hadn't heard of Hansen's but they may be better suited to the south.
I'd like to try some Nanking cherries for the bush berry scene.
Yea I have my eye on the Romance dwarf cherries as well.
Even the wild pincherry trees here can flower away and not see a fruit. Late spring frosts are deadly.

The Romance series of sour cherries were developed at the University of Saskatchewan so they can take the cold/late freezes.

Have you ever looked at growing Haskap berries? I know they grow in the Dakotas.

[bower]

My SIL the chef is into the Haskaps, but IDK anyone growing them here. Probably hardy enough?