I planted a bareroot 'Sunburst' cherry tree in the spring of 2009. It was grafted on Gisela dwarfing rootstock and expected to reach a height of 3-4 metres when fully grown. 'Sunburst' is a dessert cherry and has large, almost black fruit. Some say it is sweeter and has a more intense flavour than 'Stella'.
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| 'Y' shaped sapling standing proud in 6" of snow |
It pulled through the coldest UK winter in 31 years and burst forth with blossoms this spring.
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| White cherry blossoms |
I eagerly anticipated a tree laden with juicy black fruit. The weather got warmer, the petals fluttered to the ground, the fruitlet dropped off...... leaving............
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| Just two! |
Hoping that the birds and squirrels would leave these alone, I watched the colour change.....
Ooh yes, I did get to taste the fruit and it was absolutely divine - the rich flavour of the almost black, juicy fruit was worth the wait. Note to self: water and fertilise regularly = bumper crop next year!
2 comments:
We tried a cherry tree but the birds just got to them before we did. We needed an enormous fruit cage round the whole tree!
Looks like I'll be sharing next year's fruit with the birds...though I'm hopeful that my furry friends here might keep them at bay.
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