How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Nanking Cherry Bushes

Are you looking for a cold-hardy fruit tree that produces an abundance of late-season fruit? If so, try growing Nanking cherry bushes. In this article, plant expert Matt Dursum covers how to plant, grow, and care for Nanking cherry bushes this year.

Nanking cherries have a long history of use in food, medicine, and ornamental gardening. They’re a member of the rose family of plants and the same genus as cherries, plums, and apricots.

These cold-hardy shrubs produce small, white to pink flowers in the spring. In the summer, dark red edible stone fruits (drupes) appear en masse. They stay on bushes until late in the season, making them some of the earliest and latest fruits you’ll harvest.

If you live in the coldest regions of the U.S. and have trouble growing fruit, this remarkably resilient shrub will be a great choice. Let’s dive in to learn how to plant and care for nanking cherry bushes in your area.
What Is It?
In the frigid gardens of Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet, and northern China, few species of fruit trees can survive. Nanking cherries, however, thrive in these frigid zones. This is where some of the planet’s driest and coldest air masses move east. For fruit trees to come from here, they have to be resilient.

The first trees arrived in the U.S. in 1882. The horticulture writers of the Yearbook of Agriculture 1937 praised their future in US agriculture. Because of their small and sweet drupes, farmers were interested in their potential as a major fruit crop.

Today, few farmers grow nanking cherries, and even fewer market their fruit. The drupes have a short shelf life once they’re harvested. Still, for gardeners who grow them, they’re an exciting fruit that makes incredible jams, pies, juices, and wines.

Characteristics
Nanking cherry bushes (Prunus tomentosa) are deciduous shrubs and members of the rose family. They’re part of the Prunus genus which includes popular stone fruits such as cherries, plums, and almonds.

They go by several names, including Manchu cherry, mountain cherry, and Mongolian cherry. They’re one of the toughest stone fruits you can grow. They’ll handle droughts, severe cold, wind, and rain with ease.

These striking bushes grow to 10 feet high. They produce an abundance of white to pink flowers in the spring, followed by dense green foliage and edible red drupes. The flowers attract beneficial pollinators such as hummingbirds and bees. They make gorgeous alternatives to Yoshino cherry trees for enjoying a ‘hanami’ party at home.

Native Area
These stunning shrubs originated in the cold plains of northeast Asia. In these semi-arid regions, long winters plunge temperatures below 0°F (-18°C) for months. Nanking cherries adapted to this cold, dry climate by developing a long taproot and downy fuzz on their foliage.

People spread them to Japan, Russia, and Korea. They became popular in gardens across the region because of their edible fruit and ornamental flowers. Today, they are grown throughout northern Asia, Russia, Northern Europe, and Canada.

Planting
These shrubs grow easily from seed. Many gardeners harvest their seeds from the drupes by washing, drying them, and cold-stratifying them for over 100 days.

They can grow in large containers, 100-gallon BPA-free grow bags, or directly sown into the ground. You can plant them in the spring after cold stratification or in the fall. Fall-sown seeds will naturally stratify and germinate in the spring.

Nanking cherries need cross-pollination to produce fruit. You should plant two within 100 feet of one another for proper fruit set. They’re somewhat hard to find in the US. Some suppliers and nurseries sell bare root plants as well as seeds. Occasionally, you may find starters in containers.
How to Grow
Nanking cherries are incredibly easy to grow. Once they germinate, they’re simple to maintain and don’t require much in terms of pruning or fertilization. They have long taproots that let them survive long periods of droughts.

The only thing they can’t handle is heat. High temperatures and humidity will stress them over time. Ideally, they need to grow in zones 7 or under. This limits them to high-altitude zones and northern latitudes in the US.