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stemy_gw

Planting dwarf cherries near the house

stemy
14 years ago

I am trying to add some attractive edible landscaping to a home with the standard newly-built subdivision (read as "boring") landscaping. I am considering the purchase of a several (3-4) dwarf Montmorency or dwarf North Star trees to plant along one side of the house.

I would be planting them about 5 ft from the foundation of the house. Has anyone seen these trees used as foundation plantings or would the roots near the foundation be too problematic? How tall and wide do these dwarf cherry trees normally get?

Does anyone have any thoughts on the differences between the Montmorency and the North Star?

stemy

Comments (4)

  • Lena M
    14 years ago

    I have both kinds of these sour cherries growing around my what used to be a boring subdivision house. They are doing just fine. They like sun. I do have a competition with birds when time comes to picking fruit. So I figured I just need to have more trees. Their roots are not a problem, 5 ft is plenty of space.

    Even though they are both dwarf, Northstars are much smaller trees - maybe 6 ft, very compact. Montmorency is 10 or more feet, but I would still call it a very small tree.

    Cherry trees don't like too much rain or they will suffocate if you happen to have a several days long rainfall, so plant them a little higher than your grass level.

    I can't describe the difference between the berries, they are different, and I like them both equally :))

  • stemy
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    That's all really good info. I've got a bit of a slope away from where I plan to plant them, so I'm hoping that the water will not be an issue.

    Since fruit quality is different but equal, do you feel that either one has an edge in terms of fruit production (or fighting off the birds) or spring-time aestheics?

    Do you have any pictures of the trees at your house that you could share?

  • stemy
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    What's the spread of the two trees at maturity? I'm trying to gauge how many I can put on the side of the house.

  • Lena M
    14 years ago

    The two varieties don't bloom at the same time for me. Northstar already finished blooming this season, and Montmorency is still in full bloom. I don't have pictures (I should take some), but the trees are mostly round shaped. Compared to my other dwarf plums, pears, they are compact. Mine are planted above ground, I would guess about 8 ft apart (an estimate), and 6 ft from the house.

    Be careful planting too many plants of the same kind (trees, shrubs or anything), because if they get attacked by something, it will spread faster between the same varieties. Montmorency is a pretty common sour cherry, very popular. But there are other sour cherry varieties you could try if you can find.

    Also, sour cherries like winters. I am not sure how cold it gets where you live, but check that there are enough cold days (chilling hours) for the sour cherries to be happy.

    I am not an expert on gardening though, I just like it as a hobby, so all of these things are just from my experience.

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