Description

Full sun, attracts birds, Zone 2

Prunus pensylvanica

Pot size #5

Commonly known as the Bird Cherry, because the pin cherry fruits are so popular with songbirds. The Pin Cherry trees produce small, edible fruits, and these cherries are sour when raw, but great to use as a preserve. The non-fruit parts of the tree contain toxins are inedible. The tree grows quickly and is a great option for stabilizing eroding soils. The bark of the pin cherry tree is shiny, dark reddish-brown with large lenticels, the leaves are long, narrow, with a slender tip and edged fine teeth, which turn purplish-red in the Fall. There are also flowers that bloom in early spring in small white clusters, and fruits that are a bright, scarlet red, that resemble clusters of pin heads in a pincushion.