Cherry seeds · Seeds compared
Nanking vs Romance Series cherry seeds
Different cherry backgrounds, fruit descriptions and seed treatments, together in one place.
18+ seeds$8.95 CAD
View seeds15+ seeds$8.95 CAD
View seedsFrom our listing
Nanking Cherry (Prunus tomentosa) is a cold hardy fruiting shrub native to China, Mongolia, and Korea and introduced to North America in the 1800s. Its small bright red cherries have juicy flesh with sweet tart, slightly astringent flavour and are good fresh or in jam and jelly.
From our listing
These Sour Cherry seeds come from a mix of Juliet, Valentine, Cupid, Romeo, and Crimson Passion fruit. The seedlings will be genetically varied rather than copies of the named Romance Series cultivars, but some may produce similar large, richly flavoured sour cherries.
Photos and fruit descriptions refer to the seed parents. These are seeds, not cloned plants; seedlings vary.
Side by side
Growing details
| Detail | Nanking Cherry | Romance Series |
|---|---|---|
| Seed parent fruit size | ½ in (about 1.3 cm) | ⅝ to ¾ in (about 1.6 to 1.9 cm) |
| Fruiting habit | Fruit borne densely along the stems | Fruit on spurs, with long fruit stalks |
| Leaf texture | Fuzzy leaves | Smooth leaves |
| Pruning form | Best pruned as a bush | Best pruned as a bush |
| Cold hardiness zone | 2 | 3 |
| Seed source | Manitoba | Manitoba |
| Stratification | 3 months cold | 1 month warm, followed by 3 to 5 months cold |
| Mature size | 6 to 12 ft, depending on pruning | 10 to 15 ft, depending on pruning |
A closer look
More about each choice
Nanking Cherry
Nanking Cherry (Prunus tomentosa) is a cold hardy fruiting shrub native to China, Mongolia, and Korea and introduced to North America in the 1800s. Its small bright red cherries have juicy flesh with sweet tart, slightly astringent flavour and are good fresh or in jam and jelly.
Nanking Cherry is mostly self sterile. A single bush can sometimes produce fruit, but two or more bushes usually give much better fruit set through cross pollination. In Manitoba, the fruit ripens in July.
Romance Series
These Sour Cherry seeds come from a mix of Juliet, Valentine, Cupid, Romeo, and Crimson Passion fruit. The seedlings will be genetically varied rather than copies of the named Romance Series cultivars, but some may produce similar large, richly flavoured sour cherries.
The Romance Series cherries are Prunus × kerrasis hybrids with about 75 percent Prunus cerasus and 25 percent Prunus fruticosa ancestry, named for the breeding work of Dr. Les Kerr. Their fruit is more tart than common sweet cherries but can also develop high sugar when fully ripe.
From the nursery
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