Sprouting seeds can also be carefully dug up and moved in spring. In many suburban coastal locations, especially around Victoria, seedlings seem to appear out of the blue, sown from bird droppings. Seeds need a cold period before sprouting. Bitter cherries are most easily propagated by sowing ripe seeds in the fall, either in the site where you want them or in pots for transplanting a year after sowing. It seems to invade and thrive on burned or logged sites, especially on the east side of Vancouver Island. In dry Interior settings the habitat includes the edge of watercourses, but on the coast this species grows in moist to dry woods to mid elevations.Īlong the coast, bitter cherry forms thickets of small trees in disturbed places. The range extends southward to southern California and eastward to Montana. from the coast straight through to the Rockies, northward to about the latitude of Prince George. The pit is usually large compared to the soft tissue, which most often tastes bitter, hence the common name.īitter cherries cover a wide range in B.C. Small red to nearly black cherries follow after. Bitter cherries bloom in the spring just after the leaves have appeared, as early as April on the coast and as late as June in the Interior. Flowers are about 1 cm (1⁄2 in.) across, holding about 20 small anthers that surround a single pistil. Each flower has five petals arranged around the edge of a shallow hairy cup. Three to 10 white flowers occur in small open clusters. These tend to be rounded and often lined with small teeth. Branch ends bear many 3- to 8-cm-long (1- to 3-in.) leaves. Branches range from smooth to densely hairy on new growth, and the bark of young trees and twigs may be a striking reddish purple. Plants east of the coastal mountains tend to have a shrubby form, whereas those west of the mountains grow into trees. Bitter cherries range in size from a large shrub about 2 m (6 ft.) tall to a medium-sized tree 15 to 20 m (50 to 65 ft.) tall. Among our native cherries, all popular with birds, the bitter cherry ( Prunus emarginata), also known as bird cherry, is an excellent magnet for feathered creatures. For most folk wildlife means birds and perhaps a few butterflies. With misty clusters of white blossoms followed by red or nearly black berries, this natural beauty is a magnet for avian wildlife.Īs many people return to a more natural form of gardening, using fewer or no pesticides or making gardens with a wild look, they also think of attracting wildlife into the yard.
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