Cherry

Prunus cerasus, sour or tart cherry, is a small deciduous fruit tree from Europe and southwest Asia, reaching about fifteen to twenty feet and usually smaller in cultivation. Groups of three to five white cup-shaped flowers open in mid spring, glossy serrated leaves follow, and round red drupes with a distinctly sharp flavour ripen in early summer.

Unlike sweet cherries, most sour cherries are self-fertile, so a single tree crops without a partner — that alone makes it the better choice for a small garden. It is also hardier, more disease-tolerant, later to flower and so less often caught by frost. The fruit is too sharp to eat raw for most people and is grown for pies, preserves and drying.