Does anyone have chokecherry shrubs/trees?

[eleny]

I bought some chokecherry jelly today and was delighted with its flavor. I think we can grow them easily and was just wondering if anyone has them.

[Ecumenist]

1. Hi, Eleny,

I don't have them BUT they do grow here and in fact, there's a small town in the Capay Valley in Yolo County, (North-northwest of here), that is named Guinda, which is the spanish word for "Chokecherry". They are native to most of the country BUT depending on where you are, they may be a very "iffy" tree to grow due to a disease that's galloping through chockecherry trees called "black knot". It's a fungus that seems to be, unless caught early, uniformly fatal for chokecherries.

What do you want to know about them? They're as easy to grow as crabapples or Cherry trees.

Where you live, does it rain alot in the summer? If not, you should be able to grow them successfully.

[eleny]

2. Hi!

We live west of Denver in an old suburb.

What concerned me was that although they don't need a lot of water, they like good drainage. Our soil here is abundant in clay. The place I want to plant them gently slopes to the north and is very sunny. So there would be some natural drainage. Raspberries used to grow there. Sadly, the previous owner let thistles get out of control in that small pasture and the raspberries went when they sprayed for the weeds. That was in the 1970s, so I'm not worried about planting something else there now.

To give you an idea of what can grow there some sumacs have volunteered in that area along a fence. And I have a Pyracantha growing at the end of the fence. It's sunny, too.

I got interested in the chokecherry since it grows in the west and also makes a very nice jelly. We also have some Flowering Almond bushes nearby. The two would be a food source for wild birds.

[Skidmore]

3. Apparently, I do have 4 of these shrubs on my property.

We moved here three years ago and I have been trying to identify these little trees. This year they had little white blossoms in the springtime and developed berries which looked sort of like elderberries but did not have the same cluster shape. In fact there were some that were just in pairs or single berries. The leaves are simple with serrated edges and the bark kind of shiny and smooth. The leaves begin spring a light green but by mid summer are a burgundy and black almost in the fall. I never considered chokecherries until I read this post and I looked them up. The pictures I saw associated with them look very much like what we have. I also note that some of the chokecherries are poisonous and I am concerned because we have 3 grandchildren who are toddlers and preschoolers. I may take these trees out.

[Ecumenist]

4. NO, no, no ...

The leaves, bark and seeds are poisonous... BUT the fruit is perfectly fine for eating. Just make sure that you don't eat the leaves or seeds. The seeds don't seem to be too bad as people who process the berries often crush the entire fruit, (including the center pits) and don't have any adverse effects. So, don't panic about potential toxic reactions. It's no more toxic than any other shrub that you have in your landscape.