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Seeds: Oikos Tree Crops

Snow Mountain Cherry Scions and Seeds

Seeds,10 Cuttings-SMCH_S-SC $120.00 Out of stock

   

Currently unavailable Snow Mountain represents a form of cherry that is a cross with sweet cherry and the selection Snow Fountain, a weeping cherry. The opposite of Snow Fountain as well as pretty much all ornamental cherries weeping or not, Snow Mountain represents the most vigorous, timber form, upright and vigorous selection of cultivated ornamental cherry. This was found as a chance seedling out of a couple hundred seedlings. The large leaves and strong growth make it a stand out in the world of cherries. 

 It turned out the deer loved the weeping ones them and finished them off all except for a few. One of the seedlings which looked like a sweet cherry grew faster than any cherry averaging 4 ft. of growth per year on the top of a hill with only a little topsoil. It passed the deer browse zone very quickly.  The large trunk, bright green leaves and full crown of flowers make it a spectacular cherry. The large size is unusual for ornamental cherries which have bred for centuries to be short weeping plants or semi dwarfs. 

The light bearing tree produces small fruit with a wild black cherry taste. The wood is very heavy and hard with this cherry. The structure of the tree is straight and uniform and can be trimmed upward with an open center. 

"Snow Mountain" can be produced by rooting or grafting onto sweet cherry rootstock. Dormant cuttings are sent in the fall and winter. I will be doing cuttings on this cherry in 2022 and will post the results here. At this time, seeds are valuable for developing further selections but the unique characteristics of this selection can best be captured by clonal reproduction. Fruit production is very light but I will offer the seeds along with scions when the crop is harvested. 

Plant Specs
Genus & Species Prunus x hybrids x incisa
Seed Source Michigan
Height (ft) 60-80
Width (ft) 60
Pollination Requirements Parent tree is self fertile. Crosses with black cherry as well.
Soil Well drained sandy soil to loam. Adaptable to a variety of soils. Would likely make a good urban tree.
Climate Zones 4-8
Ease of Cultivation Super easy cherry to grow in a wide variety of climates. Immune to Japanese beetle and rose chaffers. Highly vigorous and is a good ornamental tree with the benefit of small black edible fruit. Details on rooting is still being worked out. From seed, there might be additional varieties to coax from this selection however in my case the seedlings were not as vigorous as the parent tree when we did this a few times over the years. But two additional trees were discovered in this process that had good tree structure.