(E5, O28 planted 2010) (Cornus Mas) Cornelian Cherry is not a cherry, it’s a type of Dogwood. The fruit is red and elongated and has a pit, but that is where the similarity to a cherry stops. The trees are beautiful in all seasons. They have a profusion of yellow flowers in the spring, and are covered with huge crops of tart tasty fruit in the summer and pretty reddish fall leaf color. Grow it as a multi stem bush or as a tree. It is easily maintained at 10 to 15 feet tall and wide. Most varieties have red fruit but some have yellow fruit. The fruit is hard and tart and not very tasty until it softens and gets dark red. They don’t all ripen at the same time so be selective and only pick the ripe ones. (The yellow fruited variety stays yellow when ripe.) Then it has a still somewhat tart but pleasing and complex flavor. It makes a delicious jelly. Cornus Mas is a great edible ornamental for a home yard or garden. Native to south central Europe and western Asia, it is very high in anthocyanins and has been used in folk medicines for hundreds of years.
The varieties in the Fruit Garden are:
Yevgenii
A large pear shaped red cultivar from the Ukraine.
Olga
Also a large productive red cultivar named for Ukrainian fruit researcher Olga Grygorieva.
Pioneer
A large pear shaped red variety from Ukraine also called Lukyanovskii.
