any one in southern Alberta zone 3 grow mary liss pin cherry or evans sour cherry? do they seed rapidly like the nanking or make a mess? Are the sour cherry good for jam?
I think mary liss is our native pin cherry, prunus pensylvanica, you find them in the bush, we have lots up here. If I was you, go with the Evans sour cherry, about 10 X larger berry and make excellent jam. Pick them just before the frost for higher sugar content. [if birds don't get them]. Not sure what you mean by seed rapidly. Evans can stay on the bush if you don't pick them right over winter and dry up..birds will eat some, not messy, nice fall color.
Agreed with Konrad, why go for the tiny native pincherry cultivar when vastly bigger fruit is available in hardy sour cherries? You might also want to check out the new bush-cherry cultivars coming out of the University of Saskatchewan cherry breeding program... tall bushes, hardier than Evans, big fruit with high sugar content (but still sour cherries).
My older brother is a cherry nut, he grows close to a dozen cultivars. His top pick is still Carmine Jewel. Evans is too prone to dieback and suckering, the fruit is good but not reliable. The newer Sask cultivars have merits but are not bullet proof hardy.
Konrad___far_north
don555
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