I expect you are well in the native range for a variety of cherries. When I had a lot of small plants in pots, I had serious problems with squirrels removing the plants, and replacing them with caches of cherry pits.

Yes, some form of non-human intelligence may be deliberately planting those trees on your land.

Here is my pic of Yoshino cherries from another thread. Flowering cherries make fruit, some moreso than others. Birds eat the fruit and drop the seed. As for miscanthus, the seed becomes airborne and travels. Miscanthus is becoming one of our most pestiferous weeds.

While it looks like it is weeping in the one pictureI beleive it is just a wild cherry tree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_serotina

We have lived in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina and you frequently find them in the woods, road sides, and the edge of your yard.

"While it looks like it is weeping in the one picture I beleive it is just a wild cherry tree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_serotina"

Wow, thank you! Mine are definitely weeping though- do they do that? Maybe I have a new sub-species, lol.

I will be checking for flowers next spring, and will update with fruit photos this fall.

I have only gardened in this climate for ten years and it's amazing how much I have yet to learn.

"As for miscanthus, the seed becomes airborne and travels. Miscanthus is becoming one of our most pestiferous weeds."

Yeah, in those examples I was citing that the originally drug and discarded plant had lived, not it's progeny.

....will update with fruit photos this fall. It is worth noting, if you have an Asian escape such as Higan cherry, fruit (from the mature tree) is likely already ripe and gone at this date.

Do they cross pollinate?

ETA: Found an old thread and apparently sour cherries can pollinate sweet cherries but the fruit is not affected. How about seed grown trees? Would they maybe weep?

Where Prunus pendula has been cultivated hundreds of seedlings may sometimes come up.

So these are essentially volunteers from a neighborhood tree?

If so, does it always naturalize like this?

ETA: OK, according to this (pdf from University of Kentucky Ag Dept) says of Prunus subhirtella "Because it comes relatively true from seeds, older plants in the landscape are seed-grown and can be variable in habit."

That link has photos of all the various cherries I might encounter and to my eye there is no question the larger weeping ones are this.

This would make it Prunus subhirtella var. pendula? It's a botanical variety not a cultivar?

My tree again-

Same as embo said, the weeping cherries are as popular with the birds as regular cherries and the seeds will spread far and wide. There were many weeping Japanese cherries in the woods where I grew up in ny, and here in pa they are showing up as well and I weed them out of garden beds all the time.

These are Prunus pendula (P. x subhirtella 'Pendula') and not P. x subhirtella (P. incisa x P. pendula). With the seeming possible exception* of Snow Fountains ('Snofozam') all the familiar weeping Higan cherries belong to P. pendula and not P. x subhirtella. One of the differences between the two species is the comparatively long, slender pointed leaves of P. pendula. Such as those visible in your pictures here.

*I've seen somewhat limited commentary but do not recall anyone having made enough of a study of this much seen introduction to have clearly and decisively determined its correct taxonomic placement

Thanks everyone. I love learning.

They seem to volunteer often, especially around other weeping cherry or prunus/prunus subhirtella cultivars and hybrids. I have a friend with a large weeping cherry (a seedling, no doubt) and seedlings appear readily. Some weep, some do not. Have you seen my mystery tree thread? I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that the "mystery tree" in question there is also a weeping cherry, a prunus subhirtella or other prunus hybrid. Also, I wouldn't remove them unless they are badly placed. It would be interesting to see how they do. Keep us updated.

"Also, I wouldn't remove them unless they are badly placed."

No, I won't be removing any of them except possibly the one upright one. We are trying to clear out around the weepers to try and get them some more light, but most of the shade comes from huge trees. It's a jungle back there.

That space has lots of potential if you are willing to work with it. The weeping cherries are a nice addition, but on the other hand, that's a big thicket of oriental ladie's thumb to clear...........