They have been the rage since Evans was rediscovered and since carmine jewel was developed. Hard to believe thats almost 15 years now! They are bred mainly for the mid prairie climate in central saskatchewan (in saskatoon). Anything surviving their trials should be hardy to zone 3 at least by what ive read. They are considered trouble free there because many if not most pests and diseases are non existent up there. I havnt found any other information about their resistances out of the prairies or more northern locations. I have read over and over how carefree they are. After going through more info, I am curious as to whether or not you could grow it as a multi stemmed tree rather then a "fruit bush".

I got my teeny CJ from Henry Fields, as a matter of fact! It was really clearance priced. It was incredibly healthy, just quite small. I do recommend them for the little starts of these as far as health of the little plant goes. They might have different sizes. I'm sure mine said it was in a 3 inch pot, so I knew what I was in for that way. If you do go with the little babies, just make sure to pay more attention to it than you might for a bigger plant. The roots aren't as forgiving since there aren't too many of them comparatively ;) I potted mine up in good soil and checked frequently for water needs. It was still really easy to grow the whole time. I've had zero problems.

I’m writing to share my own experience with Carmine Jewel. I write from rural north central Minnesota roughly a hundred miles south of the Canadian border and a cold Zone 3B. I am always skeptical of the hype in nursery and garden catalogs, but with CJ the "hype" seems to be true. I’m astounded by the huge cherry crop I have this season on one of the trees that is now in its fifth season after planting as a 15 cm tall “sapling” that I received in a tiny pot. The tree is now a bit over six feet high. I have five other CJs planted about the same time, but the tree I’m discussing is the closest to the house and therefore received the best care including watering during dry periods and spraying for aphids a couple times in previous years. Of the other CJs, three have at least one cherry but nothing like the yield on the pampered tree. Yesterday I removed the deer fencing that I had encircled the tree with, so that I could weed around the tree, but after an hour or so, the tree started leaning considerably. Clearly the deer fence had been supporting the tree under its load of fruit. Worried about the tree’s breaking, I attached a rope to the main leader to pull it back into a vertical position. The catalogs claim that CJs yield 15 lbs of fruit after four years. I am curious about the weight of fruit on my tree, and I estimate it might be 15 lbs, but I plan not to pick the cherries all at once. I’ll eat the fruit fresh as picked from the tree, and I am aware the cherries grow sweeter over several weeks. While many of the cherries are clearly not yet ripe enough to eat, the bright red ones are sweet enough for my taste and seem no more tart than red raspberries. The latter make my teeth hurt but not the cherries. The cherries are small, quite a bit smaller than the Montmorencies I grew when I lived in Washington, but the CJ pits are also smaller. I’m going to try posting a photo I took yesterday if I can figure out how.

Your going to get a nice amount of fruit on that .thats a nice sized carmine Jewell