As its name suggests, The Bird Cherry (Prunus padus) is a native tree related to the wild cherry. Its white fragrant flowers appear around May, June, each spike contains up to 35 almond-scented flowers and produce reddish black and bitter fruits. The bird cherry has dark green, oval leaves that have tufts of white hairs on their undersides when young, the edges of the leaves have fine, sharp serrations and their tips are pointed. The flowers of this plant have five white petals and the fruits are small and dark red or black. The bird cherry has smooth, peeling, grey-brown bark that has an unpleasant, acrid scent. It smells so strong. They grow on the branches in spikes after the leaves have appeared.
Benefits:
Bird cherry fruits are used to make medicine. Some people take bird cherry by mouth for colds, whooping cough, bronchitis (lung inflammation), and other lung problems. It is also used for diarrhea, gout, digestive disorders, pain.
Sunlight:
It requires full sun. In temperate zones, the plant is grown in pots for its attractive foliage and bright fruits. In summer, Eugenia likes the heat, while it prefers winter temperatures between 46-68F (7-20C). It needs to be indoors in winter temps drop below 30F(0C) degrees.
Watering:
This plant can tolerate standing water so it should be forgiving of over watering. They need an inch of water every two weeks while they’re young. It may be a good idea to keep up with the rainfall with weather reports or a rain gauge to see how much rainwater your trees are getting.
Soil:
It grows in almost any type of soil–sand, sandy loam, stiff clay, soft limestone–and can even stand waterlogging for a time, but it is intolerant of salt. Plant on the top of a slope to avoid late spring frosts. Cherry trees are more susceptible to root diseases if grown on heavy clay soil.
Fertilizer:
Cherry trees are light feeders and prefer a low-nitrogen fertilizer such as 5-10-10 .Use a fertilizer that’s low in nitrogen late in the winter or in the early spring. About a month before your trees flower is the best time to fertilize.