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Old 05-29-2007, 10:16 AM   #29
redforever
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I would suggest an Amur cherry tree. This is not the type of cherry tree that bears edible fruit as in the Okanogan. BUT, it is very hardy, and has beautiful bark. The bark looks like a birch, in other words, it sort of has that flakey peeled look, BUT, it is a burnt rust color. It is a tree, but grows in a bunch form, it will have a trunk around 2 or 3 feet and then branches out evenly from there. I have seen them all over, but if you want to see large specimens of this tree, they have a lot planted in the Willowpark Shopping center. I have one in my yard and I live in the Priddis area, so I would suspect, you can grow them anywhere in Calgary. They easily grow 20 to 30 feet but retain a nice clumped form and are minimal care in terms of pruning etc.

Instead of an individual cherry for fruit, they flower like a MayDay tree, mine is in full flower now. So in other words, they have cluster flowers that hang down in grape form. They will form very small little cherries for fruit, like a MayDay, not messy like a MayDay though. Not edible fruit for humans but attracts birds. Because they grow in clump form, they have a lot of branches that will support bird feeders. I hang around 6 birdfeeders in mine every winter and suet logs etc. Then I can watch the birds which are very abundant where I live.
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