benali
Senior Member
Posts: 138
Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 2:40 pm
Location: Zone 5b

Any idea what these wild plants are?

I have several of these small trees (?) growing at the edge of my property in an ignored area. This is in the midwest north of Chicago.

They're 3 to 10 feel tall. They have smooth bark and thin trunks. They're spindly with relatively few leaves (not very bushy).

What do you think?

Thank you for your help.
Attachments
mystery 3.jpg
mystery 2.jpg
mystery 1.jpg

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!potatoes!
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1938
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:13 pm
Location: wnc - zones 6/7 line

first guess is a Prunus of some sort. likely P. serotina, wild black cherry. can you get a close-up pic of the bark on a bigger one?

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

This is wild cherry I have 1.
Attachments
WildCherry.jpg

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I thought it might be Wild Cherry, too 8)

benali
Senior Member
Posts: 138
Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 2:40 pm
Location: Zone 5b

Thanks for your help.

I've attached a couple close-ups of the bark.

I read up on wild black cherries, and from everything I can tell, it looks like that's exactly what they are. I'll watch them if/when they flower to confirm.

I'm really glad I posted this message before cutting them down as junk trees, as I'd love to have a black cherry or two back there.

The descriptions did say, however, that these grow into full sized trees of 50 to 60 feet tall. Far too big to be so close together in a cluster of 6 or 7 together, like they are right now. So I figure to let them all grow there for now, and confirm that I'm absolutely certain what they are and that they really are going to grow into big trees. Then I'll have to cull them down to a couple sometime in the future.

Thanks again.
Attachments
black berry 2.jpg
black berry 3.jpg
black berry 1.jpg



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