Native Plants

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Tuesday - April 21, 2009

From: Denton, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Cherry trees in the North Texas area
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Will cherry trees grow well in the North Texas area?

ANSWER:

In our Native Plant Database, we found five members of the Prunus genus native to Texas and referred to as black cherry as a common name.

Prunus serotina (black cherry) - USDA Plant Profile with a few North Central Texas counties where this tree grows

Prunus serotina var. eximia (black cherry) - USDA Plant Profile showing only few counties in South Central Texas

Prunus serotina var. rufula (black cherry) - USDA did not have a county breakdown on this tree. Texas A&M Horticulture site on Southwestern Black Cherry says it grows in canyons and bottomlands of Trans Pecos in West Texas, and has not done well in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Area

Prunus serotina var. virens (black cherry) - USDA Plant Profile shows this growing only in far West Texas, in the Big Bend area

Prunus virginiana (chokecherry) - USDA Plant Profile shows this grown only in a few counties in the northern Texas Panhandle and far West Texas

It looks like your best bet is Prunus serotina (black cherry), so we'll do a little more research on it. You can follow the plant link to our webpage on that individual tree, or see this USDA Forest Service site on the maintenance and problems of the tree.

Prunus serotina