SAND CHERRY IS BLOOMING ON THE BEACH

APPLE BLOSSOMS AND FORGET-ME-NOTS 

SAND CHERRY, GROWING IN THE BEACH DUNE GRASS...

...COVERED WITH FLOWERS, THE BUSHES ARE SCARCELY A FOOT HIGH

,,,CHOKE CHERRY, GROWING A FEW FEET BACK ON THE DUNE

Wednesday, 8:45 AM.  64 degrees F at the ferry dock, 57 on the back porch,. The wind is SW, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is mostly filled with high, wispy white clouds.  The humidity is 75% and there is another .15" of rain in the gage.  The barometer stands at 29.80" and is beginning to rise.  The sun is out and it will be a pleasant day.
   Yesterday morning we had a Tree Board meeting and discussed a Heritage Tree proposal to present to the Mayor and Council.  It is proving to be a complicated issue, driven by the destruction of the old white pines along Hwy. 13 by the Department of Transportation.  More of this as we develop a strategy.
   Buddy was house-bound yesterday after several days of rain, and if he doesn't get his run he will head for an open door and be gone in a flash, so we went to the beach, where we found the diminutive sand cherry, Prunus pumilla var. pumilla, in the Rose Family, in full bloom in the dune grass.
   This interesting little shrub cherry is scarcely a foot tall and spreads by root suckers in Great Lakes sand dunes.  It bears edible, dark purple cherries, which I have never found at the right stage of ripeness to give a good taste test, although they purportedly are very good and are also excellent for jams and jellies.  There is some indication in the literature that they could be commercially viable.  Their dark color indicates they would be an excellent source of nutrients.  The flowers are lightly but sweetly fragrant.
   This species has a number of varieties that intergrade across a wide range of sandy or rocky habitat throughout eastern to far midwestern North America, and some botanists lump them all together in one species and others split the variations into distinct species.  Take your pick, be either a "lumper" or a "splitter," ( (I am invariably a "lumper") but these are very interesting little shrub cherries.  Those pictured are growing on the Sioux River Beach, along with the much larger choke cherry bushes, Prunus virginiana, which grow on the back dune.
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