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| Andrena bee in Evans Cherry Blossom |
Edmonton has a lot of intrusive bylaws, but the ban on keeping honey bees is an especially annoying one for home gardeners. Many vegetable and fruit crops require cross-pollination, something honey bees are very good at, but they are a rare sight in the Home Bug Garden. Fortunately, the native' pollinators have responded well to the conversion from lawn into open woodland and I get 'free' pollination services.
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| Scarlet Malachite Beetle & cherry blossoms |
I have a half-dozen varieties of cherries (
Prunus) blooming in the Zone 3 HBG at the moment, but none are the Sweet Cherries that are commonly found in grocery stores. Zone 7 is about the limit for most Sweet Cherries, although some apparently can survive into Zone 5. Instead, I have a variety of 'bird cherries' (Nanking Cherry, Mayday, Sandcherry) and 'sour cherries':
Prunus cerasus 'Evans' and some hybrids between
cerasus and the Mongolian Cherry
P. fruticosus called
Prunus x-
kerrasis developed at the
University of Saskatchewan.
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| 7-spot Lady Beetle - not a great pollinator, but a good predator of Black Cherry Aphid |
The 'sour' cherries are self-fertile, but still need insects to move their pollen around. Currently, at least four species of bees (
Andrena milwaukeensis,
Bombus moderatus, Halictus confusus, and an unidentified
Lasioglossum), the two beetles above, and a small hover fly have been seen doing their best to help me make cherries for snacks, crumbles, pies, and wine.
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| Cat-licking good: Half the first harvest |
The Evans Cherries are 7-8 years old and small trees. Each Evans has produced 5-10 kg of slightly tart cherries for the last three years - as pleasant as raspberries for snacking and a very nice fruit wine base. The
Prunus x-
kerrasis hybrids (Carmine Jewel, Romeo, Juliette) are younger, shrubby cherries, but are reputed to have rather sweet fruit. This is the first year they have had more than a few blooms, so I hope to be able to test the 'sweet' hypothesis. Thanks to the bees, beetles, and flies, of course.
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| Evans Cherry reaching for the sky |
