Sweet cherry varieties are the most popular cherry trees to grow for their delicious fruit and colorful seasonal displays. One sweet cherry is the Corum Cherry, which produces a stunning crop of reddish-yellow fruit after its showy white flowers have come and gone. Once the fruit season has passed and fall approaches, a Corum Cherry tree’s leaves transform into the yellows, oranges, and reds
In this article, we cover everything you need to know about Corum Cherries and how to successfully grow them. Keep reading to learn more about the spectacular Corum Cherry and how to make it part of your home orchard.
What are Corum Cherries?
Corum Cherries produce sweet reddish-yellow fruit that can be enjoyed year after year. These cherry trees are reliable and often yield large crops even in their first years of maturity, which isn’t often the case for fruit trees.
Offering just the right amount of flavor, Corum Sweet Cherries are a perfect light snack on a warm summer day and can be safely eaten right off the tree. Whether you want to start a backyard orchard or simply want to add edible plants to your backyard, a Corum Cherry is a great option even for beginners.
These trees bloom in late April and fruit is ready to pick in the later summer months. They also typically produce fruit consistently when they are two to three years old. Once they start producing, there’s no looking back, and you can expect cherries each summer for years.
Corum Cherry trees are popular and are often grown in the Great Lakes region of the United States, as well as the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon).
What does a Corum Cherry Taste Like?
The Corum Cherry variety was discovered as an unknown seedling in 1945 on Gordon Corum’s farm in Eugene, Oregon. Since being discovered, the Corum Cherry has been winning over gardeners’ hearts with its thick flesh packed with natural sweetness.
The Corum Cherry is a mild cherry that gives the right amount of flavor without being overpowering. They’re a great choice to add to brines, for canning, and any other recipes calling for a mild cherry flavor.
How to Grow Corum Cherries
Corum Cherry trees are somewhat temperamental about growing zones. If you live in hardiness zones 5-7, you’re in luck because Corums thrive in those zones.
Corum Cherries are self-fertile, but your harvest will increase by planting a pollination partner nearby. One of the best varieties to plant near Corum Cherries are Royal Ann Cherries. Because Corums bloom earlier than Royal Anns, you’ll have an extended cherry harvest.
When selecting a site for your Corum Cherry, select a well-draining location in full sun and run a soil test. Remember that the site needs to be big enough to fit at least two trees — the Corum and a cross-pollinator cherry.
After you have selected the planting location, make sure you space the trees at least twelve feet apart to allow room to grow and mature over the years. If you’re tight on space or simply want to keep your sweet cherry tree small, they can be trimmed to stay around ten feet tall.
When caring for Corum Cherry trees, water the base of tree with a garden hose or soaker hose, rather than using sprinklers. Cherry trees that have wet leaves for prolonged periods of time become susceptible to diseases.
For more in-depth information about how to grow and care for cherry trees, check out our complete guide.
How to Use a Corum Cherry?
Unlike other cherry tree varieties, Corum Cherries have a different branching setup as well as broader leaves. They can be used for screening to give you added privacy or wind protection around your home or garden.
Corums can also be planted as landscape specimens that provide a pop of color in your garden or yard. Their white flowers in the spring, colorful fruit in the summer, and brilliant leaves in the fall put on a show throughout most of the year. A properly pruned cherry tree can even be beautiful during the winter.
Corum cherries have pale yellow flesh, which means no awful staining that often occurs with red interior cherries!
These sweet cherries are popular in the kitchen for snacking and using in cherry recipes. Once you’ve picked your Corum cherries, the hardest decision will be picking which recipe to make first! We have some great recipes to point you in the right direction:
Cherry Almond Cheesecake
Cherry Turnovers
Cherry Barbecue Sauce
Where to Buy a Corum Cherry?
If you want to add a Corum Cherry tree to your outdoor space, you can purchase one from Nature Hills Nursery. If you want the largest yield from your Corum, don’t forget to order a Royal Ann Cherry for cross-pollination.
FAQ
What is the sweetest cherry variety?
Bing Cherries are one of the sweetest cherries and one of the most popular varieties.
What cherry is most similar to Corum Cherries?
Corum Cherries are very similar to Royal Ann Cherry trees, which have similar colored fruit and growth pattern. When planted near one other, they cross-pollinate and produce larger harvests.
The Corum Cherry is a Great Choice for Your Garden!
Corum Cherries are a sweet cherry variety with mildly flavored fruit and stunning seasonal color displays. The pretty red and yellow fruit works in all recipes that call for sweet cherries. Diligent pruning to keep this tree at a maximum of 10 feet tall means it’s an option even for small-space gardens.
If you love sweet cherries and you want to try your hand at growing some in your own backyard, Corum Cherries are a great option for your outdoor space.
Want to know more about cherries? Visit our Cherry Trees hub page for information about different cherry tree varieties, resources to help you grow and care for cherries, plus mouthwatering cherry recipes!