Ingrid Bauer/Jean-Claude Catry wrote:

>
>>Chokecherry. Is that a bush or a tree? I know of other fruits called
>>cherries that grow on bushes.....
>>
>>
>
>it is a tree
>
It's a tall shrub in dry Colorado, grows wild all along the streams, and
in fact we have thickets
of it on our acre in the low foothills.  Also wild plum, which is
wonderful if you let it ripen
on the tree (shrub?).  And we have wild
grape producing small dark tart grapes, mostly in wetter years.  Golden
currant (buffalo
currant) also grows wild here; very sweet smelling yellow trumpet
flowers, tart currants
which are black when ripe (but still  tart).

Another nice shrub is Nanking cherry, which produces a miniature cherry
with pit.
Grows well in our dry region without much help, but not a native here.
Saskatoon is
another wild fruit, like sparse blueberries but grow in lotsa places;
need a little water
here but should grow in most of the country without help.  You'll have
to hurry to
beat the squirrels to this treat.

You can often find "small fruits" at the nurseries. Most of the lesser
known
ones are pretty much as Nature intended.  Since they're not commercial, the
plant hybridists have not messed much with them.

    Lynnet