Nanking Cherry in Zone 7a & 7b
Prunus tomentosa
When to plant nanking cherry in zone 7b
Zones 7a and 7b share the same average frost dates in our data, so this page covers both.
Method: Buy as a start: Buy as a nursery start and transplant outside. Nanking Cherry is slow or unreliable from seed, so most gardeners skip seed-starting it entirely.
| Start indoors | Not started from seed; buy as a nursery start |
|---|---|
| Direct sow / transplant outside | Mar 13–Mar 20 |
| Estimated harvest | Mar 12 '30–Mar 19 '30 (First real harvest in year 4) |
Spacing: about 50 square feet per plant (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 8-12 ft.
Nanking cherry is an extremely cold- and heat-tolerant cherry relative, ornamental enough to double as an edible hedge or windbreak, with a profusion of white spring flowers that bloom before the leaves emerge.
How nanking cherry fits zone 7's season
Zone 7b's frost-free window runs about 198 days, from April 10 to October 25. Nanking Cherry takes about 3 growing seasons to reach first worthwhile harvest, so what matters here is how many of these seasons it gets, not whether one is long enough.
Nanking Cherry is hardy in zones 2-7, so in zone 7b it stays in the ground through winter and comes back rather than being replanted. Allow about 8 ft of spread at maturity.
Good companions
No standout companions recorded yet for Nanking Cherry.
Where to buy nanking cherry starts
Nanking Cherry is almost always bought as a nursery start rather than seeded. Check a local nursery or garden center; we haven't vetted online start/plant suppliers yet.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing nanking cherry" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Nanking Cherry in USDA zone 7b: when to start seeds indoors, when to direct-sow, and when to expect a harvest.
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