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Sand Cherry

Prunus pumila

Also called sandcherry, dwarf cherry, western sand cherry, Great Lakes sand cherry, Susquehanna sand cherry.

A low, tough shrub of dunes, beaches and sandy prairies, with white spring flowers and purple-black cherries for jam from its second or third year.

EdibleWildlife valueDrought tolerantBears youngSalt tolerantShowy flowersRareErosion control

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 1–8 ft
USDA zones: 3–6
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, rocky ground, stream banks, old fields and edges
Native range: 26 states, north to North Dakota, south to Arkansas and west to Utah
List all 26
Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming
Also recorded in 1 other state, outside its native range. See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Sand cherry is a low shrub of dunes, beaches, sandy prairies and pine barrens across the northern half of the country, from Maine and the Great Lakes west to the plains. It varies from a creeping mat on river shores to an upright shrub on Great Lakes dunes, where its deep, running roots help hold the sand. Its prairie form, western sand cherry, has given garden cultivars bred for fruit, and sand cherry is a parent of the purple-leaf sand cherry sold for gardens. Tennessee and Ohio list it or one of its forms as endangered, and Iowa, Vermont and Massachusetts as threatened. Plant a patch on a sunny, sandy bank or slope, where it holds the soil and feeds birds.

Size, growth and what to expect

Sand cherry grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator, and it spreads by underground runners into patches. It stands from a foot to 8 feet tall, creeping on shores and dunes and upright elsewhere. Seedlings begin to fruit in their second or third year.

Clusters of two to five white flowers, about half an inch across, open from April into June with the young leaves. The cherries ripen from late July into September, purple-black and a third to half an inch across. They can be eaten fresh, though many are bitter, and they make good jam, jelly and syrup. Birds and small mammals eat them.

It grows on dry, sandy, gravelly and rocky ground, on dunes, beaches, sandbars, sandy prairies, oak savannas and pine barrens, usually in the open. In Michigan's jack pine barrens it shelters nesting Kirtland's warblers. Its western form has been planted west of its native range for fruit, and the plants in Oregon are counted as introduced.

How to grow Sand Cherry

Sand cherry needs full sun or light shade and a dry, sandy or gravelly soil that drains fast. It takes drought, limy ground and very acid soil, and it grows on salty sites. Its roots run and sprout, so give it room to form a patch, or set plants 4 feet apart for a hedge or windbreak. Keep each one 2 feet from a wall. It is small enough to grow within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Sow the cleaned pits outdoors in fall, an inch or two deep. For spring, chill them damp in the refrigerator for 100 to 120 days first, and keep them damp until sowing.

Water weekly through the first summer, then only in long droughts. Rabbits and rodents chew the twigs of young plantings hard, so fence or cage them for their first few years. Older plants recover from chewing by sprouting again.

Sand cherry sets fruit with its own pollen, so one plant bears alone. Bees and other insects carry the pollen. After a fire it sprouts back from its deep roots and runners.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (15)