Mary Allen
Cherries are the names of various types of fruit trees or the fruit they bear. Originally, cherries were wild plants. Through breeding, humans managed to get the berries bigger and sweeter. The leaves also increased in size.
The natural trees are called wild cherries. The cultivated forms are either cartilaginous cherries or sweet cherries. Cherry trees are often planted over large areas. This is called a plantation. Cherry tree plantations take up the largest land area in Germany after apple plantations.
Older cherry trees are easy to recognize by their bark. It contains horizontal lines that run around the trunk and are sometimes broken. The leaves are serrated and can easily be confused with the leaves of other trees. Before falling in autumn, the leaves glow red.
There are wild cherry trees in our forests. They sometimes grow up to 30 meters high. The trees cultivated by farmers used to be very tall. Modern cultivated forms are much smaller and bear the first branches just above the ground. The fruits are so easy to harvest from the ground. Cultivated cherry trees have to be cut back every winter. You have to learn that from a professional.
Cherry trees bloom around April to May. The flowers are white to pink. The fruits are sour to sweet, depending on whether and how the tree was grown. Some children like to hang a pair of cherries by their stems over their ears.