The **cherry (Prunus)** is a fine blossom-and-fruit tree for the canopy layer of a forest garden. Two kinds are grown: the sweet cherry (*Prunus avium*) and the acid or sour cherry (*Prunus cerasus*), of which the morello is the best known. **Notes:** - The wild cherry, or gean (*Prunus avium*), is a native British tree. The name *avium* means "of the birds" — birds strip the fruit and carry the stones far and wide. - Cherries should be pruned only in summer, while in active growth; a winter cut leaves them open to silver leaf disease and bacterial canker. - The acid morello is self-fertile and shade-tolerant, so it will crop happily fan-trained on a cold north or east wall where little else fruits. - Modern dwarfing rootstocks such as Gisela 5 finally brought cherries within reach of the small garden — both for picking and for throwing a net over before the blackbirds do.