Apparently conditions were not suitable for it to be pollinated until now. Fruiting of these is far from unknown.

Thank you bboy for your response. Since I posted my query, I came across some information from the Iowa State U. Forestry Extension website that said stress, such as drought, may cause excess fruit or seed as a survival mechanism. That being said, now I need to start my search for another tree to replace the cherry. Sorry, tree! Here's my ode to the cherry tree:

Promises from blossoms sun kissed pink
White tree shows her petticoats to the world;
Flirts turn to ardor lush green and then
Dark stains on the earth...she must lie down.

I have some ornamental Corintian peach trees doing the same thing. The first year a planted only one, and it produced almost pea sized fruit which fell off and never grew to be very noticable. This year it and three others that I planted weeks after the first one bloomed on the opposite of my house all have now produced golf ball sized fruit which is turning a dark peach color, but the fruit is currently still hard and not yet soft as a ripe peach.

I too have wondered if my trees will continue to do this every year, or if it is just something that will happen during years when they are stressed at just the right time to trigger such a reaction.

What they are talking about is heavy fruiting, not a fruitless tree producing some fruit because it is stressed. Yours is fruiting because things have gotten better for it, as in suitable weather resulting in successful pollination. If it had been fruiting some for years and then become covered with them at the same time as some hard weather, then that might be the cause.

Usually, I just read the posts behind the scenes because I love reading about trees and flowers. This time, I just had to say something because that was such a strange response to what you learned about fruiting. Just ready to write the tree off and move on to the next tree without a moment's hesitation. Your response was just really strange to me. I guess I love trees so much that is doesn't make sense to me the way you responded. Why don't you give the tree a chance and research it more before you take it down and replace it like nothing.

I have considered not cutting it down. There are just too many reasons why I should cut it down. 1) I don't want the fruit because it sits right over my driveway. 2) I've had to collar it with Tanglefoot every year to keep the ants from farming the nectar exuded from leaf petioles (I think this is called guttation). The nectar would drop onto my car and I ended up with an ant colony inside my car. 3) The tree was planted (not by me) too close to the driveway, so the roots are buckling the cement. Those are my reasons. I hope that explains my motive for wanting to cut it down. Please, don't try to infer that I am removing the tree "for nothing".