Thanks for the response. None of those cherries are very tasty? I'm trying to make an edible landscape and thought cherries, since they can be trained int shrubs would be nice along side the house. Any suggestions on something tasty that grows in zone 9? I currently have citrus, dragon fruit. lychee, 2 jaboticabas, saba and a few other bannanas, bamboo (black, ghost and buddha belly), blueberries, kiwi (just started and they are still in pots) plus the usual veggies, melons etc. I think I'm running out of things to grow! I was thinking of maybe some apache blackberries but havnt done enough research on them yet. Any thoughts?

Well it depends on what you consider tasty.
If you're comparing any of these to the common sweet cherry grown in northern climates like the Pacific Northwest, no. Not at all alike.
But I enjoy all of them.
They will all make good hedge plants, or small trees if you prefer.
They all will survive temperatures into the mid 20's when mature and healthy. With some defoliation and some damage. Do you get colder than that where you are? You will need to protect young plants from freezing.
I eat them fresh generally, but have made jelly from the Barbados and Black Surinams. I don't have a COTRG in my yard or I probably would too. It is the sweetest of the bunch.
As for Surinam, the Black one is much sweeter and less astringent than the red one. Sometimes available as "Black Zill" variety.
I love the variety of fruit you already have! Has your jaboticaba produced for you yet? Mine's about 5' tall and bushy, but hasn't given me any yet.
How about a miracle fruit? Will it grow in Jax? If so, get one.

How long does it take them to grow from seed? I'm thinking its way cheaper to grow from seed than buy so many plants. Since i have to wait a few years for my kiwi and jabos to fruit I can wait a few for the cherries. Any more than a few and i'd rather by the plants. My Jabos are very tiny as they are recent additions so i dont expect a whole lot for at least a couple of years. Miracle fruit are definatley on my list. Can they take any cold? we only get light frosts with any occasional hard freeze. i can protect them if needed. I was just gonna put it in a large pot like my cinnamon tree and move into garage in winter.
Thanks for the input on the cherries...any reliable source for them in florida?? Thanks again.

Cherry of the Rio Grande would be your best bet, can survive down to about 20, but needs to be protected from frost when small. They are slow, take up to 4-5 years to fruit from seed. The will grow a foot or two a year as they get larger and do make a great hedge. They flower at this time of the year and have 1" showy flowers. They are easy to grow, but often suffer a die-back. Mine went through this last year but recovered nicely.
I have many different types of tropical cherries and this is the one, along with gruminchama, is what most people like the best. You can find seeds sometimes at different seed dealers on the internet, but it will take time that way to get a hedge.

OK, thanks so much to everyone..one last question if you dont mind. How far about should they be spaced? I've read so many different amounts but was wondering what was realistic to create a hedge..Thanks again..

Kim

I planted surinam cherry seeds 2 years ago, springtime. They grew well in 1 gallon pots for the first year. Planted them as a hedge last spring or summer. They are now about 2' tall and getting bushy. I've been pinching them back a lot to get them bushy. Plan to let them get 5 or 6' tall.

Plant them about 3' apart for a hedge.

Other Cherries for your consideration:

1) Capulin Cherry, a relative of Sweet Cherries. See the link at CFRG for more details.

2) Low Chill Sweet Cherries. New varieties have been found which need less winter chill that the tradional varities. These LC varieties are:
Minnie Royal, Royal Lee, Royal Rainer and Lapins. You can read a bit more about these at the other forums here or at the Cloudforest Cafe Message board. These will, in general, need another variety for pollenize each other.

Myself, I've been growing Barbados Cherries, Starkrimson Sweet and Montmorency Sour Cherries here in Austin for 2 years as an experiment. I have gotten blossoms on my trees, but no fruit yet. The Barbados Cherry has given fruit.

If you are interested, you should check your chilling hours in your area against those listed for these suggested varieties.

Here is a link that might be useful: CAPULIN CHERRY

I have Barbados Cherry as well as Cherry of Rio Grande. You might want to consider on your list Grumichama Cherry they are really good.

I would recommend if you are in Florida to plant Loquat they are delicious. I have a Plant Nursery from home and I grow lots of different fruit plants too many to list but also including some hard to find like Mamey Sapote, Soursop, Custard Apple, Cherimoya, Cashew Apple, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Jackfruit, Guava, Carambola, Sugar Apple, Lychee, Longans, etc.. I recently got my hands on Mandarinquat which are growing so excited and I must say after trying multiple methods I was successful at growing Rambutan which are extremely hard to grow from seed but i managed a good method and I was very successful and now they are almost a foot long extremily healthy. Next fruit on my list Mangosteen. If you haven't had Malay Apple it grows extremily well in Florida.

That's so funny and true about "those useless home builder shrubs".

Then again, we might not be typical members of the population.

Be aware that regular sweet cherries have disease issues in the hot humid climate of the deep South. Sour cherry and black cherry are a little more resistant (to both pests and disease), as well as Capulin cherry.

If you were intent on trying to grow sweet cherry, Lapins may be one to try (not too high of a chill requirement and somewhat resistant to cracking, but a sweet cherry is going to take a lot of care (and don't expect a long lifespan where you are, although they are fast growing trees).