I have been wanting a chokecherry for a while now, and your story makes me want one even more!

HI Elaine,
I have a long row of bushes that have been growing for awhile. Just recently, I figured out that they are probably chokecherries. The birds go crazy for the berries.....but I seem to have mostly robins who are eating them. I was wondering........what does your chokecherry bush look like? I'm still trying to figure out if that's what I have here. The flowers in the spring are long clusters. My row of bushes are about 10' tall. The berries get a dark, bright red. I always have a ton of suckers growing up too.
It sounds like you have a real buffet there for alot of birds! How fun!

Catherine, those are chokecherries. The leaves and flowers look very similar to black cherry, except not quite as long and slender, and the form is a small tree with many suckers, whereas black cherry is a single-trunk canopy tree.

Thanks Elaine. Actually, we had just 2 of these for many years, and pulled out the suckers. I finally decided to "go with the flow", and now there's tons of them. I really like them, and as you know, the birds are crazy for them! I just was never sure what they were. Thought for a long time they were wild black cherry trees, that just never got very big. Thanks for your help!

Just watched 3 or 4 young robins--breasts still speckled--feasting on the chokecherries right outside the sunroom window. I was worried that they wouldn't find the cherries so close to the house, but I needn't have.