Choosing seeds and thinking about cherries

I’m in the house browsing through seed catalogs and thinking about my garden to come. I still don’t have the motivation to be out in the rain and cold temps to prep the tiny yard. And I have not heard about a plot in the community garden. 

Having just celebrated George Washington’s Birthday this past week, my internet searches took me from crafts for the grand kids to cherry recipes. We ended up making 3-cornered hats and making little cherry turnovers, thinking of Washington and the “cannot tell a lie” story.




As I was searching the internet, I came across the beginnings of the cherry. Bing, perhaps the most famous and highly regarded sweet cherry in the world, had its origin in Oregon. Who knew!


A pioneer nurseryman named Henderson Luelling came across country with his wife, 8 children and over 700 fruit tree sprouts in a covered wagon. After setting up a nursery in Milwaukie, Oregon, his brother came out west, in 1847, to help him. Seth Luelling created a sweet cherry cultivar that has become the most widely planted cherry variety in the United States.


The Bing cherry debuted at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and were in high demand, selling for 3 cents each.


This lovely mural is on quaint Main Street, in Milwaukie , and I thought it an honorable tribute to the beginnings of the Bing cherry.



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