a few links from a google search including a link to a gardenweb threat about two-thirds down

~james

Here is a link that might be useful: google search

Garden Web probably does have a few threats posted from time-to-time, especially on Hot Topics.

If it's a Eugenia then it's not a cherry in the familiar sense, as in sweet cherry (Prunus avium).

I have Barbados/Acerola cherry trees in zone 9 they do very well here very tiny pink flowers mine are still young but wow the easy to care for not tried the rio grand ones let me know how they do for ya.Angie

Garden Fool,

That "Google" link should provide just about all of the information that you might want!

Cherry of the Rio Grand (Eugenia aggregata) plants are quite pretty (as are most Myrtaceous plants). They have glossy, evergreen leaves, attractive little powderpuff-form flowers, and they develop interesting looking "peeling" bark when they mature. So they present a very appealing aspect in a garden landscape.

The fruits are definitely tasty: I've heard the flavor compared to a cross between sweet cherry and pomegranate, and I think that's a pretty good description.

However, on the downside, the fruits have a fairly poor flesh/seed ratio, and they retain annoying persistent sepals (which must be bitten-off and discarded) even when ripe. Also, the plants that I've seen seem to bear a relatively scant crop, even under good growing conditions.

Still, I think they are worth growing.

(Also, the plants are extremely hardy -- much more so than other Eugenias or plants like Acerola/barbados cherry.)

I have a very large one, maybe 8 feet tall. It had half a dozen fruit last year. I cut half of it down and am planting figs. It seems to be cold hardy here 500 miles north of the citrus growing belt.

Doesn't bear enough to be worthwhile for me.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:126257}}

Mr. Texas,

E. aggregata plants do seem to vary quite a bit in terms of yield.

I know someone in Berkeley who has a plant about the size of yours, and she hasn't gotten a single fruit after 12+ years. Her plant may never bear a crop.

On the other hand, I know of several people who are able to harvest several bowls worth of fruit from their similarly-sized plants.

So your plant, producing only half a dozen fruits over a relatively large canopy, is definitely on the far low side of productivity.

The problem is, even highly productive plants don't yield all that much, relatively speaking. For example, a comparably-sized citrus plant would produce a *vastly* greater volume of fruit.

So I suppose it really is more a plant for the collector or enthusiast.

Too bad your bush isn't doing much. At least it does look like a very pretty specimen, from the photograph.

I just got one. I wish I had read this first, I probably wouldn't have. It is still pretty regardless.

I have 3 of them. They are lovely plants. I have grown them in containers for years. My oldest one produced a small crop last year. I think they are well worth growing for the foliage/flowers-the fruit are icing on the cake!

{{gwi:126258}}

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I also grow Barbados Cherry (prolific producer) and Jamaican Cherry (Muntingia calabura), which is a delicious, but tiny fruit.

Lisa