Here's a shot of the bark on the trunk.

And lastly, the leaves. Thanks for all your help.

Rhonda

Prunus Serotonia?

Thanks so much Nel! It's funny that I had very mature black cherry trees in Ohio (well over 70 feet tall) but since I had never seen them young, I didn't know the bark was so different when young. I'm excited since I love to have butterfly host plants and berries for wildlife.
Thanks again!
Rhonda

Some kind of cherry for sure, but never seen a black cherry w/bark like that...

Beng, after Nel gave me the name I did some research. Says that for the first 10 or so years the bark looks like that then changes to the dark, rough texture. Thanks!

Is this tree evergreen or deciduous?

If evergreen perhaps Prunus caroliniana?

rvird01, gotta disagree. I have a dozen B cherry saplings around, and their bark is gray -- not whitish. There are many, many different cherry species out there (mostly imports) -- all w/similar-looking leaves. Below is a B cherry on my lot w/ripe fruit in mid-Sept. Very tasty & surprisingly sweet when completely ripe:

This post was edited by beng on Mon, Jul 22, 13 at 13:29

Beng,
Thanks for the picture and the info. I don't know as much about trees as I do flowers :). I'll let it grow a while and post pics next year. Maybe by then it will start producing fruit to make id easier.

Your cherries look wonderful. Do you ever preserve your cherries? I plan on leaving this tree for the birds and butterflies.

Thanks again! Rhonda

Rhonda, no, there's never enough of them to bother with. The ones I show are from a tiny, forest-edge tree. My bigger (55') B cherry almost always aborts most or all of its fruit.

Thanks for your help Beng. Our black cherries in Ohio were also old and very seldom produced fruit. I never saw them as young trees so I had no clue this was a cherry tree. Thanks again!