When we bought our house 10 years ago, there were a lot of flowers in beds around the house. I dug up all the flowers and transplanted them to the front slope by the road — a 45 degree section of the lawn I didn’t want to mow. The flower beds became garden beds. Bit by bit I transformed annuals into perennials. Blueberry bushes, black raspberries, strawberries, and dwarf cherry trees.

For many years they have seemed to be a lot of greenery, but this year we got a lot of blossoms.  The strawberry plants are later for strawberries, but we got enough to go out and pick to eat as we go, without them disappearing to other critters. The blackberry canes blossomed, and Nathan pointed out to me Friday that there are berries out there, one of them even black.  The canes are still small, but actually growing berries. I picked up supplies at Home Depot to put up a net to support the canes for them to grow on.

But the thing I noticed the most this year was the cherries. I picked up one tree in 2010, and liked how it looked enough to pick up two more in 2011. The original tree hasn’t grown very much, nor did one of the ones from 2011. But the remaining tree has grown to its full 6 feet, and really blossomed out. Based on its description when purchased, I was really looking forward to the taste:

Truly the perfect cherry, Carmine Jewel has large, gorgeous purplish-red fruit with a luscious balance of high sugars and a complement of acids, creating a rich flavor. Fruit has high flesh-to-pit ratio and is excellent for use in pies, preserves, juice, dried fruit and eating fresh. Yields up to 15+pounds by its fourth year, and 20-30 pounds in its fifth year. Growing to only 6 1/2 ft. tall, this is a naturally dwarfed bush with full-sized fruit—much easier to maintain than typical cherries. Carmine Jewel is grown on its own roots, so you get no suckers of inferior quality root stock. Extreme cold hardiness and few problems from disease and pests make this beauty a breeze to grow.

Abundant, white and pink flowers and glossy, green leaves allow it to double as an ornamental in your landscape in

But when I tasted the first it tasted … okay. It wasn’t sour, but it wasn’t a sweet cherry either. This is the fourth year.  I picked all the cherries in one day — almost filled a gallon container. It seemed like a lot. But when I weighed it — 3 pounds 4 ounces. Per the add, it should have been 5 times as much. I am trying to figure out where the cherries would have been on the tree — it looked loaded enough with the 5 pounds. So at least there is the possibility of a lot more cherries in years to come.

But what to do with them? I was looking forward to fresh eating.  Looks like I need to cook them into something instead. Fortunately I have something in mind.

Of course it requires pitting all those cherries.  That ups the work quotient. Tried the fast fruit cobbler recipe my mother used. It calls for peaches as the default, but says to try cherries, berries or fruit in season.  I used frozen blueberries a couple of weeks ago when I made it.  The kids loved it, but they would have liked it better without the fruit!

So here’s the recipe:

Fast Fruit Cobbler

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups peaches, sliced, drained

1 stick butter, melted

Combine flour, sugar and baking powder in a 2 quart Pyrex baking dish. Stir in milt and vanilla to make a thin batter. Place fruit slices over batter and drizzle the melted butter over the top. DO NOT STIR. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, according to the depth of the dish, or until nicely brown.

My own personal experience is that you need to make sure it is thoroughly baked, not just nicely brown, or you will find the batter still slightly liquid near the middle.

And yes, the cherries tasted perfect in the cobbler.