We have an ornamental cherry tree, Gail, which produces (surprise) ornamental cherries. By “ornamental” I mean that I could give you a blind taste test with a ripe cherry (fingernail size) and a large twig piece (bark still on) and you could not distinguish the two by flavor or texture. But! Mid- to late-winter (depending on freezes) the cherries have softened to where they are edible, and suddenly they are gone, as every robin who has wintered in the neighborhood descends on the tree and picks it clean.

And it’s pretty in late spring.