Cherry Trees
Cherry Trees
Whether you're dreaming of juicy summer cherries straight from your backyard or want to add ornamental beauty to your garden, cherry trees are a rewarding addition. Both sweet cherries (Prunus avium) and sour cherries (Prunus cerasus) have unique flavors, uses, and care needs. Here's what you need to know to grow them successfully.
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Note regarding size: We received extra large trees from our supplier this year so we've created a new grade size called 2m+ branched. The trees may be pruned to slightly below 2m to fit into boxes at shipping.
History: Stella sweet cherries were developed by the Summerland Research and Development Centre in British Columbia in 1956 by K.O. Lapins, after whom Lapins cherries are named. These cherries were named and released in 1968, becoming the first named variety of self-pollinating sweet cherries. They have since become very popular, especially in the UK, and have been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Why We Grow It: The Royal Horticultural Society was right to commend Stella. These large cherries have skin that is shiny yet extremely dark red, creating a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth! The flesh is medium firm and has a lovely sweet flavour, great for fresh eating as well as canning. Stella is self-pollinating and makes an excellent pollinator for other varieties.
History: Crimson Passion dwarf sour cherries are one of several dwarf sour cherries developed and released by the University of Saskatchewan with the goal of creating sour cherries that were cold hardy, shorter in stature, and produced good quality fruit. This initiative began in the 1940s and Crimson Passion was released as part of the Romance series in 2004. It is the sweetest of the Romance series cherries.
Why We Grow It: Crimson Passion produces large sweet fruit, excellent for fresh eating or processing. It contains the same sugar content (20-22 Brix) as sweet cherries, but also contains the tangy flavour of sour cherries, combining the best of both worlds into one cold-hardy shrub. This variety reaches up to 10' at maturity, great for anyone with limited space.
Check our our blog post with some tasty sour cherry recipes!
History: Compact Stella was developed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York where dormant Stella scions underwent X-ray irradiation in 1964. This caused a mutation to occur, creating a cherry tree that was smaller in stature when fully grown than regular Stella cherry trees. In 1973 this smaller version of Stella was given the name Compact Stella.
Why We Grow It: Compact Stella sweet cherry trees bear very dark red heart-shaped fruit that is of high quality for fresh eating, and equally well-suited for canning, drying, or freezing. This compact version of the popular Stella sweet cherry is great for anyone with limited space. The typical mature height is 8-10 feet (2.5-3.0m), though they can reach up to 12 feet in optimal growing conditions.
History: Juliet dwarf sour cherries are one of several dwarf sour cherries developed and released by the University of Saskatchewan with the goal of creating sour cherries that were cold hardy, shorter in stature, and produced good quality fruit. This initiative began in the 1940s and Juliet was released as part of the Romance series in 2004.
Why We Grow It: With good yield and deep red medium-sized fruit, Juliet is a favourite for those that enjoy the sweet-tart flavour! This is an excellent variety for the fresh market or processing. For anyone short on garden space, these cherry bushes reach 6-8 feet at maturity.
Check our our blog post with some tasty sour cherry recipes!
History: Hedelfingen cherries were discovered in Germany around 1850. The variety was named for Hedelfingen, the area where it was found. They were introduced to England in 1907 and are still grown commonly in Europe and North America.
Why We Grow It: This is an excellent quality sweet cherry that is very popular in Ontario. The fruit is dark red in colour with faint speckles, softer flesh, a pleasant juiciness, and a great taste. The trees begin to bear at a young age, the fruit is resistant to cracking, and the blossoms are tolerant of frost.
A recommendation from one of our wonderful customers: Save the pits! Chef Sam advises infusing sweet cherry pits in whiskey for an alluring, aromatic, almond flavoured drink!
History: Montmorency sour cherries date back over 400 years, originating in the Montmorency Valley in France. From there they spread to England and eventually to North America where they are the most commonly grown sour cherry by far. Products that contain sour cherries are almost guaranteed to use this variety.
Why We Grow It: It's hard to ignore such a classic and beloved sour cherry. Montmorency produces bright red cherries that are perfect for making cherry pie, preserves, and jams. Montmorency is an amarelle cherry.
Check our our blog post with some tasty sour cherry recipes!
History: Romeo dwarf sour cherries are one of several dwarf sour cherries developed and released by the University of Saskatchewan with the goal of creating sour cherries that were cold hardy, shorter in stature, and produced good quality fruit. This initiative began in the 1940s and Romeo was released as part of the Romance series in 2004.
Why We Grow It: Romeo boasts very dark red fruit that has a nice sweet-tart flavour and plenty of juiciness. It has a high flesh to pit ratio, making each cherry just that much more enticing. Although the bush only reaches 7-8ft at maturity, it still yields around 25lb of fruit per plant.
Check our our blog post with some tasty sour cherry recipes!
Note regarding size: We received extra large trees from our supplier this year so we've created a new grade size called 2m+ branched. The trees may be pruned to slightly below 2m to fit into boxes at shipping.
History: Rainier sweet cherries were created by Harold Fogle at the Washington State University research center in 1952 and released in 1960. They were named after Mount Rainier, the tallest mountain in the state. Due to their delicate nature, Rainier cherries tend to be a bit more expensive than other commercial varieties.
Why We Grow It: Rainier are delicious yellow-skinned, yellow-fleshed sweet cherries. Some say they are the best tasting of all yellow cherries, and perhaps the best tasting cherry in general. Along with being great for fresh eating, they are also suitable for uses such as canning.
History: Meteor sour cherries were introduced by the University of Minnesota in 1952 as part of an effort to breed more cold hardy varieties.
Why We Grow It: Winter hardiness, reliable cropping, and a resistance to leaf spot make Meteor a good choice for the backyard. The fruit is bright red with yellow flesh. Meteor is classified as an amarelle type sour cherry, similar to Montmorency. It is excellent for making pie.
Check our our blog post with some tasty sour cherry recipes!
History: North Star sour cherries were created by the University of Minnesota as part of an effort to create varieties that are more resistant to the cold. They were introduced in 1950 and recently have been growing in popularity as a backyard variety.
Why We Grow It: North Star is a sour cherry with bright red skin which darkens as it ripens. It has an excellent flavour. The trees have a compact and weeping growth habit, making them an attractive addition to your yard whether in bloom in spring or bearing fruit in the summer. They are also self-pollinating, very hardy, and resistant to leaf spot and brown rot.
Check our our blog post with some tasty sour cherry recipes!
History: Carmine Jewel is one of several dwarf sour cherry shrubs developed at the University of Saskatchewan in an effort to combine cold hardiness, dwarf stature, and good quality fruit into one variety. This effort was started by Dr. Kerr (for whom Kerr applecrabs were named) in the 1940s and Carmine Jewel was released in 1999. It is considered the hardiest of the cherries they developed. Carmine Jewel cherries are now the most commonly grown commercial cherries in the prairies.
Why We Grow It: Carmine Jewel is a notably productive cultivar with small cherries that have a high flesh-to-pit ratio. Thanks to their firm flesh, they are a preferred variety for freezing and drying. The shrub is on the smaller size, reaching 6-7ft once mature, great for anyone who loves cherries but doesn't have a lot of space!
History: Cupid is a part of the Romance series of dwarf sour cherry bushes developed and released by the University of Saskatchewan in 2004. Their goal was to create cold-hardy, dwarfing bushes with good quality fruit. Cupid was likely selected for its good flavour and unusually large cherries, the largest in the Romance series.
Why We Grow It: These dark red, cold-hardy cherries have a sweet-tart flavour that can be enjoyed fresh for fans of a more astringent flavour or used for cooking, baking, and preserving. Cupid has the largest cherries of all the dwarf sour cherries in the Romance series and also ripens the latest, helping to extend the season.
History: Viva originated in 1935 as a possible hybrid of Hedelfingen and Victor.
Why We Grow It: Viva produces medium-sized, dark red cherries with good flavour. They are suitable for many uses including fresh eating, cooking, and preserving. They are one of the first cherry varieties to ripen, creating a pleasant start to the cherry season.
Species: Prunus tomentosa
History: Nanking cherry is native to parts of China, Tibet, Korea, and Mongolia, and possibly northern India. It has long been cultivated in Asia for its tart fruit which is used in pickling, making wine, juice, and jam, and as an ornamental plant. It was introduced to Britain in 1870 and the US in 1892 where it is also planted in hedgerows as a windbreak. Breeding programs in the US, Canada, and Russia began in the 1920s to make the fruit more palatable fresh but by the 1940s interest had unfortunately waned.
Why We Grow It: Although more closely related to plums than cherries, Nanking cherry is great for a variety of uses including wine, juice, jam, and as an ornamental plant thanks to their attractive pinkish-white blossoms. Some enjoy eating the tart fruit fresh as well and they are also popular with birds and wildlife. Nanking cherries are hardy and tolerant of quite cold weather, making them an excellent option for most parts of Canada.
History: Bing sweet cherries originated near Salem, Oregon in 1875 as a cross between Black Republican and another sweet cherry variety. It was named after Ah Bing who worked as a nursery foreman for Seth Lewelling, the person who made Bing cherries into the top variety in the US. It is uncertain if Ah Bing himself developed the variety or if Lewelling simply named it after him as thanks for the 35 years he worked for him.
Why We Grow It: There are many reasons why this classic black sweet cherry has become the most commonly grown cherry in the US and the standard by which all other sweet cherries are measured. It produces large heart-shaped fruit with meaty purple-red flesh that is juicy and sweet. It has a semi-cling stone that is easy to remove, making it great for fresh eating and preserves. The tree is a heavy cropper, producing bountiful amounts of these lovely sweet cherries.
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Prunus avium
Sweet cherries provide lovely sweet treats that are best enjoyed right off the tree! These tall trees are also quite attractive in spring when covered in a profusion of lovely white flowers.
Some sweet cherries are self-pollinating and some need two different varieties for pollination - we have noted which is which in the variety descriptions. Otherwise, two different varieties are required. Sweet cherries and sour cherries do not pollinate each other.
Prunus cerasus
A little less popular but hardier than their sweet cousins, sour cherries are an excellent addition to any yard or orchard whether they are producing lovely white flowers in the spring or profusions of bright red fruit in the summer. The cherries can be eaten fresh by those who enjoy a tart burst of flavour but they are classically best known for being used to make such delicacies as cherry pie.
We offer both regular sour cherry trees and the hardier and smaller dwarf sour cherry bushes.
Sour cherries are self-pollinating. Sour cherries and sweet cherries do not cross pollinate.
Prunus cerasus
Dwarf Sour Cherries are hardy, compact, economic, and excellent for home orchardists. We get reliable crops off our bushes in our test orchards, and the fact they are easily netted for bird protection, can be picked from standing, and have excellent flavour to boot makes them a must in any home-grown food system!