Mouthwatering Cherries

Seasonal Gardening Tips

Bare root fruit trees are now available. Choose one tree or a whole orchard and get them planted while the weather is good for digging. Strawberries can be planted any time now—get them in early, and you’ll be picking strawberries this summer. Primroses will give you the most color during this cold weather; choose some pretty ones now for your boxes and beds.

Prune fruit trees, grapes, berries, and ornamental trees this month. Take in a pruning class and sharpen your shears before you start. Spring flowers and vegetables can be started from seeds now on your windowsill. Try pansies and snapdragons, broccoli, cabbage, and lettuces.

Growing Cherries at Home

Cherries are one of the most popular summer fruits. Growing your own can be rewarding, especially since store prices are high. There are two types of cherries: sweet and sour.

Sweet Cherries

• Bing: Large, black, juicy, and sweet—accounts for 60-70% of cherries grown in California.
• Van: Similar to Bing; good fresh, cooked, canned, or frozen.
• Black Tartarian: Very large, heart-shaped fruit with rich, red juicy flesh.
• Lapins: Dark red with good sweet flavor; the latest sweet cherry to ripen, extending the season into mid-July.
• Utah Giant: Large, firm, and dark red with outstanding flavor and good disease resistance.
• Stella: Large, nearly black cherries with richly flavored, sweet, juicy flesh—excellent for fresh eating.
• Craig’s Crimson: Dark red with a spicy flavor and very firm texture; rates highly in taste tests. The tree is naturally semi-dwarf, growing about 2/3 the size of a standard tree.
• Royal Ann: Best known yellow cherry, mainly used for canning and making Maraschino cherries.
• Royal Rainier: Replaced Royal Ann as the best yellow cherry for California—large, firm, juicy, and very sweet with a red blush.

Sour Cherries

• Montmorency: Most widely grown sour cherry; large, light red fruit with yellow flesh—ideal for pies and cobblers.

Pollination & Tree Care

Most sweet cherries require two different trees for cross-pollination, except Stella, Lapins, and Craig’s Crimson, which are self-fruitful. Not all sweet cherries cross-pollinate, so check with your nursery for compatible varieties. For best results, plant trees within 50 feet of each other. Sour cherries are self-fruitful and do not need a second tree.

Sweet cherries grow into large trees (about 30 feet tall) but can be kept smaller with pruning. Sour cherries reach about 20 feet and have a more spreading form. Cherries require well-drained soil, especially during spring rains. They bloom late, usually avoiding frost, so you can expect a good crop most years.