Discussions

Looking to plant some fruit trees this spring. What is the biggest best sweet eating cherry to get? thanks!

Unless you’re up for an experiment you won’t get a true sweet cherry here. Some of the varieties out of U Sask that are carried at local nurseries have quite high sugar content but they’re still a sour cherry. You can read more about them at:  
http://www.fruit.usask.ca/dwarfsourcherries.html  
 
I was actually quiet heavily into growing a few of the U Sask types but pulled all mine out this summer in favour of using the space for haskaps (some of the newer varieties of which are awesome). If fresh eating is what you’re after, I preferred the variety “Romeo.” Juliet is also popular but I wasn’t a huge fan of them personally for eating more than a couple at a time.  
 
The U Sask ones don’t grow very tall and prefer to be a bush. If it’s a true tree you’re after, good old reliable Evans is still the way to go imo if you don’t mind all of the eventual suckers. They’re pretty polarizing in taste for their sourness but we love them in baking and you’ll get buckets upon buckets off of a mature tree.  
 
If you’re brave enough you might try ordering one of the B.C. sweet cherry varieties and giving them a try in a carefully chosen spot. Haven’t seen it myself but have heard stories of it being possible to nurture them in this environment as much as days like today make a guy skeptical. Funny enough Home Depot got one of these in a couple years ago. Would be real interested to connect with whoever bought it and hear how they made out!  
 
Edited by Adam, 2019-01-19 16:03:07

We have Evan’s and Rose Cherries (yes named after Don Cherry ‘s late wife Rose)  
I prefer the Rose Cherries but others in my family like the Evans

I think that one of the nicest cherries I've ever had is a Flathead cherry. It's named after Flathead Lake in Montana. I spend a few days camping on the south shore of the lake a couple of summers ago, a little bit north west of Boseman. Not sure if you can find seeds for them online, but they were amazing sweet cherries.

Adam, you pulled them all out??!! That's too bad. We have Evans cherries, which are considered a sour cherry. We planted a Romeo and a Juliet, based on Adam's description of sweetness. But the moose in our yard broke them both off and killed them last summer.

for all the info. Might try a few of these varieties and see how they do.

If you think of it and get the chance, keep us posted on what you decide and how you make out!  
 
Curlysister: Yeah, i started re-thinking them when I read that when you train them in tree form you shouldn't expect more than maybe ten years of production without letting it renew from the ground. With where I had them planted they wouldn't look very good if I let them go as bush. The Romeos did have a nice taste but they just weren't producing as much as I'd like to justify the space and work. Had my first taste of ripe Aurora haskaps and that was the clincher this summer for a little "out with the old, in with the new!"