I am always looking for more information on all the different U of S cherries and finally have some of my own, (many thanks to HoneyBerry USA) so I thought I would share.
I planted this in October 2024, so the below pictures are the first year I have had it. I got the largest size HoneyBerry offered, the 2 gallon for this variety, it was $40.
It hasn’t grown much, only maybe 4 inches I would say, but I don’t think it is getting enough sun and plan to move it.
This year I got about 20 or so cherries from it, and the pic that shows the cherry size variability was taken today July 15th. (Zone 6a I think- Colorado)
They are a bit firmer than my Montmorency cherries, and about half the size of the Montmorency. Flesh is sort of darker pink, not yellow like a Montmorency.
The taste is tart, you almost think it is going to lean towards a sweet cherry and then the tart hits you. It is much less tart than my Montmorency which are almost lip puckeringly tart for me.
All in all I am really pleased with this little tree and have high hopes for it. I also got some Cupids, Valentine, Sweet Thing, Carmine Jewels, Romeo and Juliets. One Cupid got a few little blossoms but no cherries, the rest were apparently still just settling in and are happy and healthy I believe, just not ready to do anything. The D’Artagnan is maybe a hair more than knee high right now. (A short leg knee high…).
I hope this post generates some updates on others who were waiting for their cherries to start producing, I’d love to see them and see how they are producing and their size at different ages. Thank you and happy gardening!
D’Artagnon? Really??? First, I thought it was a typo… But you wrote it a second time… Alexandre Dumas is turning face down in his tomb…… Yes, general culture is going down the drain…
I got a cutie pie that I planted last fall and update the cutie pie bush cherry thread about it. Mines roughly doubled in size from when I planted it in the fall of last year, it’s about knee high now.
i also planted carmine Jewel, Juliet, sweet thing, and 2 white and a red nanking.
That one is also on my, I want it list. So please keep the updates coming!
I don’t really get how it fits into the Romance series but they have Porthos and Athos I believe as well, not sure about Aramis. D’Artagnan was developed for easy machine picking.
I don’t think it hurts culture especially, just sort of not on theme with the Romance series. Could have gone with Aphrodite, Cherub, red roses, Isolde and Tristan, Guinevere and Lancelot/Arthur, Harry and Sally… whatever.
@EJh Cool! So your cutie pie is about full grown isn’t it? They stay small don’t they?
My Carmine Jewels have just sat there, not looking bad but also not growing and the leaves are tiny. I think one had some fungus because it started making new leaves finally after I sprayed it with fungicide.
Yeah they are supposed to stay very dwarf. Not fully grown yet, I think it’s supposed to get around 5ish ft tall. Was my first bush cherry ever and I’m very happy with the 1 cherry I got off of it. I didn’t even expect that since was planted fall 2024. So hopefully next year I get a few dozen at least.
I did have to spray with immunox, because we had 2 weeks of non-stop rain and it got leaf spot and was dropping leaves like crazy. Cleared up after 2 sprays 1 week apart and doing great.
All my bush cherries went in fall 2024. So nothing yet aside from the ones from cutie pie. Worse case scenario, gonna have some fat birds if I’m not a fan
they must like it there. mine didnt fruit until about 5-6ft. my romeo, juliet and c.j all toped at 10ft. by year 5 on heavy rocky clay. i have to use a step ladder to get the highest ones but in the west they stay smaller.
I planted a D’Artagnon also last year?. It survived my winter but hasn’t gotten any water at all or irrigation until this month. I expect it to be happier now. No cherries for me this year from it.
@EJh Yep! Got several days of rain and the Carmine Jewel just couldn’t take it. All the other varieties are green and glossy.
I can’t wait until next year, hopefully they will all have a handful to sample.
So now I have over 10 cherries, and 2-3 more years to figure out what to do with them all. Made jam this year, but probably have enough of that for the next decade.
You totally missed my point… The name of that cultivar is d’ArtagnAn not d’ArtagnOn. U of S named that series from Alexandre Dumas’s novel: the three musketeers. D’Artagnan was one on them not d’Artagnon… YOU misspelled the cultivar, period.
My D’Artagnon fruited last year and this year. Not totally sure but looks like yours were picked a little less ripe than i did… mine were darker red. Taste was nice and sweet and enjoyable. Not in the league of Bing or store bought sweet cherries but nice nonetheless.
Anyways one of the reasons i am into it is that it supposely suckers profusely and i am into making hedges. Mine didnt have a pollinator so i only got a few last year and a handful this year… but i have pollinators waiting to be planted…
So something to think about where you plant it and the suckering thing if thats not what you want/need. If you dont have a pollinator then you can also have some fun with the seeds.
@krismoriah I too am creating a hedge along my back fence, well hopefully. I only got one D’Artagnan because of the suckering as I was hoping there would be more soon enough.
I used a flash in the picture, they were a bit darker than they look in that photo, I worried they were going to rot on the bigger ones and the birds might get the smaller ones. About how long are you able to leave them on the bush before they cross over to mush (assuming the birds don’t get them)? These had been red for 3 weeks or so. Thanks!
Im guessing the suckering will take place once the roots establish more… i read something like after the first few years… and then a person would have to not mow or at least be wary of suckers.
I think ripening times are different for different climates… some reports are August while others are July… so for me here its about the same time that the wineberries and wild blackberries ripen which was about 2 weeks ago.
FYI you can probably speed up the process by root cuttings or spading around the plants with a shovel… etc etc… just saying.
@krismoriah Maybe next year I will leave them a bit longer and see how they do since you say yours actually get fairly sweet.
I am fine having a hedge, but I now have 19 cherries in… and no idea what I am going to do with them all once they start producing, so I can wait on the suckers!!
How old are yours and what would guess your yield is from them?
The names aren’t supposed to fit the Romance series because they’re not part of that series. They belong to the Musketeer series, according to the breeders:
I’ve got a couple cherries on D’Artagnan this season; looking forward to sampling them.
We picked Juliet bush cherries on May 31, 2025. (mid Missouri zone 6b)
Carmine Jewel bush cherries ripen a few days earlier and are slightly smaller and less sweet.
Romeo bush cherry ripens about two weeks later, also slightly smaller and less sweet.
Last year was a very good cherry year; we picked 6 1/2 gallons cherries from two bushes. This year, we got about half of that yield.
Our Juliet bush was close to 10 feet tall and wide, until I pruned the top down. The Carmine bush is only 7 feet tall.
I much prefer the Juliet cherries; they are larger and sweeter than our North Star tree and Carmine cherries.
juliets my fave also. its not as prone to brown rot as c.j or romeo either. i have 2 juliet bushes as i thought the 1st one i planted died but it pushed growth 2 weeks after i ordered another.
We have a huge Juliet bush, planted in 2017, it’s at least 8ft tall and 6ft wide. It flowers every year, but we never get anything off it because of birds. We have a Romeo about half that size, and haven’t ever got any fruit off it either.
Birds are a big problem. The past couple of years, while our Juliet bush was smaller, we put up 2-3 arches made of 1/2 PVC plastic electric conduit and draped with bird net.
This year, we did not protect at all. Probably why we only got 1/2 as much as last year.
