I don’t remember how long it took to get bush cherries, but I lost the first year or two to worms. Now I spray with dormant copper, Seranade, and Spinosad. Now the challenge is pitting them. We get way more cherries than we can use. We let friends pick many of them. I would guess it took about five years to fruit. I have five varieties. Carmine Jewel the most prolific. I used to net them, but have so many I stopped.
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Well I’m envious. We haven’t yet got to the point that we have too much of anything from the orchard yet. Well maybe raspberries.
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Do you have Romeo, and if so, how does it rate?
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Romeos good but juliet is the best of the original batch of the romance cherries. i used to have montmorency which was my favorite s. cherry but 3 days of -40 5 yrs ago did it in.
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I have maybe 16 sour cherry plants. The D’artagnan & Juliet planted in 2024 began producing the year after planting. Romeo and Evans planted in late summer 2025 also began producing the year after planting (Evans actually produced the initial year as well). This was maybe a dozen cherries to start per plant.
In 2026 the production is about 2 dozen cherries per plant. The plants from 2024 are all reaching 4-5ft tall at this time and 2-3ft wide. Some have begun sending out suckers.
These cherries are just planted in some old lawn that I rotovated. They don’t get sprayed and they don’t get any fertilizer. I throw some old swamp hay over the grass that tries to grow back and sometimes I remember to give them water.
I also threw in a $10 Montmorency this summer. It has a singular cherry on it. It’s in a challenging spot to overwinter (wide open to the west). So we’ll see if it feels like surviving a MB winter.
Romeo 12 months post-plant
D’artagnan 24 months post-plant
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That’s pretty nice for small plants, and especially impressive knowing how cold your winters must be. Our Romeo is third year in the ground and about 4.5 ft tall but bushy, probably 4 ft wide. The crop is very light. The other two were propagated from root suckers taken from a friend’s unidentified tart cherries. The one is fourth year in the ground and about seven feet tall and as wide but crop almost non-existent.
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Today I noticed some Montrose apricots had dropped and so I decided to check some of the other varieties as well. Here is part of the Montrose graft today.
A few Haroblush and one Zard had dropped as well. Here are a couple of photos comparing some of the apricots that have fruited for me this year.
Haroblush is the largest and best tasting. I was really impressed. But it is likely also the least hardy and doesn’t set that well, at least based on this year’s performance. Zard also had decent size and was the second best tasting. Montrose third largest but I think size (and perhaps flavor) suffered because I didn’t thin the fruit at all and this variety seems to set really well. Montrose was also very soft which I don’t love, and seemed to be clingstone unlike all of the other varieties which are either totally or largely freestone. The Westcot and Westcot seedling shown were very similar in size, colour and taste. Scout ranks lowest for taste but is the hardiest and most prolific. The Scout fruit this year were smaller than normal as I allowed way too much fruit to remain on the tree, about 4 gallons on a smallish old tree with low vigour.
If you have fruited Haroblush, Zard or Montrose, do these seem true to type?
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How do the different cultivars compare in their texture? I’ve been looking for a nice juicy, succulent, melting etc cold hardy apricot. I’m not a huge fan of the mealy, firm or dry apricots.
How do the different cultivars compare in their texture? I’ve been looking for a nice juicy, succulent, melting etc cold hardy apricot. I’m not a huge fan of the meaty,
Westcot is one that I have had for a long time. Definitely succulent and juicy with a nice fruity flavour. The one thing I don’t love about it is that it drops as soon as it is soft ripe. But it definitely checks the cold-hardy box. Usually in the range of 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. So definitely small. Scout has a drier texture and the taste is sub-par. We primarily use them for making apricot sauce and it is good for that but their super-power is cold hardiness. Montrose is sweet and juicy. As I mentioned above, it is too mushy-soft for my liking when fully ripe. I had a few that were not fully ripe and therefore firmer. They were still sweet and I liked them better. My taste testing on Montrose, Haroblush and Zard is based on a very small sample size as this is the first year they are bearing for me. Other than Montrose, for these the set was very light. Haroblush is definitely firmer and along with the great flavor is why I put it at the top of the list. Once fully ripe, Westcot and Scout dont keep long even in the fridge. I dont know if that is a hardy apricot thing, or just an apricot thing in general.
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