I wanted to make sure you are aware @Bernie is working on getting a sweet cherry. This is a big deal to me because we have a hard time here growing sweet cherries. The description and photo’s are a repost from @Bernie
"FINALLY A HIGH QUALITY SWEET CHERRY FOR ZONE 3???
There is a newly bred sweet cherry called “Rusalia” in Russia that produces some cherries without winter protection after -37C! The taste quality is very high, between 4.8/5 and 9.5 out of 10, making it probably even better tasting than sweet cherries we can buy in the supermarket. Some growers have even given it a 5 out of 5 taste evaluation, meaning “perfect”. Here are some quotes from a website:
“Rusalia” cherry variety is characterized by above-average-sized fruits , weighing up to 6.0 grams, with an average of about 5.5 grams . The fruits are uniform, dark red, and weigh a maximum of 7.6 grams. The flesh is medium-dense, and the juice is colored. The pit separates easily, accounting for 6% of the fruit’s weight. According to tasting results, the fruits of the Rusalia cherry variety have excellent taste (tasting scores range from 4.8 to 5 points) . Visitors to our website rate the taste of this cherry variety as 9.5 out of 10, or approximately 4.8 points out of 5.
Based on growing experience, the Rusalia variety has sufficient frost resistance for the temperate zone (down to -35°C) .The variety is capable of producing limited blooms and fruiting after three days of frost in January—-35°C during the day, and down to -37°C at night. Spring frosts of -2°C damaged 24% of the flowers.
This means Rusalia should be fine to grow without any winter protection in the warmest “big city” microclimates on the Canadian prairies. It should do well and produce unprotected in winter in Edmonton, perhaps with some dieback after only the very coldest of test winters.
Rusalia is unfortunately years away from getting to Canada. The war in Ukraine has totally stopped all shipments to and from Russia, and until it ends and things normalize, all we can do is sit and wait.
. But at least we know real progress for a true and very tasty zone 3 sweet cherry is being made by various breeders."
