COMPARISON OF CHERRY TREE UK

This article compares key features of cherry trees commonly grown in the UK. The aim is help you to easily narrow down your choice of varieties and choose the best one for your situation.

Initially when this page is displayed it includes all the cherry trees because the YES selection box has been automatically ticked. If you select NO for one or more boxes and click “REFRESH, only the selected varieties will remain. This should help you see the “wood from the trees” and gradually narrow down your choice.

CHERRY TREE VARIETIES

Colney: Yes: No:

Early Rivers: Yes: No:

Knight’s Early Black: Yes: No:

Kordia: Yes: No:

Lapins: Yes: No:

Merton Bigarreau: Yes: No:

Merton Glory: Yes: No:

Morello: Yes: No:

Napoleon: Yes: No:

Penny: Yes: No:

Skeena: Yes: No:

Stella: Yes: No:

Summer Sun: Yes: No:

Sunburst: Yes: No:

Sweetheart: Yes: No:

Sylvia: Yes: No:

Van: Yes: No:

COLNEY

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 3 to 4	Good disease resistance
Harvest: Mid season	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Medium sized, very dark red fruits with small stones. Good disease resistance (especially to canker). More information …

EARLY RIVERS

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 1	Average disease resistance
Harvest; Very early	Taste: sweet
SUMMARY: Only suitable for warm areas of the UK, very few pollination partners. Large, very dark red fruits, sweet flavour, reliable and heavy cropping. More information …

KNIGHTS EARLY BLACK

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 2 to 3	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Early to mid season	Taste: mid-sweet
SUMMARY: Best suited to warmer areas of the UK. Small dark red fruits, medium sweet flavour. Good resistance to canker and fruit-splitting. More information …

KORDIA

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 4	Excellent disease resistance
Harvest; Mid season	Sweet
SUMMARY: Large, sweet and fleshy fruits, the blackest of all. Very good resistance to canker and fruit-splitting. Reliable and heavy cropping. Awarded the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. More information …

LAPINS

Self-fertile	Eating
Pollination Group 2 to 3	Average disease resistance
Harvest: Mid season	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Large, sweet, dark red fruits. Resists fruit splitting but otherwise average disease resistance. Relaibly crops each year. Awarded the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. More information …

MERTON BIGARREAU

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 3	Poor disease resistance
Harvest; Mid season	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Medium sized, very dark red fruits, sweet and very full flavour. Heavy cropping and strong growing. More information …

MERTON GLORY

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 2	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Mid season	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Fruits are pale yellow, highly flushed with red. Average size, sweet and juicy, bruise easily. Reliable and heavy cropper. Good disease resistance. More information …

MORELLO

Self-fertile	Cooking
Pollination Group 4	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Late season	Taste: Full, acidic flavour
SUMMARY: The definitive cooking cherry. Small fruits, acidic, very full flavour. Grows well in almost all parts of the UK. Tolerates partial shade. Good disease resistance. Has an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Association. More information …

NAPOLEON

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 4 to 5	Poor disease resistance
Harvest; Mid to Late	Taste: Semi-sweet, full flavour
SUMMARY: Very attractive, large, light red fruits. Moderately sweet and full flavoured. Poor disease resistance to canker and splitting. More information …

PENNY

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 3 to 4	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Very Late	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Larger than average, dark red, sweet fruits. Crops very late, reliable and heavy crops. Has an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Association. More information …

SKEENA

Self-fertile	Eating
Pollination Group 4	Poor disease resistance
Harvest; Late	Taste: Sweet / acid
SUMMARY: Larger than average, red to dark red, sweet and acid fruits with a firm texture. Produces fruit late, reliable and heavy crops. More information …

STELLA

Self-fertile	Eating
Pollination Group 4	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Mid / Late	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: The most popular cherry tree grown by gardeners in the UK. Cherries are red to dark red, sweet, full flavour and good texture. Copes with cooler areas well. More information …

SUMMER SUN

Self-fertile	Eating
Pollination Group 3	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Late	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: One definite contender for best all-round cherry tree variety. Large, sweet, dark red fruits with a slightly firm texture, ripe near the end of July. Good disease resistance, raised in the UK, given an Award of Garden Merit from the RHS in 2004 and reconfirmed in 2014. More information …

SUNBURST

Self-fertile	Eating
Pollination Group 4	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Mid to late	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Large, bright red fruits, sweet full flavour. Good disease resistance, can be grown in cooler areas compared to most varieties. More information …

SWEETHEART

Self-fertile	Eating
Pollination Group 3	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Very late	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Red to deep red fruits, full sweet flavour (background hint of acidity). Mostly good disease resistance (prone to mildew). Crops over the longest period of all. Given an Award of Garden Merit from the RHS in 2014. More information …

SYLVIA

Self-fertile	Eating
Pollination Group 3	Good disease resistance
Harvest; Mid season	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Average sized red fruits, sweet flavour. Naturally a compact tree, bred for growing in containers. Good disease resistance. More information …

VAN

Self-sterile	Eating
Pollination Group 3	Average disease resistance
Harvest; Mid season	Taste: Sweet
SUMMARY: Medium sized, bright red fruits, sweet and full flavour, reliable and heavy cropping and strong-growing. Excellent pollinator. Average disease resistance. More information …