Want to reliably grow sweet cherries in a cold climate? Well now you can! Although the caveat here is that these are technically tart cherries, they are the sweetest tart cherries we have tried here in Montana. They can be eaten fresh off the tree and are hardy to zone 2! The original groundwork in breeding these cold climate adapted cherries goes back to the 1950’s to the work of Dr. Les Kerr (after whom the Kerr apple crab was named) and others. These researchers, and generations of researchers since, set out to to create this cold climate sweet/tart cherry by making controlled crosses of Prunus fruticosa (Mongolian cherry) with Prunus cerasus (European sour cherry) in the coldest location in the world at the University of Saskatchewan. The result is a super hardy cherry that, due to its brix selection (sugar content), is much sweeter than your average tart cherry (Juliet is perhaps a touch sweeter than Romeo). The cherries are a dark burgundy because that’s the color of the best tasting sour cherries from Europe that were used when making the controlled crosses. Click here for more info. Hardy to zone 2 (even approaching zone 1).

Space trees 8-10 ft apart (will not get huge-6-8 ft at maturity).

Plant with Romeo for improved pollination (even though they are partially self-fertile).