Perhaps second only to Gold in terms of hardiness, we are updating our hardiness of Lapins. Most places online do not list it as amongst the hardiest (we had not for awhile). We had listed Gold, White Gold and Black Gold as the hardiest sweet cherries (not including bush varieties). But in our experience, and after seeing one of our growers out of Cowley, Wyoming observe -33F on his Lapins without any damage, and having seen three mature trees in the Bitterroot (one 20 year old one in Lolo and two 30+ year old Lapins growing on separate properties in Stevensville), both of which have seen below -30F on several occasions (perhaps even lower than that), we have seen Lapins perform better in hardiness where Black Gold has been injured, and consider it to be a zone 3b.

Considered one of the main “Flathead” cherries grown on beautiful Flathead Lake in NW Montana, Lapins was developed out of BC as a cross between Van and Stella. Flathead cherry growers were smart to replant Bing with Lapins after the intense and injurious cold winter of 1988-1989. And these Lapins have since held up. Lapins produces a dark, sweet cherry that is similar to Bing but with some improvements, i.e., firmer and more resistant to splitting. Given that Stella is part of its parentage, Lapins is partially self-fertile but if growers have the space, do plant with a pollenizer, such as Rainier, Van, Gold, White Gold, Black Gold, or Stella. Hardy to zone 3b (in terms of minimum temps we know it has withstood).

These Lapins are grafted onto Gisela 12, which we find to be a solid rootstock that is perhaps equally as hardy as Mahaleb.