Cherry Varieties

At Whitehouse Farm we grow fourteen varieties of dessert cherry under rain covers in our four acre orchard, all ripening at different times in the season which typically extends from late June to early/mid-August. Each variety has its own unique flavour (which can slightly vary by season) and characteristics, from sweet to tangy, from jet black to yellow 'white heart' cherries.

Celeste

A relatively early variety. Having only planted a few in 2019, our limited experience to date suggests that it ripens soon after Sasha and at the start of the Summer Sun. We have planted all of Celeste on the semi-vigorous Colt rootstock because this variety can be so compact and lacking in vigour.

Colney

One of a very few late season black Cherry varieties. Colney has superb quality fruit and the tree has good resistance to bacterial canker. In the eyes of many, our finest cherry with wonderful flavour and texture. However, it’s not easy to grow and suffers from poor pollination in cool springs. Usually harvests in late July/early August.

Kordia

Kordia is a beautiful large, sweet juicy ‘black’ fruit (really a very dark purple-red colour). They are a good bit larger than most other cherries. We have weighed individual fruits of 18 grams whereas most other cherries range from 8 to 12 grams!

Lapins

Lapins is a large dark red juicy cherry with a mild sweet/sharp flavour, and will appeal to those who like cherries but prefer a milder flavour. It is one of our most reliable croppers and is relatively easy to grow. Lapins are self-fertile and can be considered an improved Stella (one of its parents) and far less susceptible to rotting. However, it is very popular with the wasps!

Merchant

Merchant is one of the best early to ripen varieties. A sweet cherry with moderate yields of large black fruits and excellent flavour. Like many early varieties of fruit, best when eaten fresh. Clusters of beautiful white flowers in spring. Some resistance to canker and fruit splitting but very prone to blossom wilt and brown rot.

Regina

A gorgeous late season variety, their sweetness and flavour is enhanced if harvested when the cherries are a fully ripe shade of deep purple.

Sasha

Harvests soon after Merchant. It produces deep red fruits that are sweet and full of aromatic juice. The tree will produce a heavy, reliable crop of high quality fruit when paired with a self-fertile variety such as Stella. Its susceptibility to splitting is a major drawback.

Starblush

Starblush is a blushed cherry otherwise referred to as a ‘white heart’, harvesting mid to late July. The flavour is rather different from the other varieties we grow - aromatic and can be slightly piquant. Widely grown in the standard orchards planted in the 1930s to 1950s, although small in size, old school producers deemed some of the ‘white heart’ varieties to be the finest flavoured cherries.

Stella

An easy to grow, regular cropper, flavoursome cherry. However, given a wet harvest, we can lose significant amounts of fruit to rotting (even with the rain covers) at which point both picking and grading can be a significant challenge.

Summersun

A grower’s variety; forms a beautifully shaped tree. The cherry itself, if allowed to fully ripen, has a gorgeous sweet and tangy flavour and is a customer favourite. However, it is very susceptible to wet feet and bacterial bud infection - following one very wet autumn, over 95% of the fruit bud rotted and we had no blossom or crop that season.

Sweetheart

Sweetheart is our latest maturing variety; it has a firm texture with a distinctive, sweet, mildly tart flavour. It is very prone to frost damage which, as it occurs, will rapidly develop into severe blossom wilt which can then be followed by two seasons of significantly diminished crops.

Sylvia

Sylvia, when fully ripe, has a beautiful subtle flavour. It is one of those varieties which need to be left unpicked for a few days beyond the time that it looks ready. It is a dwarf, upright tree and, of the varieties we grow, the least susceptible to splitting.

Vanda

Vanda is a wonderful cherry if, once again, allowed to fully ripen. Often advised as an early/mid season variety, it is best harvested closer in timing to Colney in late July or even early August. Fruit is very firm, dark red, almost black in colour and has a wonderful mellow flavour! It also appears to be fairly resistant to splitting.

Zoe

Zoe has performed very variably in our orchard. Time of ripening can coincide with Summer Sun in one season and then be a good 10 days later to coincide with Lapins in another. Similarly, the timing of flowering is inconsistent. However, in dry seasons especially, the flavour can rank with the best varieties we produce.

Cooking

We don’t have a variety (such as 'Morello'), that we grow specifically for cooking. Instead, we have our second-grade fruit, from all of the varieties listed above, which consists of the split & under-ripe fruit that is sold at a discounted price for cooking with. While these 'mis shapes' may not look quite as nice, nor last as long, they still hold an excellent flavour & are perfect for cooking with! You can find plenty of inspiration on how to use these 'Cooking Cherries' on our Recipes Page Here.