Stella Cherry Tree
Prunus avium 'Stella'
Stella Cherry Tree
Prunus avium 'Stella'
How are the heights measured?
All tree, and nothin' but the tree! We measure from the top of the soil to the top of the tree; the height of the container or the root system is never included in our measurements.
What is a gallon container?
Nursery containers come in a variety of different sizes, and old-school nursery slang has stuck. While the industry-standard terminology is to call the sizes "Gallon Containers", that doesn't exactly translate to the traditional liquid "gallon" size we think of. You'll find we carry young 1-gallons, up to more mature 7-gallons ranging anywhere from 6 inches to 6ft.
How does the delivery process work?
All of our orders ship via FedEx Ground! Once your order is placed online, our magic elves get right to work picking, staging, boxing and shipping your trees. Orders typically ship out within 2 business days. You will receive email notifications along the way on the progress of your order, as well as tracking information to track your plants all the way to their new home!
Why are some states excluded from shipping?
The short & sweet answer is: "United States Department of Agriculture Restrictions." Every state has their own unique USDA restrictions on which plants they allow to come into their state. While we wish we could serve everyone, it's for the safety of native species and helps prevent the spread of invasive disease & pests. We've gotta protect good ole' Mother Nature, after all.
About Me
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The Stella Cherry Tree is a small, Sweet Cherry tree that has excellent flavor, an abundant June crop and is unique because it does not need a second tree as a pollinator. This makes Stella a great choice for a smaller garden with limited room. It produces a heavy crop, and the cherries are dark red and juicy. Because of the small size of these special plants you can even grow it in a pot, meaning you don’t even need a garden to be picking your own cherries in a couple of years. Even the white blooms in spring are beautiful.
- Delicious sweet cherries with dark red flesh
- Big harvests ripening in June
- Self-pollinating, so a single tree bears well
- Easily grown in most gardens
- Needs some care and pruning for best results
Plant the Stella Cherry Tree in a sunny spot, in almost any well-drained soil. It is hardy in zone 5 and into the cooler end of zone 8, and of course everywhere in between. Some pest control may be necessary for the best results, and pruning is needed, but the reward of picking sun-warmed cherries straight from the tree makes it very worthwhile. This tree should begin to bear fruit in 2 years and give heavy crops in 3 or 4 years.
- Plant Hardiness Zones 5-8
- Mature Width 12-15
- Mature Height 15-20
- Sun Needs Full Sun, Partial Sun
Everyone loves cherries and that summer thrill of eating the first ones of the season is easy to have in your own garden with the Stella Cherry Tree. This is a beautifully flavored cherry with a rich, deep color and it produced a large crop for its size. Unlike other Sweet Cherry trees, Stella does not need another variety of cherry growing near it to produce a crop. It will do it all by itself, so this tree is the perfect choice if you have a smaller garden. To make it fit even better into a smaller garden, the Stella Cherry tree is grown on special roots that keep it small, so it will only grow 10 to 15 feet in height and can even be grown in a pot. So even if you have no garden at all you can grow this plant and enjoy fresh, tree-ripened delicious fruit straight from your own tree. The Stella Cherry tree can also be trained to grow against a sunny wall or fence, so it will take up almost no room at all in your garden, but produce a big crop of delicious cherries every year.
The Stella Cherry tree will grow 6 to 12 inches a year and will begin to fruit within 2 years, so you won’t have to wait long to enjoy fresh cherries. It will grow from zone 5 all the way into the cooler parts of zone 8, so it can be grown across most of America. It will do especially well in cooler regions, where other fruits like peaches will not do so well. It will grow in most kinds of soil, except for those that are constantly wet. It even prefers dryer conditions during summer, so mild drought is not a problem for this tree as long as it receives water in the spring and early summer. All fruit trees have some pest and diseases issues, but cherry trees are much less prone to problems than many other fruits and with a little simple care your tree should be a trouble-free addition to your garden that will be loved by everyone for the harvest it brings.
Sweet Cherry trees are usually one of the fruits that cannot fertilize their own flowers, so they must be grown near another variety. So if you wanted to grow cherries, you had to grow two different varieties to have a crop. At one time all cherry trees were large trees that reached 20 to 30 feet in height. Both of these problems have been solved with the Stella Cherry tree. The original Stella Cherry tree was produced in the famous Okanagan valley, a center of fruit production in British Columbia. There a government research scientist obtained some special pollen from a tree in England and used it to produce the first and still the best self-fertile cherry tree. His creation changed cherry-growing forever, especially for home gardeners; because it meant that for the first time you could grow just one, small tree and have a delicious crop of home-grown cherries for your family.
The Stella Cherry tree will grow to between 10 and 15 feet tall. In spring its bare branches will be covered in beautiful white blossoms and by the middle of June those will have turned into bunches of deep red, juicy, delicious cherry with an excellent flavor. The leaves emerge just as the flowers fade and are a narrow oval shape up to 4 inches long. In fall they lose their deep green color and turn shades of yellow and red. So besides producing fruit, your Stella Cherry tree will brighten the garden with blossoms in spring and color in fall. Even the bark is an attractive mahogany-brown, with prominent horizontal light-tan markings.
Sweet Cherry trees grow from zones 5 into the cooler parts of zone 8. If you live in colder regions you can still grow the Morello cherry which is the number one choice for baking or preserves. The North Star Cherry is an excellent choice of Morello cherry for very cold areas. Your Stella Cherry tree will grow well in any well-drained soil except for heavy clay.
Choose a spot with plenty of sun for your tree. When you are ready to plant dig a hole three times wider than the pot and just a little deeper. Replace most of the soil and firm it down around the roots of your tree. Water thoroughly and replace the rest of the soil once the water has drained away.
For pot growing use a normal potting soil. Make sure the pot has a drainage hole and always water until excess flows from the drainage hole. Do not leave your tree standing in a saucer of water. Let the soil become a little dry before watering and be careful not to over-water between flowering and harvesting, as this can cause cracking of the fruit. Fertilize your pot-grown tree regularly with a balanced plant food.
Pruning is an important part of growing a cherry tree and it should be done in late winter while the tree is dormant. Cut off any thin and hanging branches and remove most of the new shoots, just leaving a few to develop the crown of the tree. Leave just one new shoot at the end of each branch. On older trees remove a few of the fruiting branches each year so they will be replaced with new, younger branches to keep your tree fruiting well. Long new shoots should have their ends removed to encourage the development of flowers and fruit.
Our Stella Cherry Trees are true to the original form and we are constantly renewing our stock so our customers get fresh, healthy plants. However supplies of this tree may be limited, so to avoid disappointment order now.
