Pollination Maps
Most fruit trees need pollen from a different variety that blooms at the same time. These maps show every tree we carry, when it blooms, and exactly which varieties will pollenize it. Pick your fruit to get started.
Apple Pollination MapOpen the map →
Pear Pollination MapOpen the map →
Plum Pollination MapOpen the map →
Peach Pollination MapOpen the map →
Nectarine Pollination MapOpen the map →
Apricot Pollination MapOpen the map →
Sweet Cherry Pollination MapOpen the map →
Tart Cherry Pollination MapOpen the map →
What blooms when
Bloom groups compare varieties within one fruit. Across fruits, spring runs in this order in most years:
1. Very early spring
Apricots
2. Early spring
Japanese, hybrid and native plums, peaches and nectarines
3. Mid spring
Pears, sweet and tart cherries, European plums
4. Late spring
Apples and crabapples
Pollination in three steps
1. Check if it needs a partner
Every apple, crabapple and most pears and hybrid plums do. Peaches, nectarines and tart cherries don't.
2. Match the bloom group
Pick a partner of the same fruit in the same bloom group, or one group earlier or later.
3. Skip the dead ends
Avoid triploids and pollen-sterile varieties as pollenizers, and don't pair a tree with its own sport. The maps flag all of these for you.
Common questions
How close do partner trees need to be?
Within about 100 feet is the usual advice, and closer is better. Bees tend to work the trees nearest each other.
Can an apple pollenize a pear, or a peach pollenize a plum?
No. Pollen only works within the same kind of fruit. Even plums split in two: European plums don't cross with Japanese and hybrid plums.
Does a crabapple count as a partner for an apple?
Yes. Crabapples are apples as far as pollination goes, and they're some of the best pollenizers around.
What's a triploid?
A variety with an extra set of chromosomes. Triploids make fruit fine with a partner, but their pollen is poor, so they need two other varieties nearby that can pollenize each other too.
I have two trees of the same variety. Will they pollenize each other?
No. Every tree of a named variety is a clone of the same original tree, so it counts as one plant. The same goes for sports, like Red McIntosh and McIntosh.
What does self-fertile mean?
The tree can set fruit with its own pollen, so one tree is enough. Peaches, nectarines, tart cherries and several apricots and sweet cherries are self-fertile.
Why don't your bloom groups always match other nurseries' charts?
A lot of bloom charts come from places with mild winters, like California, Missouri and the Southeast. There, a variety that needs lots of winter chill blooms late partly because it's still waiting on chill. Our winters give every tree far more chill than it needs, so bloom order here comes down to how much spring heat each variety needs. We checked those charts against cold-winter trials and heat-requirement research and moved the ones that didn't hold up, like Contender, Risingstar, Glohaven and White Gold.
How to read these maps
Bloom groups
Every variety gets a bloom group from 1 (very early) to 7 (very late). Groups only compare varieties of the same fruit. An apple in group 4 and a plum in group 4 don't bloom at the same time.
Close enough counts
Two varieties in the same group or one group apart overlap enough to pollenize each other, as long as the pollen is good and they aren't the same tree genetically.
Where the groups come from
Published bloom records come first. For apples that's measured bloom dates from the Apple Biodiversity Collection in Nova Scotia, checked against multi-year nursery and extension groupings. Next comes sourced facts, like a sport blooming with its parent. Anything marked * is our best estimate from the variety's origin and relatives.
Your spring will vary
A warm or cold spring shifts every tree earlier or later, but the order stays about the same. If you watch your trees bloom and something doesn't match, tell us. Your notes make these maps better.