Sweet Cherry Pollination Map
Sweet cherries have to pass two tests. They have to bloom together, and their S-alleles (the genes that decide who can pollenize who) have to be compatible. Bing, Rainier and Gold need a partner. The rest are self-fertile.
Self-fertile cherries help everyone
Lapins, Skeena, Stella, White Gold and Black Gold carry the self-fertile S4' allele. They fruit alone and pollenize any sweet cherry that blooms with them.
Bing and Rainier
They bloom together and have different S-alleles, so they work for each other. Skeena, Stella and White Gold also bloom with them.
Gold blooms late
Gold is one of the latest sweet cherries to bloom. Black Gold lines up best with it, and White Gold overlaps the front of its bloom.
Keep partners close
Plant partners within about 100 feet so the bees work both trees on the same trips.
Find a partner for your tree
Pick a variety you have or want. You'll see every tree we carry that will pollenize it, with what's in stock first.
The sweet cherry pollination map
Find the tree you want fruit on in the left column, then read across. Each column is a pollen source. Every sweet cherry here has a different set of S-alleles, so any two that bloom together can work.
Good match (same bloom group)Partial match (one group apart)Bloom too far apartPoor pollen (triploid, pollen-sterile or disputed)Won't work (same clone or incompatible)Same variety
Sort:
* bloom group is our best estimate.
Bloom groups at a glance
2 Early
- Lapins (self-fertile)
5 Mid-Late
- White Gold (self-fertile)
6 Late
- Black Gold (self-fertile)
- 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.
More pollination maps