FE Tart Cherry Tree | Bare Root, Zone 2b

Representative photo of a tart cherry tree loaded with ripe red cherries, not FE itself

FE Tart Cherry (Spring 2027)

$49.99

Reliable shipping

Flexible returns

Pollination Partly self-fertile

Bloom group 4 of 7 (Mid)

See trees that will pollenize it Tart Cherry Pollination Map

Ripening

Will it finish before your first hard freeze?

Check it on the Ripening Map (opens in a new tab)

Disease resistanceNot tested yet

Bacterial canker : Unknown, no published data yet
Black knot : Unknown, no published data yet
Brown rot : Unknown, no published data yet
Cherry leaf spot : Unknown, no published data yet
Cytospora canker : Unknown, no published data yet

Scored 1 to 5. Higher resists better, and ? means no published data yet.

See it on our cherry disease chart (opens in a new tab)

At a glance: FE Tart Cherry is a cherry tree rated hardy to zone 2b in our ratings (winters to -45°F), and partially self-fertile, so a second variety nearby makes crops more dependable (bloom group 4 of 7, mid for a tart cherry).

Hardy to	Zone 2b to 8. The b means the warmer half of zone 2 only (winters to -45°F). Find your zone with our cold hardiness calculator.
Chill hours	About 700 hours (500 to 1,000). From published figures. Montana winters give it plenty. In milder climates, make sure your winters average at least this much. Check your chill hours or see our sources.
Pollination	Partially Self-Fertile. Bloom group 4 of 7 (mid), mid spring here. FE is a hardy Montana tart cherry of unknown parentage, so we cannot promise it is fully self-fertile. For a reliable crop, plant it near another tart cherry such as Montmorency, Meteor or Evans Bali. Nearby varieties that can boost the crop: Evan's Bali Tart Cherry, Meteor Tart Cherry, Montmorency Tart Cherry, Balaton Tart Cherry and 1 more. Bloom group is our estimate from the variety's origin and relatives. Tart Cherry Pollination Map.
Good for	Pies and baking (6/10), jams and jellies (6/10). Scores are our own 1 to 10 ratings; 8 and up makes our Best Of lists.
Deer	A deer favorite. Fence it or cage it.
What you get	Bare root, 3-5 ft or 5-7 ft. Shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring, roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Guaranteed to bud out.

Our good friend and cold climate fruit grower Les McCartney named this after his mother Francis Elizabeth. She planted a North Star tart cherry in Great Falls. The tree died a few years later and up from below the graft came a shoot that they grew out. It produced tart cherries even better than the North Star. Zone 2b hardy. Les is in Bozeman and this tree has done well for him there. Has survived -45F without much damage at all.

This tree is on its own roots

More info coming.

About the photo: this isn’t FE itself. Photos of FE are either under copyright or simply unavailable, so we picked the open-source image that looks closest to the fruit. Photo: “Guindas en guindo, Campiña de Valencia de Alcántara” by Mentxuwiki, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Questions we get about FE Tart Cherry

Does FE Tart Cherry need a pollenizer?

It helps. FE Tart Cherry is partially self-fertile, so it can set some fruit alone, but a second variety nearby makes crops more dependable. FE is a hardy Montana tart cherry of unknown parentage, so we cannot promise it is fully self-fertile. For a reliable crop, plant it near another tart cherry such as Montmorency, Meteor or Evans Bali. Partners we carry include Evan's Bali Tart Cherry, Meteor Tart Cherry, Montmorency Tart Cherry.

How cold hardy is FE Tart Cherry?

We rate FE Tart Cherry hardy to zone 2b, which means winters down to about -45°F. Our ratings come from real winters at our two Montana sites and from trusted growers across the North, not from a catalog average.

How many chill hours does FE Tart Cherry need?

About 700 hours of winter chill (we count hours at or below 45°F), likely somewhere between 500 and 1,000. That comes from published figures for this variety. Found in Great Falls, Montana, and it has survived -45°F. Chill is never what limits it here. Our chill hours guide has a calculator for your winters, and our research page lists the sources.

What is FE Tart Cherry good for?

Our top use scores for FE Tart Cherry are pies and baking (6/10), jams and jellies (6/10).

Is FE Tart Cherry disease resistant?

We don't know yet. Nobody has published solid disease data on FE Tart Cherry for bacterial canker, black knot, brown rot, cherry leaf spot and cytospora canker, so we list it as unknown instead of guessing. That doesn't mean it's weak. Plenty of the plants we grow have never been through formal disease trials. Our cherry disease resistance chart has every rating, the notes and the sources.

Will deer eat FE Tart Cherry?

Yes, deer love it. Protect FE Tart Cherry with a fence or a cage, especially while it is young.

What arrives, and when does FE Tart Cherry ship?

A dormant bare-root plant, roots wrapped in moist sawdust with a vapor barrier, shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring. Sizes offered: 3-5 ft or 5-7 ft. We guarantee our plants bud out. Stone fruits can be slow, so if one still has not budded out by August 15, write to us and we credit you for the following spring.