Lapins Sweet Cherry Seeds (100 Seeds) | Ships ASAP

These are seeds from Lapins, one of the hardiest of all sweet cherries, and certainly the hardiest red sweet cherry in our experience. Only Gold, a yellow cherry, has held up better for us. We've seen mature Lapins trees in the Bitterroot (one in Lolo over 20 years old, two in Stevensville over 30) come through winters below -30°F, and one of our growers in Cowley, Wyoming saw no damage at all after -33°F. We rate it hardy to zone 3b.

Lapins was bred in British Columbia from Van and Stella. It's a dark, sweet cherry a lot like Bing, but firmer and much less prone to splitting. After the brutal winter of 1988–89 wiped out a lot of Bing around Flathead Lake, growers there replanted with Lapins, and it's been a Flathead staple ever since.

Will They Come True to Seed?

No. Sweet cherries don't come true from seed, so every one of these is a brand new cherry. Some will make good dark sweet cherries, some will be small, and some will land somewhere in between. That's how every named sweet cherry got its start, Lapins included.

One thing does carry through pretty reliably. Lapins is self-fertile because of a self-fertility gene it got from Stella, and since it's self-fertile, a lot of its seed comes from its own pollen. Every seedling from Lapins' own pollen inherits that gene, so most of these should be self-fertile too. Seed that got crossed with another cherry nearby may not be, so plant several.

Planting

Cherry seed needs a long cold, moist winter before it'll sprout. Plant them outside this fall about an inch deep, or keep them in damp sand or peat in the fridge for about 3 months and plant in early spring. Don't let them dry out.