Sweetheart

Sweetheart has all the characteristic flavour elements of a good sweet cherry, predominantly sweet, but not at all sugary, with an underlying hint (no more than that) of bitter sharpness. The flavour is arguably richer than is usual amongst cherries. To get the best flavour, pick when fully ripe and eat immediately. We think all sweet cherries are best when eaten slightly cool, but not chilled.

Sweetheart is also self-fertile, and ripens very late in the cherry season - well into August in the UK.

Another useful characteristic is that the picking period is longer than most, because ripening is uneven - meaning you don't get the inevitable glut which is a feature of other varieties.

Growing and Training

Sweetheart is a precocious sweet cherry, and starts to bear fruit relatively young - you may get fruit within a 2-3 of years of planting, whereas most cherries will start to bear fruit after about 3-4 years.

The main thing to look out for is its tendency to set too much fruit after the blossom season (a common problem with all the self-fertile varieties). You may need to thin the fruitlets just after the blossom has finished. Sweetheart responds well to thinning, which leads to better flavour and larger fruit size.

The other side of its tendency to over-crop is that Sweetheart produces a lot of blossom and looks very attractive in the spring.

Overall this is an excellent late-season cherry for the sunnier areas of the UK.

History

Sweetheart was developed by the Summerland Research Station, British Columbia, Canada and released in 1990. It is a cross between Van and Newstar.

Sweetheart characteristics

• Gardening skillBeginner
• Fruit persistenceRipens over a period
• Self-fertile?Self-fertile
• Pollinating othersGood
• Pick seasonLate - Early August
• Keeping1-3 days - keep in a fridge
• Food usesEating fresh
• Country of originCanada
• Period of origin1950 - 1999
• Fruit colourRed

You might also like these varieties

• 
  Lapins
  A popular red mid-season cherry which is easy to grow. Self-fertile.
• 
  Stella
  Stella is perhaps the most popular mid-season red-cherry. Self-fertile and a good pollinator for other cherries.
• 
  Summer Sun
  Summer Sun crops heavily even in poor weather. Partially self-fertile.
• 
  Sunburst
  A large red mid-season cherry with a good sweet mild flavour. Self-fertile.

More about cherry trees

Sweet cherries are easy to grow as long as you have a sunny sheltered spot. The main challenge is to keep the birds off - use a net or horticultural fleece to cover the tree or at least some of the branches in late spring.

If you only have space for one cherry tree make sure it is a self-fertile one. We highlight these on our website - look for Stella, Sweetheart, Sunburst, or Lapins.Self-fertile cherry trees are also good pollinators for the more traditional English cherry varieties.

Sweet cherries are often categorised by colour. Red cherries have red or skins and light red flesh, and nearly all the self-fertile cherries are in this category. So-called 'white' cherries usually have pale red or pink or white skins and pale flesh. So-called 'black' cherries usually have dark red or black skins.

Sweet cherries are also categorised by their picking season. Early season equates to mid / late June in southern England. Mid-season is late June / early July. Late-season is mid-July onwards.