North Star Cherry Tree

North Star is classified as a sour cherry, but you will love the sugary goodness of these bright red fruits with yellow flesh and plenty of sweet juice. The best for pies, they are also terrific for canning, freezing, and of course, eating fresh right off the tree! The fruit appears in early summer, so get your pie pans ready!

But even before the first cherry ripens on North Star, this little tree is a marvel in the garden. Early to mid-spring brings large, wide open white blooms, starry and very profuse. Sweet-scented, they welcome spring into the garden as few other trees can do.

After the fruit passes, the tree continues to look fresh and attractive all season. At just 7 to 9 feet high and 8 to 10 feet wide, it's a great size for the rear of a large border, specimen use in the front yard, or a perimeter planting. Give it full sun and well-drained soil (it can't tolerate wet feet), and let North Star do the rest!

Anytime you plant a fruiting tree, birds will visit, and North Star is a magnet. Toss a mesh cloth over the ripening fruit if you wish to save every piece, or share it with your winged friends. Butterflies also flock to the spring flowers of North Star, so you can expect to keep the binoculars trained on this particular tree in the garden for many months!

Vase-shaped and naturally fairly symmetrical, this deciduous tree offers a nice silhouette in winter before beginning its annual show each year. Self-pollinating, it needs no companion to flower and fruit heavily, but if you do plant more than one, space them 10 feet apart in the garden. You'll love North Star in every season! Highly recommended. Zones 4-8.