Good day everyone, I live in Ottawa, and have attached pictures of our 5 year old Evans Cherry Tree. Keep in mind that the fence is 6 feet tall. At the time the pictures were taken, a net was covering it to keep the birds away from the cherries.
Hi Jo, The pictures are great and the cherries look yummy. What was your question though? I would definately recommend that you remove the grass from around the base of the tree and apply mulch. Do be sure that the rootflare is exposed as yours looks a like it's planted a bit deep. You should find these helpful. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/WO017 http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/Garden/02926.html http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/planting/nosoil.htm http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/mulching.asp http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG089 Newt
Thanks for your reply. I wanted to share the beauty of the 5 year old tree and know if it has reached maturity. Jo
You're very welcome. I did a search at www.google.com and put in the search box: life span + sweet cherry and found this site. It says on Table 1 that the life span is 15 to 20 years. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-190.pdf Hope that helps, Newt
Evans is lumped in with the sour/tart or pie cherries, not sweet types. I have one, on its own roots(tissue-cultured) that is about 10 years old, and still going strong. Left to its own devices, it will sucker, throwing up new sprouts as far as 10-15 ft away from the main trunk, which can be dug and transplanted, to grow into new Evans trees.
I'd agree, it's more like the Morello types, but it's not quite the same. Ripens here quite a bit later than Montmorency. Here's some info from a friend who spoke personally with Dr. Evans: "Evans cherry - A Mrs Borward from the Henwood area near Edmonton, Alberta has been growing the Evans since about 1923. She is in her 80's now and says that she got the seeds from her neighbors who got these from the "English" which according to Dr Evans actually meant "Americans" and specifically from Minnesota as the Minnesotans largely settled this part of Edmonton. These Minnesotans were probably of either Ukranian or Norwegian decent and had probably been growing this cherry since the late 1800's. Dr Evans discovered this cherry in 1976 and slowly but surely got people interested in trying it. Some outstanding points of the Evans are: The highest yields in MI for a tart/pie cherry are about 50 pounds per tree. The Evans produces around 150 pounds per tree! It does very well in light soil. Heavy soil it does ok but tends to be winter damaged more. Blossoms are not killed by temps as low as five below centigade, which is quite remarkable for a sour cherry." Then, this, from a friend in Edmonton: "I'm pruning my Evans to be a "tree", not a bush. Its about 10 ft. tall after 5 years from tissue culture, and looking very much like a "tree" with a single trunk and nice lateral branches. Left without pruning Evans looks like a Nanking cherry bush, with multi stems. I thin the fruit only because Evans seems to want to produce huge quantities of cherries, even in my tough climate, at the expense of tree growth. I hope to grow it to at least 15 feet as a traditional "tree". The taste this year is particularly excellent, the best "tart" cherry I have ever tasted. When frozen whole in a plastic baggie, they lose much of the tartness and are almost like a true sweet cherry, but I like them just fine fresh off the tree. If you live in a northern climate, zone 3 or 4, and want a very hardy, reliable, very productive, excellent tasting tart cherry, get Evans. Nothing comes remotely close from what I've seen. It MUST be on its own roots however. It may be okay to have it grafted on Mahaleb or Mazzard. That hasn't been tried up here as those two rootstocks would not normally be considered hardy in zone 3. We just get tissue cultured plants or dig up root suckers. Evans grafts readily, but seems to invariably die over the winter unless it's on its own roots. It seems to do best with grass competition right up to the trunk, and no or very little fertilizer. It virtually seems to thrive best on neglect, quite an unusual trait for a cherry tree."
All the reports I've seen on Evans have been from folks in harsh winter climates - especially zone 3/4 areas. In my hot zone 6, 70 miles NW of Nashville TN, it's OK, but Montmorency is better and more productive. Quite a number of Canadian nurseries offer Evans, but availability for folks in the US is somewhat limited; St. Lawrence Nurseries, in Potsdam NY(they list it as "Bali"), and possibly Kevin Bradley's Edible Forest Nursery, are the most likely US sources, if you'd care to try it.
Howdy Lucky_P, Thanks for your posting. I was lucky to have seen the original tree around the early 80's. The cherry was introduced by Dr. Ieaun Evans. Many people acused him of naming the cherry after himself. That's not true. The name was given by the tissue culture lab merely as an identification to differentiate it from other cherries that were propagated. However the name stuck. Every literature class Evans as an English Morello. This is where I find it puzzling. Sour cherries are grouped as Morello and Amarelle types. The Latter has yellow to light red meat and produces clear to very light red juice while the former produces dark red meat with dark red juice. The Evans has all the characteristic of the Amerelle group. Evans propagate readily with softwood cuttings and root cuttings. Softwood cutting should be taken before the formation of the terminal bud while root cuttings is best taken after defoliation or very early spring. Those of you interested in sour cherry might want to take note of the six Dwarf Sour cherries bred and released by the University of Saskatchewan. They are Carmine Jewel, Juliet, Romeo, Cupid, Passion and Valentine. All are Sourcherry x Mongolian cherry hybrids. They are hardier than Evans and produce very dark red meat and juice. Some have fantastic brix reading, as high as 22%. Peace Thean
I think for people wanting hardier Fruit Trees for many western areas in Canada, outside of Ontario, then look no further than the University of Saskatchewan. I've known about them for a long while. I got much of the information on the Pembina Plum through them and feel that it will be one of their researchers that comes up with a solid, workable pollinizer for that Plum. Just give them time to work on it. Sour Cherries are not so bad to have in cooler areas that have to feel lucky to be able to grow any Cherries. My Montmorency is considered to be a tart Cherry but when they are ripe-ripe they are indeed sweet. I think the Cherries mentioned by Thean are all worth looking into for growing as I like the source.. Jim
Hi Jo22, Since this forum does not seem to have private messaging nor E-mail to members (or maybe it's disabled because I'm a new member) I'm posting to this rather old thread. I'm in Ottawa, and looking for an Evans Cherry. None of the nurseries around here carries them, so I am wondering if you could supply me with a sucker from your bush/tree (it seems they produce copious amounts of suckers). If that is a possibility, you can contact me at "Rob-at-solacity-dot-com". Thanks in advance! -Rob- P.S. Great looking cherry!
I hope you find one Rob, have you had any luck so far?? I was looking for Employers Liability Insurance for ages and have had to do without one and its a shame because they are so lovely!! Glad to see just how good the tree is looking :)
T&T Seeds in Winnipeg sells them. I don't know whether you would be able to import them to the US. I would really like to get an Evans cherry too and I am thinking of doing it this year.
You can purchase the tree in the US it's known as Bali http://www.northscaping.com/InfoZone/FS-0097/FS-0097.shtml Cheers Kim If you go the Jeffries Nursery website you can order from them. You may also want to look at some of the other varieties from The U of Saskatchewan fruit program as well. http://www.jeffriesnurseries.com/p44-50.pdf The U of S has sources for Evans in Ontario and the US. http://www.fruit.usask.ca/DwarfSourCherries.html#Articles Cheers kim
Thanks for the help everyone! Alas, no luck yet in finding an Evans cherry. None of my local nurseries could nor wanted to order one for me (I called all of them in a very wide radius), and my mail-order plan to order a number of fruit trees from DNA Gardens came to nothing as their business was sold (no more mail order). Jeffries Nurseries certainly has a nice selection, but they are wholesale only. So that won't work either. In short, I'm still looking. I'll go through the list of UofS nurseries, hopefully one of those does retail mail order. If anyone has suggestions for a source (in Canada) of various cold-hardy fruit trees please let me know. -Rob-
Here is the link to the Evans Cherry at T&T Seeds. http://www.ttseeds.com/PHP/mcat.php?mitem=8061&mnav=3&mcat=O&mgrp=61B
Fine thread. I love Evans Cherry too. The link above to T&T Seeds has aged and doesn't work. The new link to Evans Cherry is T&T Seeds Ltd I love T&T Seeds too. My parents depended on them and so do I. I ordered three different sour cherries from them two years ago. One took a while to leaf out but all three are thriving.
