BAYFIELD SWEET CHERRIES ARE RIPE

 

LOCAL SWEET CHERRIES ARE RIPE...

NOT AS LARGE AS A 'BING' CHERRY BUT JUST AS TASTY,..

CHERRY TREES WITH WHITEWASHED TRUNKS...

...RIPENING CHERRIES

Sunday, 8:30 AM.  65 degrees F at the ferry dock, 61 on the back porch.  Wind variable and calm at present. Humidity 87%, barometer 29.94" and falling.  A chance of a thunderstorm is predicted for Tuesday, but it feels and looks like rain right now. It is a quiet and rather muggy Sunday morning.

   Bayfield sweet cherries are ripening and were  for sale  yesterday at Apple Hill Orchards, on the corner of  Hwy J and Hwy I in the orchard country, for $4 a pound, picked. There is a bumper crop this year, the first variety to ripen being 'Cavalier', which will be followed by the later ripening  'Lapins' in about ten days.  The Cavaliers are as tasty but not quite as large as the more familiar 'Bing', which does not seem to be hardy here. The Lapins are just as good.  Most cherries require cross fertilization to set fruit, but 'Cavalier' is self fertile.  Most people pick their own and save, and it is a great family activity.

   Both varieties of sweet cherries are hardy here once established, but cherries being early blooming trees the blossoms may be killed by frost during a cold spring.  A cold spring can also discourage pollinating insects, such as bees and wasps, and the trees may not set fruit.  But a bad year or years are usually made up for by a subsequent bumper crop.

   Sweet cherry trees are selections of the European wild sweet cherry, Prunus avium, in the Rose Family;  sour cherries of the European Prunus cerasus. There are a number of edible wild native cherries but the fruits are small, generally tart,  and not usually grown commercially.  They do make excellent jams and jellies.

   The trunks and large branches of cherry trees are often whitewashed to protect the thin bark from damage in the late winter, when the sun's  strengthening rays reflect upward off the snow. 

    Cherry trees can grow quite large if not controlled by pruning, or  if not grown on dwarfing root stocks. They can be difficult to grow but the rewards are great.