Self Pollinating Sweet Cherry Tree
The Stella Cherry Tree is a compact, self-fruitful tree which produces an abundance of heart shaped, shiny, black red fruit with red flesh. Its tight, upright character makes it an idea choice for the home garden.
Red-pink blooms emerge in April to be followed in early July by clusters of shiny, red black fruit on a compact tree covered in bright green foliage. You can use the Stella as a single specimen or create a home orchard with 2 or more.
The Stella produces cherries that are especially sweet, plump and firm. They resist the cracking that you see with some cherry varieties and produce well, so you'll have lots of cherries to eat and share.
Stella cherries are excellent when eaten fresh, baked into pies, made into jellies and preserves, and various other dishes. They also store and freeze well.
Your Stella Cherry tree is self-fruitful, but is an excellent pollinator to other cherry trees as well.
They are precocious, which means they bear fruit at a young age, so you won't have long to wait for your first harvest. Even your wildlife will thank you for adding one to their habitat... although you may have to fight the birds from time-to-time for your harvest. Stella's compact habit makes it easy to maintain the tree's height for making bird netting a breeze.
- Black Red heart shaped Sweet Fruit
- Fruit Resists Splitting
- Upright Compact habit
- Self-Fruitful
Buying Options for Plants
Nature Hills sells a large variety of plants with several options available. Plants are offered in both potted containers and as dormant bare root without soil. Here is a helpful resource to understand your options as you create a beautiful landscape with help from Nature Hills.
Ever wonder what a larger plant will mean for your landscape? Container Sizes are really all about the age of the plant!
Seasonally, Nature Hills offers hand selected, high quality bare root trees, shrubs and perennials. Bare root plants are sold by height from the top of the root system to the top of the plant. Plants may be taller than the height minimums.
- Popular sizes of select trees are 1 foot, 2 feet, 3 feet, etc.
- Popular sizes of select bare root plants is 1 foot, 18 inches, etc.
Nature Hills Container Size by Volume
| Young Plants to 18 Months | ||
|---|---|---|
| Size | Volume | |
| 2"x2"x3" | Ranges from | .18 to .21 dry quarts / .198 to .23 dry liters in volume |
| 4.5" Container | Equal to | .655 dry quart / .72 dry liter in volume |
| 3.5" Container | Equal to | .67 dry quart / .74 dry liter in volume |
| 4" Container | Equal to | .87 dry quart / .96 dry liter in volume |
| 1 Quart | Equal to | 1 dry quart / 1.1 dry liter in volume |
| 5.5" Container | Equal to | 1.89 of a dry quart / 2.08 dry liters in volume |
| 4"x4"x5" | Ranges from | .8 to 1.1 dry quarts / .88 to 1.2 dry liters in volume |
| 4"x4"x6" | Ranges from | 1.0 to 1.3 dry quarts / 1.1 to 1.41 dry liters in volume |
| 4"x4"x9" | Ranges from | 1.1 to 2.1 dry quarts / 1.2 to 2.3 dry liters in volume |
| 4"x4"x10" | Ranges from | 1.7 to 2.3 dry quart / 1.87 to 2.53 dry liters in volume |
| Plants 18 Months - 2.5 Years Old | ||
|---|---|---|
| Size | Volume | |
| 2 Quart | Equal to | 2 dry quarts / 2.2 dry liters in volume |
| #1 Container | Ranges from | 2.26 to 3.73 dry quarts / 2.49 to 4.11 dry liters in volume |
| 5"x5"x12" | Equal to | 3.5 to 4.3 dry quarts / 3.85 to 4.74 dry liters in volume |
| Plants 2 - 4 Years Old | ||
|---|---|---|
| Size | Volume | |
| #2 Container | Ranges from | 1.19 to 1.76 dry gallons / 5.24 to 7.75 dry liters in volume |
| #3 Container | Ranges from | 2.32 to 2.76 dry gallons / 10.22 to 12.16 dry liters in volume |
| Plants 3 - 5 Years Old | ||
|---|---|---|
| Size | Volume | |
| #5 Container | Ranges from | 2.92 to 4.62 dry gallons / 12.86 to 20.35 dry liters in volume |
| #7 Container | Ranges from | 5.98 to 6.08 dry gallons / 26.34 to 26.78 dry liters in volume |
About Plant Sentry™
Plant Sentry is designed to protect both consumers and the nursery trade from invasive plant pests and diseases. Sites that display the Plant Sentry protection badge are protected from consumers buying and nurseries shipping material carrying invasive pests and diseases.
This proprietary eCommerce software prevents the shipment of a restricted plant to each state. The Plant Sentry system includes a shipment certification program. The Plant Sentry Compliance Officer works closely with NatureHills.com and each nursery or fulfillment center to ensure only compliant plants are sold to customers.
click Here to learn more
Shipping
Shipping Rates
At Nature Hills we handle, package and ship the products you order with the utmost care to ensure healthy delivery. Shipping and handling charges are calculated based on the tables below. Please note that some items include an additional handling surcharge, these will be noted on the item's product page.
| From | To | S&H | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | 19.99 | 14.95 |
| 20 | - | 49.99 | 17.95 |
| 50 | - | 69.99 | 19.95 |
| 70 | - | 99.99 | 24.95 |
| 100 | - | 129.99 | 29.95 |
| 130 | - | 130+ | Approx 25% |
Click here to see our full rates
One of the First Self-fruitful Sweet Cherry Trees
The Stella Cherry was the first readily available self-fruitful variety of sweet cherry offered and was introduced by the world famous Agricultural Research Station in Summerland, British Columbia. Though not an immediate hit with the commercial market, Stella is the forerunner to some of the most important cherry varieties on the market today.
Beginning in 1956, Dr Charles Lapins of the Summerland Research Station crossed the Lambert Cherry, a popular commercial sweet cherry of the time, with a known self-fruitful selection, John Innes 2420, possibly a seedling of Emperor Francis x Napoleon, from the John Innes institute in Norwich, England.
Stella was then selected from the seedlings of this cross in 1964. Once the evaluation was completed, Stella Cherry's introduction occurred in 1973.
Though not a complete commercial success, Stella Cherry took the home garden market by storm. In the 1970's as home lots sizes grew smaller - the notion giving space to two cherry trees to act as pollinating partner became a challenge to accommodate. For home gardeners, the idea of a self-fruitful cherry tree was welcomed with open arms.
In 1980's, the Stella Cherry became one of the top selling varieties to the home garden market. The added benefit of its ability to pollinate other popular varieties only increased its popularity. Since this time the Summerland Research Station has released many of the most popular, best tasting and most productive varieties of self-fruitful cherries now available to the home garden market.
PLANT HIGHLIGHTS
| Botanical Name | Prunus avium 'Stella' |
|---|---|
| Mature Height | Semi Dwarf: 15 - 18 feet |
| Mature Spread | 15 - 18 feet |
| Soil Type | Widely Adaptable |
| Moisture | Well Drained - Average Moistness |
| Sun Exposure | Full Sun |
| Growth Rate | Medium |
| Flower Color | White |
| Fruiting Time | 3 - 5 years |
