Prunus avium 'Summer Sun' (D) | cherry (sweet) 'Summer Sun'

Fruit Edible

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A moderately vigorous sweet cherry with an attractive upright, spreading habit. Produces very good crops of firm, well-flavoured red to black fruit, cropping in late July. Not self fertile. Pollination group 4

Position

Full sun

Soil Types

Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand

Max Height

2.5-4 metres

Max Spread

2.5-4 metres

Size

Time to Maturity: 5–10 years
Max Spread: 2.5-4 metres
Max Height: 2.5-4 metres

Growing Conditions

Chalk Clay Loam Sand

Moisture: Moist but well–drained or Well–drained
pH: Acid or Alkaline or Neutral

Position

Full sun

Aspect: South–facing or West–facing
Exposure: Sheltered
Hardiness

Hardiness Ratings

All ratings refer to the UK growing conditions unless otherwise stated. Minimum temperature ranges (in degrees C) are shown in brackets

H1A: under glass all year (>15C)
H1B: can be grown outside in the summer (10 - 15)
H1C: can be grown outside in the summer (5 - 10)
H2: tolerant of low temperatures, but not surviving being frozen (1 to 5)
H3: hardy in coastal and relatively mild parts of the UK (-5 to 1)
H4: hardy through most of the UK (-10 to -5)
H5: hardy in most places throughout the UK even in severe winters (-15 to -10)
H6: hardy in all of UK and northern Europe (-20 to -15)
H7: hardy in the severest European continental climates (< -20): H6

Colour & Scent

Season	Stem	Flower	Foliage	Fruit
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter

Botanical Details

Family: Rosaceae
Native to GB/Ireland: No
Foliage: Deciduous
Habit: Bushy
Genus: Prunus can be deciduous or evergreen trees or shrubs with showy flowers in spring, and often good autumn foliage colour. Some have edible fruit in autumn, and a few species have ornamental bark
Name Status: Accepted
Horticultural Group

Horticultural Classification Codes

Horticultural Classification Codes are often given to genera which have a large number of species or cultivars. They are used to categorise cultivated plants based on specific, shared characteristics such as shape, colour, size or flowering time, and can be displayed as letters or numbers

For example:
Dahlia ‘Sunset Kate (Sin) = Single flower
Rosa ‘Marigold’ (HT) = Hybrid Tea: Dessert cherries are sweet and juicy and are best eaten picked fresh and raw

How to Grow

Cultivation

Grow in moderately fertile soil in full sun. Cherries are best suited to fan-training so they can be netted against bird damage and protected from frosts. Further sweet cherry cultivation advice

Propagation

Propagate by chip budding or grafting on clonal rootstock for fruit

Suggested planting locations and garden types

City and courtyard gardens
Cottage and informal garden
Wildlife gardens
Wall side borders
Edible fruit

Pruning

Train fan-trained trees in spring. Prune established fans and carry out routine pruning on established cherry trees when harvesting the fruits in summer

Pests

Protect trees from birds that damage buds and eat the fruit. May suffer from aphids, caterpillars, leaf-mining moths and winter moth caterpillars

Diseases

May be susceptible to peach leaf curl, silver leaf, bacterial canker, blossom wilt and honey fungus