Planting guide

When to plant cherry

Sweet or sour cherries need a cold winter; compact types suit small gardens. In Melbourne it goes in All year.

Start as: Potted plant or Bare-root plant
Ready in: 4+ years to the first crop
Spacing: 400 cm
Depth: 0 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Hands-on
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means cherry can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's real monthly temperatures, not a zone map. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Perth	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Newcastle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Sunshine Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cairns	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Toowoomba	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Darwin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Rockhampton	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Coffs Harbour	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bundaberg	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Alice Springs	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mildura	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Port Macquarie	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
London	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Manchester	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
New York City	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Los Angeles	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Chicago	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	○
Seattle	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Austin	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Vancouver	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Cape Town	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mumbai	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Paris	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Berlin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○

How to plant cherry

Plant bare-root in winter in full sun.
Choose a self-fertile variety unless you have two trees.
Keep well-watered while fruiting.
Net early; birds strike the moment they colour.

Cherry varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

StellaClassicself-fertile · heavy-cropper · 13–17 wksDark, sweet; no pollinator needed
LapinClassicself-fertile · heavy-cropper · 13–17 wksCrack-resistant dark cherry
BingClassicsweet · 13–17 wksClassic dark red sweet cherry
MorelloAdventuroushot · cold-hardy · 13–17 wksSour cherry for pies
Compact StellaClassicdwarf · self-fertile · pot-friendly · 13–17 wksSmaller tree for pots/small yards

Where to buy seedlings

Search on QP Seedlings Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Garlic, Chive, Nasturtium

Cherry by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lemon · Lime · Apple · Fig · Avocado · Banana

Not sure cherry is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now →