Cherry Varieties

Early varieties: We start our season with early ripening varieties such as Suite Note, Satin, Crystalina, Sylvia and Van. These varieties are located in small volumes at several farms, providing early arriving staff with part time work for the period July 1st to July 12th. Note that in the first week to ten days of harvest, the schedule is quite light, often with time off awaiting the main harvest. We are planting more early varieties to help fill this time window in the future.

Kordia and Regina: These varieties represent the start of our main harvest — and a full work schedule. Both varieties have long stems making for easy picking, and crop loads that are medium to heavy. We pick these varieties around July 10th to 15th.

Lapins: Lapins are a large cherry, and they tend to set very heavily. It is one of the favourite cherries for pickers as the combination of heavy crop and big fruit fills the totes quickly. Lapin harvest begins around July 14th in our Kelowna locations, and the main Lapin harvest in Lake Country is usually July 17th to 27th.

Skeena: A niche variety similar to Lapins, planted mostly at our North Okanagan farms, with smaller amounts in Kelowna and in Lake Country. They ripen just ahead of Lapins, except for at the Northern sites, where they ripen after Lapins. 

Rainier: A beautiful yellow cherry with a pink blush. We have only 10 acres of Rainier planted  at Cholla Hills. This is a finicky variety which often must be picked twice, rather than strip picked. It is the one variety where we sometimes pay pickers hourly, rather than piece work. Harvest is very late July and lasts several days

Sweethearts: Like Lapins, Sweethearts are a heavy cropper, though size is usually slightly smaller than Lapins. This is a mainstay variety planted at most farms and is a consistent cropper year-to-year. Harvest is usually from July 22nd to August 15th, depending on the site. Sweethearts have a shorter stem requiring careful handling. 

Staccato: This is the backbone of our August cherry harvest. A heavy cropping variety which pickers usually regard as a very close runner up to Lapins in terms of money making potential. Big size and a medium length stem make for good picking. This is our largest variety by volume and is planted at most sites. Harvest is from July 25th to August 25th depending on elevation and latitude of the farm.

Sentennial: A cousin to Staccato, Sentennials ripen in the same time period. Nice heavy crops are typical. Sometimes Sentennials can be loose on the stem, especially in hot seasons.

Sovereign: This is our latest ripening variety. It is a cousin of Staccato, but ripens up to a week later. Sovereign harvest in Lake Country farms coincides with Staccato at the higher northern farms, and they are the last cherry to come off the tree at high sites such as Cholla and Eldorado. 

Other varieties: We are growing several promising new varieties, including some that ripen very early and very late, aiming to extend our season. Like most of our varieties, these new hybrid varieties are coming from the government of Canada’s breeding program in Summerland, BC, but we also have a few from elsewhere around the world. Stay tuned!

• NOTE: Above harvest dates represent a “typical year”. These dates can vary earlier or later, a week either way, depending on the season. We usually can pinpoint harvest dates each year by late May and advise staff accordingly.