The Chelan cherry is a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

. It is a hybrid of the

Stella Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Films * ''Stella'' (1921 film), directed by Edwin J. Collins * ''Stella'' (1943 film), with Zully Moreno * ''Stella'' (1950 film), with Ann Sheridan and Victor Mature * ''Stella'' (1955 ...

and Beaulieu varieties first developed in

Prosser, Washington Prosser () is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Washington, United States. Situated along the Yakima River, it had a population of 6,062 at the 2020 census. History Prosser was long home to Native Americans who lived and fish ...

.Washington State University Tree Fruit
/ref>

Cultivar history

The Chelan cultivar was developed in Prosser, Washington, by Thomas Toyama and Ed Proebsting, affiliated with the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

. The cross was made in 1971 and selected in 1978."Register of New Fruit and Nut Varieties, List 41"
HortScience Vol. 37(2), April 2002, pg. 253

Plant facts

The Chelan cherry tree grows in

USDA Zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

5, and is self-incompatible.Washington State University Tree Fruit
/ref> It is a vigorous and early-bearing tree; with the fruit ripening about 10-12 days earlier than

Bing cherries Bing is a highly popular cultivar of the wild or sweet cherry (''Prunus avium''), that originated in the Pacific Northwest. The Bing is the most popular sweet cherry in the United States, making up 50% of Washington's nation-leading cherry crop. ...

, it is the earliest of the sweet cherries grown in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The fruit exhibits superior cracking resistance, and the trees appear to be resistant to

powdery mildew Powdery mildew is a fungus, fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of Ascomycota, ascomycete fungi in the order Erysiphales. Powdery mildew is one of the easier plant disea ...

, but many of the trees produced in the 1990s were infected with prune dwarf virus.Northwest Nursery Improvement Institute
/ref>

Growing regions

Apart from the US Pacific Northwest, Chelan cherries are grown in CanadaBritish Columbia Tree Fruit Production Guide
/ref> and Australia.Cherry Growers Australia
/ref>

References

cherry cultivars {{Prunus-stub