Our Variety Assessment

Its strengths, growing requirements and the conditions in which it performs best.

Early Rivers suits gardens wanting the earliest possible cherry harvest, in a sunny, sheltered position. Its dark-red fruit is tender, very juicy, sweet and aromatic. We recommend it to growers who value flavour and softness rather than a very crisp texture. The variety is not self-fertile and needs an early-flowering compatible pollinator.

Early Rivers

Price range: 26,50 € through 64,50 €

One of the earliest-ripening cherries, ready to pick in early June in north-western Europe.

Choose your tree form

1 year old grafted tree – approx. 1–2 m

Half-standard – 1 to 1.5 m stem

Low-stem tree – approx. 60 cm stem

Standard tree – 1.8 m stem and over

Cherry rootstock options

Colt – approx. 4.5 m mature height

GiselA 5 – approx. 2.5 m mature height

GiselA 6 – approx. 3.5 m mature height

Mazzard – approx. 8 m mature height

Clear

Tree size guide

Tree Establishment Guarantee — We support you if your tree fails to establish. View the conditions

SKU: 4209 Category: Cherry trees

Description

Early Rivers is a traditional English dark red cherry variety, raised by the famous Rivers Nursery in Hertfordshire in the 1860s.

The flavour is very good, and this is one of the earliest cherries available – ripening in early June in the south of England.

Variety characteristics

Variety origin

English variety bred by Thomas Rivers at Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, from a seedling of Early Purple Gean, first fruiting around 1869 then introduced in 1872.

Origin

Period of origin

USDA zone

Flowering

Harvest period

Eating / keeping period

1-3 days