Black Tartarian Cherry Tree

One of the oldest and most beloved sweet cherries you can grow — deep, near-black fruit with rich, wine-sweet flavor that ripens early in June.

The Black Tartarian (Prunus avium 'Black Tartarian') is a heirloom sweet cherry with roots in Russia and western Asia, prized since the early 1800s for its glossy, purplish-black skin and tender, juicy flesh. The fruit is medium-to-large, heart-shaped, and intensely sweet with a touch of richness that sets it apart from milder modern varieties. It is a classic fresh-eating cherry — the kind you graze on straight from the branch — and it shines just as well in pies, preserves, and homemade liqueurs. The tree itself is vigorous and upright, with showy white spring blossoms that make it as ornamental as it is productive.

Why growers choose the Black Tartarian

• Exceptional flavor. Deeply sweet, almost wine-like fruit with firm, juicy flesh — consistently rated among the best-tasting dark sweet cherries.
• Early harvest. Ripens in June, delivering fresh cherries earlier than many other sweet varieties so you beat the heat and the birds.
• Reliable pollinator. A vigorous, abundant pollen producer that is widely used to fertilize other sweet cherry trees in the orchard.
• Cold-hardy backbone. Thrives outdoors in USDA zones 5 through 8, handling real winters while still producing dependable spring bloom.
• Ornamental presence. Clouds of white blossoms in spring and a tidy, upright form make it a genuine landscape tree, not just a fruit producer.

At a mature 15 ft. tall and about 10 ft. wide, the Black Tartarian fits the corner of a backyard, a sunny edge of the lot, or a small home orchard — close enough to a second sweet cherry that the two can pollinate each other and reward you with heavy June crops for decades.