Most cherry varieties will split after being wetted. Direct sun after wetting can make the problem worse. Varieties said to be resistant to splitting may split given worst conditions like above.

We had a few pie cherries (SureFire) split after the rain of 2 July. Don't base your choice on the splitting factor. Varieties that ripen later will statistically avoid the rainier weather of June.

If you're looking for a single tree, Van is not self-fertile while Lapins is.

Sweet cherry is the sweet corn of orchard fruits, more space-consuming and troublesome than many would like for the small home plot. Even if you get a good crop on a dwarfed tree you have to keep the birds off.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Fruit

This year was my second "harvest" from my bing and ranier trees. So far I have been quite impressed with the results. They were a little late this year with the cool June we had but were excellent tasting. I have not had any cracking yet and minimal pest damage(this is just the second year though). The birds and squirrels are either not interested or have not found the trees yet. My neighbor has a couple 25 foot tall cherry trees so it may be that they are kept distracted by the bounty on those trees that my little trees go unnoticed. I plan to find some covers for them in the future if they get found out.

The fruit tree guy at sky nursery recommended the Lapins cherry over the Bing because of cracking issues. But when we got around to buying them, the Lapins were sold out. If the splitting every becomes a problem, we will just replace it with a Lapins.

I find it easier to buy cherries at a roadside stand rather than grow, prune, and pick them myself.

Got some nice big fat 'Rainier' at PCC recently.

The last two years QFC grocery has been carrying a mutant of Rainier, the "Orondo Ruby". This tree will not be available to the home grower. Fruit is to be had in early July only. Limited supply sustains the $7/pound retail price.

My Stella is about 4 years old and so far is pest free and no cracking. The only problem is that it was supposed to be an ultra dwarf and is now at least 20' tall. It's too big to net very easily and the birds and squirrels got almost all of the fruit this year. They had a feast.

Yep.