I've never heard of any cherry orchards in OK. Our weather is too erratic in spring for cherries to do well here on a large scale. We often get unseasonably warm in the midst of otherwise cold winter weather, and then the trees get excited, bloom early and then lose all the flowers and/or fruit when the regular cold weather returns. It happens way too often for anyone to invest a lot of money in cherry trees.

You might try looking at the big farmer's markets in cities like Tulsa and OKC. If anyone is raising cherries and selling them as far of a general market farm, they're more likely selling them at a farmer's market than an orchard.

The fruits grown over a wide portion of the state that you can find in season most years include peaches, plums, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and nectarines. Probably someone is selling apples and pears, but not down here in southern OK. Every U-Pick Farm won't have the same fruits every year because some years there's not a good tree fruit crop and other years there's not good berry crops. Blame it on the weather.

To get cherries, you probably will have to grow your own, and then be prepared to cover the trees with bird netting and fight the birds for every single cherry. My cherries ripen in early June, although our tree is very young and doesn't produce very many cherries yet.

sorie, my husband prefers sour cherries and berries. That being so, I looked into growing them. The sour cherries will grow in a wider climate than the sweets, at least, but it's difficult. It may be more difficult to raise tarts since the better quality tart cherries are those picked at a time when the cherries are almost ready to rot. For industrial growers, I suppose that means it's best to sell them frozen. And frozen seems to be the cheapest and most accessible version of tart cherries I can find in this area - if the store carries them at all.

I tire of paying $4, $5 and, sometimes, $6 a can for tart cherries for his pies. (He'll eat them straight out of the can, if I don't cook a pie readily.) Occasionally, they go on sale for around $3.50 a can. I consider that a steal.

I'd travel far if we could find a local farm. I bet we'd need go to the farm direct to catch them at the right time.

I was tickled pink when the blackberry bushy sprouted seedling canes. Those I received from the garden party. It'll help his berry 'fix'.

bon

Thanks. We had a huge cherry tree in Denver and every 4th of July I was out picking cherries.

I guess I'll have to call some of the orchards on the Western slope of Colo. and see if they ship cherries! Lots of orchards over there. Probably won't be able to afford them.. LOL

We put a cherry tree in our yard here as soon as we moved in. It bloomed and had 5 cherries on it. Of course the birds got them

We have nets that we used in Colo. and if this tree gets big enough before we die LOL

we'll cover it! I know all about the birds and berries!!!! I gotten many a robin out of the net!!

Thanks again.

bon my DH is like yours loves the sour stuff. blueberry, lemon etc.!!

I've only grown tart cherries, commonly referred to most gardeners I know as pie cherries to differentiate between them and the sweet cherries. The two that grow exceptionally well at this end of the state are Montmorency and North Star. Stella is a sweet cherry that grows well here.

I think it is likely you can find locally-grown cherries at a farmer's market or through the Oklahoma Food Co-op. I'm just not sure anyone has invested enough money in trees to have a U-pick Orchard of cherries. The 2011 drought was brutal on a lot of orchards and it has taken a long time for some of them to recover.

I buy organically-grown cherries, sweet or tart, in Texas at organic grocery stores when I can find them. I do the same thing with blueberries. While the organically-grown blueberries and cherries can be pricey, they still cost me a lot less than growing my own would cost in the long run. I finally planted cherry trees here a couple of years ago, but I don't know if they'll ever produce enough to be worthwhile. Between the weather craziness and the wildlife, who knows if we'll ever get a harvest worth having.

If you are able to find a high-end health food supermarket, they might carry frozen tart cherries. For cooking purposes this can be just as good as using them fresh.

I never get anything made with tart cherries because every product I look at has Red Dye #40 which I am allergic to. Al likes cherry 'everything' so I do sometimes cook it, but not eat it. We have planted some cherries at my son's farm, but they are also too young to be producing. I do buy fresh sweet cherries most years, but I buy them from Bountiful Baskets.