Prunus avium Bigarreau - Hedelfingen and Napoleon grafted on the same rootstock.

Prunus avium Bigarreau Hedelfingen and Bigarreau Napoleon form a competitive duo to provide a harvest that will span from early June to late July. With complementary flowering, these two self-sterile varieties grafted on the same rootstock, pollinate each other to offer abundant fruiting on a single tree. Hedelfingen is large and dark red, an excellent tasty and crunchy cherry, while Napoleon, recognisable by its red and yellow skin, is more suitable for processing. This very ornamental cherry tree offers intense flowering at the beginning of spring, then its tender green foliage provides shade in the summer and ends with beautiful autumn colours. Its excellent cold resistance and adaptation to all types of soils, except for clayey ones, allow the cherry tree to be planted in all regions. It can be planted on a lawn, at the back of a flower bed, in an orchard, or as part of a fruit hedge.

This tree combines two grafts:

- A graft of Bigarreau Hedelfingen Cherry: a very productive, late variety producing slightly conical fruits with firm and juicy red flesh, and shiny dark red skin. These cherries resist bursting. Their red flesh is firm and juicy. Harvest from late June to the end of July. The tree reaches about 6 metres in all directions.

- A graft of Bigarreau Napoleon Cherry: a vigorous variety, producing heart-shaped fruits with white and juicy flesh, and yellow skin tinged with red. They attract few birds. Flowering starts at the end of March and harvesting begins in early June. These cherries are excellent when prepared in syrup, brandy, or in a clafoutis, for example.

Prunus avium belongs to the Rosaceae family, like the Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus). Also known as Wild Cherry or Bird Cherry, it is native to Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, and has been present in Europe since the Neolithic period (Polished Stone Age).

The cherry tree is a vigorous tree, with a semi-erect silhouette that spreads with age, reaching approximately 5 to 6 metres in height and 3 to 5 metres in width when fully grown, producing numerous branches. The reddish wood characterises it as a cherry tree. Its habit is suitable for free forms on standards or half-standards and low goblet forms. The deciduous foliage is composed of large, 6 to 8 cm long, alternate, obovate, irregularly toothed, shiny green leaves, taking on autumnal brown-orange hues. The semi-late flowering occurs between late March and mid-April, before the appearance of the leaves, which can expose it to late spring frosts. The pure white, single, 2 to 3 cm diameter flowers are grouped in clusters. They can be destroyed by frost from -2 to -3°C, so it is recommended to plant cherry trees in sheltered locations, facing west and protected from cold winds in regions that experience late frosts. Nevertheless, the very abundant flowering often leads to satisfactory fruiting. It is a remarkably decorative flowering in spring and particularly rich in nectar. It is a hardy tree that can withstand temperatures around -20°C. Cherry trees are self-sterile or self-incompatible, the flowers cannot fertilise themselves. That is why the presence of these two varieties, close to each other, will allow for cross-pollination and increase the number of fruits.

These two Bigarreau cherry trees offer a harvest that can be more or less abundant depending on the year and present an alternation phenomenon, allowing the tree to replenish its reserves. With fairly rapid fruiting, around 3 to 4 years, fruit production becomes optimal after 6 to 7 years. An adult cherry tree (between 10 and 20 years old) produces an average of 25 to 50 kilograms of fruit per year. The fruit is attached to the branch by a relatively short, 3 to 4 cm long stalk. Harvesting begins in early June with Bigarreau Napoleon and continues until the end of July with Bigarreau Hedelfingen. It is important to only pick the fruits when they are ripe, as they do not ripen further, and with their stems to ensure good preservation. Cherries are quite fragile, so harvest carefully with a picking pole or manually with a ladder.

These very juicy and very sweet cherries are delicious to eat raw. In cooking, they reveal all their flavours in the making of clafoutis, cakes, crumbles or pies, fruit salads, and as an accompaniment to savoury dishes with white meats (turkey, chicken, veal, duck, etc.). They are also perfect for making jams, preserved in syrup, or canned. Their content of vitamins A, C, and E, phenolic antioxidants, calcium, and copper, with a significant contribution of iron and their richness in trace elements and fibres, make cherries a healthy choice. The fruits can only be stored for a few days in a cool place or in the refrigerator. They can also be frozen once washed, dried, stemmed, and pitted.