Cherry Tree 'Van'

• Delicious dessert cherries
• Train to a fan shape
• Grow against a wall or flat surface
• Create a striking feature

Cherry ‘Van’ is well-suited for the British climate, producing heavy crops of ruby-red cherries that turn almost black when ripe and have a superb sweet flavour. This mini fan-trained tree makes a striking feature, grown against a wall, fence or other flat surface. It’s also ideal for smaller gardens that don’t have space for bush fruit trees. The beautiful spring blossom is a big attraction for bees and other pollinators.

Cherry ‘Van’ is in pollination group 3. It is not self-fertile, so will need another cherry tree from groups 2,3 or 4 planted nearby for pollination in order to produce fruit.

How you will receive your plants:

Selected by our team of experts and sent from our nursery, you will receive your plant in a pot, ready to plant out.

Can’t plant straight away?

Place the pot in a sheltered spot outdoors and water regularly to keep the soil moist.

Planting tips and hints:

Before planting your tree, put up horizontal support wires against a wall or fence. The wires should be spaced 15cm apart vertically. It can be useful to fix a symmetrical framework of canes to the wires to help in training the branches.

Plant your tree in front of the support wires, leaning slightly back towards them.

Dig a hole slightly wider than the rootball of the plant. Place the plant in the hole so that it sits at the same level in the ground as it did in the pot. When backfilling, mix in a soil improver such as well-rotted farmyard manure. Firm the soil around the plant and water well.

How to prune and train a part-trained fan tree

Train stone fruits like cherries and plums in early to mid-spring. This reduces the risk of fungal diseases like silver leaf which could be a problem if trees are pruned earlier.First year after planting

Early to mid-spring

• Remove the central leader (the vertical shoot at the top of the tree), cutting it right down to just above the top pair of angled branches.
• Cut back all the side branches by up to two-thirds (less if they look strong and vigorous).

• Choose four shoots from each side branch – one at the tip, two equally spaced pointing upwards and one pointing downwards. Tie them in to the support wires or cane framework so they lie at 30 angles to the side branch.
• Remove any shoots growing towards the wall and cut back all other shoots to one leaf.

Second year after planting

• In the following spring, cut back all four shoots on each side branch by one-third, just above an upward facing bud.

• Tie the re-growth from these shoots in to the framework or support wires.

Following years

• Lightly prune the tips of the branches and tie in new shoots.
• Remove any shoots growing towards or away from the fence or wall, as well as any congested, diseased or dead shoots.

Feeding and aftercare:

Click here to view our full Fruit Tree Growing Guide.

*Planting and flowering months below are subject to seasonal weather conditions.