North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

OK, I had a minute to dig back through my archived discussion 
threads.  Here's a smattering of stuff from previous discussions; 
thought I had more, but this appears to be it...

From Kevin Bradley:
Del and others interested:
Here are my notes on the origin of the Evans, as per Dr Evans
"Probably brought from Minnesota in first place, 100 years ago or
so.
It is probably NOT an escapee from the Alberta Tree Nursery".  (in
the FN and B Inventory it says that it may be that it originally
came from this nursery, this info was supplied by me, later to be
learned that the original Evans cherry probably had nothing to do with that
nursery except the coincidence that the original tree was found
NEAR  there, growing in someone's yard. Dr Evans believes that it did not
get in that person's yard via that nursery but rather elsewhere and
most likely circuitously from the Minnesota cherry breeding program)
BTW, although mahaleb is only hardy to zone 4, mahaleb could be
used as a nurse rootstock, that is a temporary root used while the Evans
roots above the graft. (This requires then the  burying the graft
union.)
> Kevin B

Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 03:49:51 -0000
Subject: [nafex] Re: Origin of the Evans

I just got off the phone with Dr Evans, so here is more on the Evans
and its origin (and probable reason that Del heard that it came from
England):
Evans cherry
A Mrs Borward from the Henwood area near Edmonton, Alberta has been
growing the Evans since about 1923. She is in her 80's now and says
that she got the seeds from her neighbors who got these from
the "English" which according to Dr Evans actually meant "Americans"
and specifically from Minnesota as the Minnesotans largely settled
this part of Edmonton. These Minnesotans were probably of either
Ukranian or Norwegian decent and had probably been growing this
cherry since the late 1800's.
Dr Evans discovered this cherry in 1976 and slowly but surely got
people interested in trying it.
Some outstanding points of the Evans are:
The highest yields in MI are about 50 pounds per tree. The Evans
produces around 150 pounds per tree!
It does very well in light soil. Heavy soil it does ok but tends to
be winter damaged more.
Blossoms are not killed by temps as low as five below zero centigrade,
which is quite remarkable for a sour cherry.
Kevin Bradley

From  Bernie Nikolai:
My Evans cherry is now 60% ripe, a gorgeous red, a real show stopper.  I'm
pruning my Evans to be a "tree", not a bush.  Its about 10 ft. tall after 5
years from tissue culture, and looking very much like a "tree" with a single
trunk and nice lateral branches.  Left without pruning Evans looks like a
Nanking cherry bush, with multi stems. I thin the fruit only because Evans
seems to want to produce huge quantities of cherries, even in my tough
climate, at the expense of tree growth.  I hope to grow it to at least 15
feet as a traditional "tree".  The taste this year is particularly
excellent, the best "tart" cherry I have ever tasted.  When frozen whole in
a plastic baggie, they lose much of the tartness and are almost like a true
sweet cherry, but I like them just fine fresh off the tree.  If you live in
a northern climate, zone 3 or 4, and want a very hardy, reliable, very
productive, excellent tasting tart cherry, get Evans.  Nothing comes
remotely close from what I've seen.  It MUST be on its own roots however.
It may be okay to have it grafted on Mahaleb or Mazzard.  It hasn't been
tried up here as those two rootstocks would not normally be considered hardy
in zone 3.  We just get tissue cultured plants or dig up root suckers.
Evans grafts readily, but seems to invariably die over the winter unless its
on its own roots.  It seems to do best with grass competition right up to
the trunk, and no or very little fertilizer.  It virtually seems to thrive
best on neglect, quite an unusual trait for a cherry tree.
Bernie Nikolai
Edmonton, Alberta zone 3