Cherryland USA

Door County is synonymous with cherries. Cool spring weather makes the peninsula an ideal cherry-growing climate, and as Memorial Day nears, the most-asked question of spring is always, “Are the cherry trees blooming yet?”

The 2,500 acres of beautiful, white blossoms usually paint the countryside in mid- to late May, starting on the southern part of the peninsula and working north a day to a few days later.

To follow the status of the season, check Destination Door County’s Cherry Blossom Report at DoorCounty. com, or visit the Peninsula Pulse on Facebook for updates.

Where to See the Blossoms

One reason people fall in love with Door County is because of the way the quaint villages are broken up by expanses of agriculture and forest. Blossoms can be seen along Harbor School Road just outside the village of Egg Harbor, along Highway 42 between Egg Harbor and Fish Creek near Hyline Orchard and Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery and Market, and north of Sister Bay at Seaquist Orchards. You can also catch great views of blossoms along Old State Road and County ZZ in Sister Bay, along Shiloh Road and County HH in Sturgeon Bay, and on Cherry Lane in Forestville.

Those are just a few great places to look, but there are more to discover as you travel the peninsula’s back roads. If we’re lucky, the blossoms stick around for a couple of weeks, but a bright field of blossoms can fade overnight. Soak them in when you can!

Pick Your Own

Come late July, the cherries will be ripe for picking. Fill your buckets to make cherry pie, tarts or maybe even a little cherry bounce for next year. Pick your own cherries at Cherry Lanes Orchards, Choice Orchards, Kielar Akers Orchard, Robertson Orchards, Door County Fruit Connection, Schartner’s Farm Market, Hyline Orchard, Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery and Market, Meleddy Orchard and Sorens Valhalla.

Cherries By the Numbers

4th Wisconsin’s ranking as a cherry producer in the nation, behind Michigan, New York and Utah.

6The number of stages of cherry growth: budding, blossoming, petals falling, green cherries, yellow cherries and red cherries that are ready to pick between mid-July and mid-August. Following the harvest, cherries are out of season again until April.

7.5 The number of pails of cherries that the boys who traveled to Horseshoe Bay Farms for its Cherry Camp in the 1940s and 1950s had to pick per day to earn their room and board. They could stop after that or keep picking to earn a wage.

10 The percentage of all of the nation’s cherries that Door County grows.

48 feet, 1 inch The state-record length for the farthest cherry-pit spit. You can try a cherrypit spit for yourself at Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery.

300+ The number of cherries that go into one pie made at Seaquist Orchards. Cherry pies are normally produced with around 250, but Seaquist packs them in, meaning that a standard slice contains 50-plus cherries.

1896 The year when Door County’s first cherry trees were planted. In experiments conducted by the University of Wisconsin’s Horticulture Department, cherries flourished, whereas apples, plums and pears didn’t fare as well.

1945 The year when German prisoners of war were brought to Door County to harvest cherries to fill the local labor void created by World War II.

2,500 The number of acres of cherry orchards in Door County.

7,000 The number of cherries on an average tart-cherry tree.

42,000 The number of cherries harvested per minute with a harvesting machine.

270,000 The total number of cherry trees in Door County.

Sources: USDA, Laura Seaquist, doorcounty.com, wisconsincherrygrowers.org, orchardcountry.com, horseshoebayfarms.org