After posting the above message I did some additional reading. Montmorency is the variety mentioned in the studies reporting the health benefits associated with cherries so that is the one we are interested in growing.

I'm in the Atlanta area, too. My husband is from Michigan and wants to grow cherries. I did some research and purchased a Stella semi-dwarf cherry. It's self-fertile as is Montmerency. And I understand it is one that will possibly tolerate the limited number of chill hours we have here. It requires 500-600 chill hours. Montmorency requires 700.
I've had it three years in a very large pot. It is still a small tree and a long way from fruit bearing size. But with our overall warm winter so far, I wouldn't expect a great crop even it was mature.
Good luck. There seems to be little info available about growing cherries in our area. Below is the gist of what I have found about their growing requirements. I've marked the biggest cultural difficulties, to me, in bold.
Best adapted to areas where summers are moderately cool; dislike high humidity. Last fruit to bloom and first to ripen. Most require a pollenizer. Sweet cherries can reach 25-30 feet tall in deep soils. Sensitive to wet, tight soils. Susceptible to birds, brown rot, and bacterial canker. Harvest 4th or 5th year.

From a UGA website:
"Information on variety selection is limited. Trials at Athens, Georgia, show fair success with 'Early Richmond' (sour), 'Montmorency' (sour) and 'Ranier' (sweet). In Virginia, trials show success with the sweet cherry varieties 'Hedelfinger,' 'Viva,' 'Valera,' 'Venus' and 'Hardy Giant.' Sour cherry varieties are self-fertile (producing fruit with its own pollen) and are limited to areas such as the Piedmont and Mountains that receive 1,000 to 2,000 hours of winter chilling. The sweet cherries, with the exception of 'Stella,' are self-infertile (at least two varieties must be planted together to ensure cross-pollination) and are also limited to the Piedmont and Mountain sections of Georgia."

My father has fair success with North Star (sour cherry). I have decent success with Nanking cherries (bush cherries). The main problem with cherries for me is the birds.

Check the UGA website for additional information.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.uga.edu/fruit/cherry.htm

Thank you all for sharing your info. I just got a new Raintree Nursery catalog in the mail today. It has 5 varieties of tart cherries: Surefire, Danube, English Morello, Montmorency, and Almaden Duke. They say: "All of our tart cherry trees are self fertile. The trees are on dwarfing Gisela 5 rootstock, and easily maintained at 8-10' in height." Any comments?

Of the varieties listed above, I would stick with Montmorency. It is probably the most proven of the group for producing in the Southeast. Before you spend a lot of money on mail order, you might want to check your local nurseries this spring. They generally carry Montmorency, North Star and several varieties of sweet cherries that won't grow here. It might save you some money, although the trees you find will probably not be on dwarf Gisela 5 rootstock.

I had Lapin and Stellar grow in my backyard for 3 years up to now. I got these sweet self fertile from Raintree nursery. I put them outdoor underground at the East side of my house so they get morning sun and some noon sun. The 2 cherry plants are about 10-12 feet tall right now. They produced few fruits this year and it's really good news. Hopefully next year or so (4th year) they will give more fruit.

I want to try sour cherry, but the one with sweet flavor. I am doing research on these: Balaton, Almaden Duke, Danube, and Surefire.

I had bad experience with North Star and Montmorency. I got them from local nursery and both of them die after 2-3 month of growing. I will order the cherry from Raintree exclusively for cherry plants.

Cheer,
Alpharetta

A friend here grows Stella very successfully and also Nanking cherries as a sour cherry. We went over for a tour of his yard (sometimes he posts here as Lostman) and ate handfulls. Yum.

GGG

Rob aka "lostman" is a veritable font of knowledge regarding fruit trees. I highly recommend joining his "Atlanta_Fruits" group @ Yahoo. It isn't trafficked much (only 43 members), but he does answer questions pretty promptly, and is a great resource. To find it, you will need to go to the Yahoo Groups website, and hunt for Atlanta_Fruits in the search tool provided - don't forget the "underscore" between those two words.

I am preparing to plant cherries in my front yard...all the reading I did pointed towards Montmorency as "the cherry" to plant where I am. It self-pollinates, produces well in our zone, and it is reportedly "the most popular cherry in America". The name "sour cherry" is a bit deceptive, they're not *that* sour.

Sadly, I went to Urban Gardener in late summer to try to have them source a tree for me, but the 75 that they had access to were already spoken for (before fall even got here). For the last 10 months, I've been completely unable to find ANY Montmorency cherries locally that are taller than 1'-2' in size, and everything online seems to ship "bare root". I would love to find a 4'+ tall tree, but ... it's tough!

If you manage to find anything or make any choices, be sure to come back and tell us about it, I know I'm curious to know!

Montmorency cherries are available through Johnson's in Elijay. They are currently sold out however where I work we do order from them. I am planning on running up there sometime this summer to speak to the owners about providing fall planting stock for those of us in higher heat zones.

GGG

GGG - if possible, please get in touch with me when/if you are able to acquire a pair of respectably-sized montmorency cherries. Last year was a wash, and I've been looking for nearly a year now.

I just bought a Stella. Would it be best to plant it on the North side of the house or will it really matter. I am in Pine Mt. near Callaway Gardens.

I had a Montmorency in Alpharetta for 10 years. It did great, zero problems, lots of fruit. It was grown for the birds though so just let it grow it's own way. I liked it enough to buy another for my new home when I moved.

satellitehead - I purchased a Montmorency about two weeks ago at home depot of all places. Healthy, $29 about 4-5' tall (dwarf). It transplanted just dandy so far, blooming even. I would have like taller but saw it and grabbed it so I had one. BL Mullinax Landscaping in Cumming (770-781-9823) also had them when I phoned, their trees are usually bigger and I have never had a problem with a tree of theirs and I have planted a few over the years. Their stock fluctuates rapidly but they will order for you.

i picked up two bareroot from Home Depot, they arrived week before last, got them in the ground the weekend (24 hours after). hoping to see fruit next year - i have two nankings nearby, and they have a gajillion fruits on them this year.

Where'd you get your nankings Sattelitehead?

I'm glad to find this thread! Both Hastings and Pike tell me we cant grow cherries in Atlanta. I have found a few low-chill (200-300 hours) varieties online at Bay Laurel Nursery. One is called Royal Minnie. I also understand North Star only has a 500 chill hour requirement. Should I expect those varieties to bear fruit in Atlanta? Is it just a matter of the chill hours (which Atlanta is supposed to get 600+ per year), or do our summers get too hot? I'm hoping to eat some fresh cherries from my own trees!

@GGG

My former roommate planted them.

If cuttings will do you, or air layering is possible, or seeds will suit, let me know, I'm always happy to provide plants to you!

Sattelite, you are like a year and a half late on this one :) I bought some Nankings on eBay, but thanks!!

Did your little Sattelite arrive yet?

I have a young Bing and Starkrimson sweet cherry and just lost a black tartarian this year. If you plant something that isn't indigenous plan for a lot of TLC to try to keep the tree healthy and don't be disappointed if you don't get consistent crops. Do you like squirrels? You will find yourself looking for ways to kill them if you own sweet cherry trees ; ) . When i get the cherries just ripe they are great, but the "in season" cherries at the store are getting better each year.

Can any of you update your cherry 🍒 status?

I live in ATL and planted two north star dwarf two years ago (from fastgrowingtrees.com), and they are doing ok. This year they've put on a lot of growth, are about 6ft tall, and each produced maybe 30 cherries. Last year we bought a bare root montmorency from Stark, and while it was small and didn't grow much the first year of planting, this spring it came to life and has grown quite a bit (is now about 5 ft tall, has about 5 cherries). Seems that the chill hours in ATL will work out most years, and that they do ok in the clay soil here.

I was glad to see this post and updates. I have been looking for cherries