Cherry Picking Near Boise: What You Need to Know
Boise sits in an area that produces good sweet cherries alongside its more famous apple and stone fruit crops, with the Snake River Plain and Treasure Valley supporting cherry orchards that are open for picking in late June and July. Idaho cherries benefit from the same intense sun and cool nights that produce the region's other exceptional fruit, and the pick-your-own season draws visitors who often don't realize Idaho grows such excellent cherries.
Mountain West Cherry Orchards
The mountain west's cherry orchards benefit from the same altitude and climate extremes that make the region exceptional for apples—the intense sunshine and cool nights of high-elevation growing produce cherries with concentrated sweetness and flavor that flat-country orchards can't match. Utah's Wasatch Front orchards, Colorado's Western Slope, Idaho's Treasure Valley, Montana's Flathead Lake region, and Nevada's Sierra Nevada foothills all host cherry growing operations that welcome pick-your-own visitors in late June and July. The scale is smaller than Pacific Northwest cherry production, but the quality is often exceptional, and the settings—against mountain backdrops with clear high-desert sky—make for some of the most beautiful orchard visits available anywhere.
Best Time to Go Cherry Picking Near Boise
Late June through July for the Treasure Valley and Emmett area cherry orchards, with the season running a bit later than California due to Idaho's northern latitude.
Tips for Your Boise Cherry Picking Trip
Idaho cherry picking in the Treasure Valley is accessible and excellent—look for farms advertising Bing, Rainier, and Lapins varieties in late June and plan to go early in the day when the cherries are still cool from the night. Idaho cherries have the excellent sugar and acid balance that the region's long summer days and cool nights produce, and the farms that grow them take pride in quality.