Introducing the best varieties of raspberries, blackberries, currants, blueberries, gooseberries, cranberries and lingonberries.
Berry bushes can be found in most kitchen gardens. Raspberries and blackberries sometimes need a lot of space, but people are happy to give them that. As a thank you, there are plenty of delicious fruits. Blueberry bushes are ideal for smaller gardens. On slopes, cranberries or blueberries are an excellent alternative to the classic ground cover and also provide very he althy berries. In this article we will introduce you to the best varieties of the berries already mentioned, as well as currants and gooseberries. Flavor often played the most important role in our selection of varieties, but we have also taken care not to recommend any varieties that are particularly susceptible to disease or frost. And if they do, we have noted any sensitivities. So, below are the best berry varieties for your garden.
Raspberries
When purchasing a raspberry plant, there is always a choice between summer and autumn raspberry varieties. There are some differences between summer and autumn raspberries. One of them is the taste, which we think is better in most summer strains. For this reason, with one exception - the yellow autumn raspberry 'Golden Everest' - almost all of our 'best raspberry varieties' are summer raspberries. However, autumn raspberry varieties are less susceptible to disease. So if you've already had problems with raspberries, it's better to accept a small taste compromise and choose a good autumn raspberry variety.
'Himboqueen': Very high-yielding raspberry with very large, very good-tasting, sweet fruits; strong growth; only recommended for large gardens; very sensitive to dying roots and viruses.
'Meeker': Very aromatic variety; medium-sized, beautiful fruits with good keeping quality; strong growth of young shoots; resistant to diseases; commonly grown variety with high susceptibility to frost and drought; only recommended in sheltered locations.
'Rubaca': Good, sweet-aromatic taste and high yield; medium-sized, rather soft, medium-juicy fruits; very robust and frost hardy; resistant to root diseases.
'Himbostar': Less disease-susceptible variety; good yield with sufficient rainfall or irrigation; bright red, medium-sized berries with lots of juice; sweetish, very aromatic taste; slightly susceptible to gray mold.
'Golden Queen': Yellow summer raspberry with medium-sized, round, very tasty fruits; high-yield with an extraordinarily long harvest period; relatively robust, he althy plant.
'Golden Everest': Medium early ripening yellow autumn raspberry with large berries; sweet and very fragrant; good frost hardness and otherwise resistant.
Blackberry Varieties
In the case of blackberries, the unsthorned or often incorrectly called thornless blackberry varieties are often the more popular. The taste of these varieties, which have been selected for thornlessness and not for taste, often left a lot to be desired in the past. In the meantime, however, there are also thornless varieties (e.g. 'Waldo', 'Loch Ness', 'Navaho'), which can easily keep up with the others in terms of taste.
'Silvan': Very early, slow-growing variety; very large, very good tasting berries; high frost resistance, but very susceptible to tendril disease.
'Waldo': High-yielding, very early-ripening variety with a long harvest period; large, very tasty fruits with very small seeds; thornless; medium strong, compact growth, so can be planted a little closer together.
'Loch Ness' or 'Nessy': Ripening from the beginning/middle of July; medium-growing, thornless rods; very large, firm berries; aromatic, sweet and sour taste.
'Theodor Reimers': Well-established, high-yielding variety; ripening from the end of July; prickly, very long, frost-sensitive tendrils; very sweet, aromatic and juicy, but somewhat smaller berries; undemanding to the floor.
'Navaho': Also a late-ripening variety; large, firm fruits with a very aromatic, sweet and sour taste; perhaps the most fragrant of the thornless blackberries; very strongly upright growing, long tails; Hardy variety.
Blueberries
While raspberries, currants and co. have been in our local for quite some timeGardens grow, for a long time people were content with collecting blueberries in the forest. In the meantime, however, cultivated blueberries are also becoming increasingly popular. They may not be quite as flavorful as the wild varieties, but their size and crunch still make them a wonderful taste sensation.
'Duke': very rich-bearing, early-ripening (from the beginning of July) variety; large, firm fruits with a very good, aromatic taste; dense growth; very frost hardy.
'Denise Blue': Visually appealing plant with large, firm, very tasty and aromatic fruits; medium yield.
'Legacy': Medium yielding variety; medium-sized, firm, very tasty fruits; resistant to gray mold and anthracnose fruit rot.
'Darrow': Very good taste, late-ripening (from around mid-August) variety; very large, firm fruits; slightly sour taste; tall.
Currant Varieties
While red currants have a higher content of fruit acids than white and black ones and therefore taste more sour, white currants are somewhat milder and sweeter. Black currants, which by the way belong to a different plant species, are quite tart. They are therefore rarely consumed fresh and more often in the form of jelly, juice or liqueur. That's actually a shame when you consider that blackcurrants are five times as rich in vitamin C as red or white currants.
'Jonkheer van Tets': Tried and tested, early ripening (from mid-June), red currant; strong-growing and richly productive; juicy, aromatic, large berries; Possibly the best tasting redcurrant fruit; demanding in terms of location; not recommended for rainy regions, otherwise disease pressure increases; good for growing hedges; vulnerable to frost.
'Rolan': Robust, he althy variety with large, light red, firm berries; sour-aromatic taste; moderate growth; if there is no or insufficient pruning, 'Rolan' tends to grow weakly; well suited for locations with higher precipitation; tends to trickle.
Note: The term trickling is a physiological disorder in which some flowers do not produce berries for various reasons. However, that is onlyoptically important, since some berries are then missing from the grape. Irrigation does not affect taste and quality.
'Rotet': Medium late variety with rainproof red berries; sour, very aromatic taste; high yields; very fast growing; Slightly susceptible to frost due to early flowering, otherwise robust and not at risk of trickling down; resistant to leaf fall disease.
'Vit Jätte': Abundant, white currant with large, yellow berries; mildly sweet, excellent taste; moderate growth; somewhat susceptible to powdery mildew.
'Primus': white, slow-growing currant; medium to late maturing; small, white-yellowish fruits; many seeds in the fruit; sweet, very aromatic taste; profitable.
'Bona': early maturing black currant with large fruits; excellent taste; very short cluster; moderate growth; mildew tolerant.
'Ometa': Also black, mid-late to late currant variety; large, aromatic and extremely tasty fruits; strong, upright growth; bearing rich; relatively robust plant.
We describe many other varieties in our special article on currant varieties.
Gooseberry Varieties
The gooseberries have never really attracted much attention in commercial cultivation and are therefore not available everywhere in the trade. It is all the more important for gooseberry lovers to grow the sour fruit in their own garden. These two are our favorite gooseberries:
'Hönings Earliest': Green gooseberry that ripens very early; vigorous; medium-sized, soft fruits; great taste.
'Rolonda': Late-ripening, red gooseberry with small, dark, very tasty berries; moderate growth; mildew resistant.
You can get an even better overview of the gooseberry varieties here in our variety article.
Cranberries
Cranberries are native to North America and form tendrils up to 25 cm tall. They look great and are therefore also ideal as ground cover.
'Early Black': Early-ripening variety with medium-sized, dark red to slightly blackish berries; very aromatic fruits; very frost hardy.
'Bergman': Richly bearing variety with medium-sized, dark red fruits; grows flat andforms a lot of foliage; ideal for ground cover.
'Stevens': We recommend this variety for drier soils and harsher climates; grows quickly and is very productive.
Cranberries
Many people only know lingonberries from a jar. But the cranberries are not only convincing in terms of taste. The bright red berries and the small, dark green leaves are also an eye-catcher. Like cranberries, cranberries can also serve as ground cover. If you want to preserve your own cranberries in the near future, we recommend the following varieties:
'Coral': Round, medium-red berries; Shoots are heavily branched and about 30 cm high; well suited for plant troughs.
'Sussi': Approximately 15 to 25 cm tall; large, round, dark red berries.
Tip: For a rich harvest, it is important to provide the berry bushes with sufficient nutrients. Our Plantura organic tomato fertilizer is a primarily organic long-term fertilizer in granular form, which is ideal for fertilizing not only vegetables but also berries.
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