There are some formidable threads in the forum regarding berries. The raspberry blackberry hybrids thread, for example, has thousands of replies, quite daunting for the beginner. I’m basically starting out and trying to figure out which cultivars to start ordering for planting in the fall. I’m interested in raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, and gooseberry. Climate is 9b, dry/ arid. I really don’t want this to turn into a massive adventure, so I’d like to limit to one or two cultivars from each focusing mainly on the very subjective most ‘flavorful’ and sweet varieties. There are many large, amazing looking strawberries sold in the farmers market here year round, but they actually lack flavor quite a lot. I’d rather have a small strawberry with a strong old fashioned strawberry flavor any day. I would appreciate any suggestions regarding the ‘must plant’ berry cultivars.
Gooseberry -
So I can’t speak to the other berries, but z9 you might not get enough chill hours. I’m in 7b with humid weather in Maryland and they aren’t the biggest fan of the swampy summer weather. I’m not sure what your summer heat is like either.
But that being said, the 2 most heat tolerant varieties that I know of are glenndale and poorman. One thing about poorman is that is also wakes up about a month after other gooseberries wake up.
Thanks. It gets up to 90-100F in the summer, dry heat. 70% shade cloth would probably be necessary in full sun. Surprisingly, a lot of high chill apple varieties grow here, so I’m willing to push the envelope a bit with chill hours.
Everbearing Strawberry: Charlotte and Albion are my top picks for flavor but not for production. Production goes to Evie-2. Nothing tops Evie-2 in giant flushes of fruits and berries but Monterrey makes flushes more frequently than any of the above. At least for me. Yellow wonder tastes amazing but tiny berries and not much production in comparison to the others. Monterrey can perform well in heat where as others may not.
Blueberry: TopShelf is large, delicious, and ripens early for me. O’Neal tastes even better than Ka’Bluey. The supposed best tasting blueberry in the world according to Gurneys. Both of these seem to have good disease resistance and slightly more tolerable of higher ph soils in my experience.
Raspberry: Yellow Anne and Fall Gold if i could only grow 2 varieties. Testing about 15 new varieties this year but from my few years of growing so far, these two have been most consistent in taste and production as well as salt/high ph soil and water issues. I’m in year 4 or 5 of growing raspberries now and i try to try all the newer ones as they come out.
I’m in Washington state and this is true for me as well.
I really appreciate the insight. This helps a lot!
Try western trailing types like Marion/boysen/ollalie
Consider getting a true black mulberry (morus nigra, aka shahtoot).
This is not the same thing as the various much more common mulberry varieties that make black fruit but that are not morus nigra.
Morus nigra are prized for their fruit in Iran/Afghanistan and grow very well in warm/arid environments.
Because there is so much confusion between the different varieties of mulberries you have to be very careful where you buy your mulberry if you decide to do so.
Someone here can tell you where to get a true morus nigra.
On a side note. You might also be able to grow pomegranate since you’re hot n dry.
I have poms, morus nigra indeed growing well in my home orchard. Trying to branch out, no pun intended, to traditional berries.
You might also want to try a clove currant as well, they have better heat tolerance.
My suggestion for planting time for the gooseberries is plant in the fall not spring.
I burned up 2 colossal and 1 of 2 hinn. Yellows planting in the spring. They just couldn’t handle the heat.
Apache is a very heat tolerant thornless blackberry with good flavor.
I think it is probably too hot for raspberries for you
You might be right about the raspberries, I haven’t seen any of my neighbors growing them. But they are always available at the local market and I think their farms are all located in hot areas of inland/ central California.
Shahtoot is a Morus macroura, very different than Morus nigra. It should do well in 9b. DMOR9 is a Morus macroura to consider if you want some different mulberries (and Much earlier ripening than nigra).
The only raspberry that is likely to work for you may be MySore, which is low chill and heat tolerant. Not sure if it’s worth it or not (or even permitted due to invasiveness).
Thanks for the suggestion. I looked up Mysore…it’s a black raspberry! Just out of interest, if we ignore the heat/ climate, what is your favorite raspberry?
I really like black raspberry. I have a couple (Jewel and Niwot) and they grow wild here too. Biggest issue is the season is short and birds eat most berries before they are ripe. They are not easy to net.
Do you grow grapes? You can grow just about any variety there.
In your climate, a Siam Jumbo mulberry should give you 6+ months of jumbo mulberries. Not nearly as tasty as Morus Nigra but I’ve grown both in my greenhouse and Siam Jumbo is the one I’m sticking with.
I don’t, but it’s on my radar as I have access to a trelliss. Just not enough hours in the day to pursue all these interests.
Definitely would love to grow Siam Jumbo. Last time you had them up for sale they sold out fast 
.
Baba Raspberry should grow well in the Inland Empire. I believe that berry was found in Idyllwild. Boysen berries will do well too. The the rabbiteye/ highbush hybred blueberries will do well. All the varieties Dave Wilson sells in southern California are those blueberries.
Awesome, thank you