I went out to my raspberry patch and ate several heritage reds on lunch hour just now… so good. I know that some are not impressed by them … perhaps it is the deep south heat that cranks up the flavor and sweetness. The really ripe ones are very good.
I had a few logans and goumi too… even found 3 ripe blueberries and ate them.
Nice to browse and get all you want right at home
TNHunter
call me old fashioned but heritage is the red raspberry others are compared to for real raspberry flavor. red raspberries arent eaten just for the sweet but a balance between sweet and tart. polka is very sweet but not my favorite everbearer. autumn britten is perfect for my palate and most that have tried it agree. ive also heard the same of caroline but fruits too late like heritage to get all the crop before frosts axe them here.
I just found them on Amazon "Raspberry Plants “Glencoe”, I can’t speak for the quality or size but at least they have some?
Since Ison’s shipped me the wrong plants I have to find some nice Dorman Reds.
My Joan J’s in 7a, NoVA are starting to ripen right now. Got my first on the 24th. They are the first of any of my berries to ripen this year.
@VAbuckeye12 — so you are in 7a VA… and your Joan J’s ripened May 24 this year.
My Loganberries ripen May 22-24, and my Heritage and Fall Gold are just a few days later.
I am in southern middle TN, zone 7a… 7a in VA looks to mostly be middle of the state… so you are quite a bit north of me, but still in the same zone 7a.
I wonder if Joan J would ripen for me earlier than Logans, Heritage…
I really have two considerations for adding another raspberry… getting ripe fruit earlier, or getting a berry that is sweeter with good flavor (my wife loves the sweet ones).
I looked up Joan J and Polka on indianaberry and nourse… yesterday and there was no mention of sweet in the description, and on flavor they rated good (not Excellent) but good.
Nourse has berries in catagories like this…
summer bearing (early, early mid, mid, mid late, late).
Fall Bearing
In the summer early slot… they have Prelude and Boyne
No mention of sweet with Prelude and I have heard others here call it Tart, acidic… Nourse says Flavor is Excellent… some reviewers say sour, tart, others seem to like it. mixed reviews. I am thinking that some people like Tart, and some really don’t. My wife does not.
On the Boyne berry, Nourse describes it as Sweet Flavor. Flavor Excellent.
One of the reviewers said Delicious berries, none mentioned sweet. but they all seemed to be happy with Boyne.
In the Fall Bearers (ever bearing I suppose)… only Ann and Double Gold do they actually describe as Sweet (and rate Flavor Excellent).
There are a few other berries listed that they rate as Excellent Flavor, but no mention of sweet.
TNHunter
polka is sweeter here than my other reds. so much so i dont care for it. anne and double gold are both very sweet but in a good way. has more depth to the taste. neither fruit early enough for me to grow here. i tried 1 of anne from indianaberry.com just to trial it. it has has big berries but not very productive. double gold was sent to me by mistake from pense. not hardy here but might do well in your hotter summers. its a darker yellow than anne but very good flavored.
I love Polka raspberries. They’re very sweet compared to just about anything but they don’t really taste like true raspberries. It was bred from a Korean raspberry so that’s probably the reason. The leaves look funny too.
of all the raspberries i grow, i like polka the least for the same reasons mentioned. i consider the ideal red raspberry flavor being heritage. for ones i grow autumn britten tastes best to me .most people dont like the taste of purple raspberries fresh but i do.
A bit late response but I am still eating my Joan J. I don’t have any other raspberries to compare it to. It’s very early. As early as my early blueberry and Silk Hope Mulberries. It’s finishing up as my Ponca blackberries are starting to ripen right now. It’s very big and delicious. Completely thornless. I dabbled with raspberries before Latham I think. I wasn’t impressed then. I am very impressed now. The canes are also tall and strong. It doesn’t seem to need trellising. The crop load also seems big to me. I do notice that the smaller berries on floricanes all the way at the bottom are not as good. I was going to only grow 5 plants to see how it’s doing. Now I want 4x 80 feet rows of it. lol
I just bought Autumn First raspberries. Supposedly an improvement tastewise over the older Autumn Bliss. Let’s see how they do. Polka was late fruiting even in a greenhouse so autumn fruiting raspberries really aren’t the thing for my climate but we’ll see.
My raspberries are growing and fruiting but the bugs are just to much for the soft flesh raspberries so I guess I’ll spray kill kill them and plant muscadines next year.
The Glencoe that Lowe’s sold last year in my area were red not purple raspberries and were very thorny. I have no idea what happened…maybe a nursery mistake?
Glencoe is a thornless purple… not much info on it other than this video which isnt in English. Looks to be very productive. I will know more about mine this year.
Royalty (big purple) win the taste test… according to this raspberry expert.
Ps… they did not have Glenco.
thats funny as many nurseries say they are better for processing than fresh eating. ive heard others on here say the same. you can eat them in the red stage and they taste like a red rasp. let them darken and they are more like a black. my most productive Rubus. she probably picked them because they’re bigger.