It’s funny as I have heard others say Smokey is bland, and Northline is fantastic. It is a matter of what a person likes.Anybody try Thiessen? Thanks for that post, as now I know why. I went with Northline mostly because it is small, and all I had room for. Smokey sounds good to me too. I will add it at my cottage in 2018. I need a season to clear land.
I think it can depend a lot on your soil type and weather also. I know someone at local college that has some done some trials and they said the best variety they have planted is Martin, but I dont hear much about it anywhere else.
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It’s possible my or other people’s bushes are mislabeled. I have planted Smoky bought from two different suppliers though, and the taste is identical. Also, I’m pretty sure that Smoky is the main variety grown commercially and at U-pick orchards here in the Canadian prairies. As The Derek notes, other factors like climate and soil can influence flavor too. I have a Thiessen bush but it is shaded by taller trees now and hasn’t produced in years. I can’t recall what I thought of the flavor, but obviously I wasn’t impressed enough to move it to a sunnier spot 
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Drew so the Blizzard is 50/50 so what kind of hybrid would you call it?
It’s still a haskap or honeyberry like a Sungold hybrid tomato is still a tomato. I expect to see these fruits more with time as so many breeders are working
with them.
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I have a few A.alnifolias in my orchard windbreak. They’ve only been in the ground for a year so no fruit yet, but they seemed to do okay. I’ve tasted a couple of the improved varieties before and found them pleasant with their unique almond-like flavor. I expect them to be a great early-season nibble and to hopefully distract the birds from my cherries. Wishful thinking perhaps!
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FWIW, I think if Haskaps are ever to take off in the US they should just be marketed as Honeyberries!
I think for the most part they are. But we already have the fancy trademark names appearing and such though.
On the subject of unusual fruit- when I started growing here almost 30 years ago now, I was fascinated by pictures and descriptions of every unusual fruit pitched at the time. Actinidia Arguta-(northern kiwis), Liked them at first, but mostly as forage fruit. Bees don’t like the blossoms so bearing was inconsistent so I gradually removed them until none remain. Saskatoons- riddled with PC, sickly plants. Kaki persimmon- have to be brought inside in case of harsh winter (I have one left. Native Persimmon- trees too big, except Lee Reichs fave (zukis?). I grafted that variety on a root sucker from a dead Kaki. Autumn olive- even the selected varieties are too astringent even for preserves. Paw Paws- the slight bitterness reduces the otherwise luscious fruit to forage only status. I eat a few a year, especially of Sunflower because it bears when peaches are almost over. Other species never lasted past the first crop.
Too me, species are often unusual for a very good reason- or several.
Well I like all those fruits myself, I don’t have a problem with any of them. Except for persimmon. I just don’t care for them. And a few more I like too like highbush cranberry, Native plums, beach plums, crabapples, etc.
How long have you been growing what? It is when you can gather buckets full that you realize the usefulness of any given variety. I’m not saying that you aren’t or that when you are you won’t have the same positive opinion, only that my opinion didn’t change until after a few seasons of full crops.
Has anyone had any experience with standing ovation serviceberry(juneberry). Is it worth growing?
Worth growing for fruit?
Appears to be a decorative type bush that also produces fruit as an afterthought. I didnt find any specific reviews but it wouldnt be my first choice if fruit was my primary goal.
My daughter recently purchased a lot on the island where I have a cottage and has let me have a section for gardening. I need to put in plants that require little care, so besides honeyberries, hazlenuts,mulberries and black currants, I was thinking Saskatoon. I have northline here, last year it fruited for the first time, but the birds got every one! I was looking at Smokey and Honeywood Saskatoon. Honeywood has larger fruit, a slightly larger tree. Leaning towards that one. Oh it’s also later blooming.
Smoky suckers a lot, just FYI, maybe a good or bad thing depending on your goals I guess.
Yeah the others do too, it’s OK, it will have room. Plus they only live about 30 years, so new plants work. I’m going to put a fig tree in too. I may protect it or not, I have room to bury every year.
haha, only 30 years… hope I last that long!
Here where I live, the western side of West Virginia , there is a wild amelanchier sp. that is shrub like.rarely more than 12ft.grows in the understory of dry oak hill tops. Very abundant ,in some areas.
However it seldom flowers or fruits. Only plants that have by chance ,ended up in more sun, flower , and fruit and occasionally get 20ft in such locations. Berry are small, crops never abundant. I have recently thinned around some. They are growing better , still not much fruit.
.may be -“A. Canadensis”?
.
Near the top of the real mountains in the eastern part of West Virginia ,
And north and south in the mountains, there is a different sp.
It is much larger , a small tree , not bush like, it fruits abundantly ,good fruit.these are just big enough that the Bears can climb and get the large fruit crops.usually breaking all the branches in the process .
This sp. fruits best with 1/2 or more sun. Have seen decent crops in the shade.
May be “A. Laevis”?
Does anyone know what species these are, or a good source to ID . them ?
Most ornamental plantings I have seen that have good fruit crops are mostly in full sun.
I assume where they grow them comercially , they are in full sun
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I have seen ornamental clones that bore heavy crops of nice fruit in the full sun- so abundant that the flocks of birds working them left plenty to fill baskets.
Something with Brilliant in the name, maybe.
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