I already have a few haskaps, all of which are according to my research of Russian descent (Blue Bird, Blue Forest, Blue Pacific, Altai, Martin, Eisbär, Balalaika), but none of them blew my socks off.
I recently found two new Japanese varieties from a Swiss nursery called, they are called Blue Pagoda and Blue Hokkaido. But since I cannot find these varieties anywhere else, I suspect they might have renamed them.
They market them as ripening later, having larger and sweeter fruit and healthier foliage throughout the summer in warmer climate (I am in zone 8b). All of those, ironically including the later ripening, are desireable traits for me.
Is anyone here experienced with these varieties and can tell me if they are the real deal, or will they likely not be a noticeable improvement over my Russian haskaps?
Ive seen Blue pagoda a few places, OGW seems to have it now.Blue Pagoda Honeyberry ™ - Late Blooming - One Green World
Where are you located? USA? Europe? Canada? That can help people figure out if something if available to you
I planted one bush of Blue Hokkaido in 2021 but only grew it for only a couple of years because the fruit was not very good. Like other varieties that I tried, it was very soft when fully ripe and frequently damaged when it fell off the bush. And it was too sour if it wasn’t quite ripe.
I am located in Europe. Mostly only Russian varieties are easily available here, Japanese ones are rather rare.
I suspect Blue Hokkaido and Blue Pagoda are only trademark names, and the real variety name is different, but I don‘t know how to find out.