I was looking at a couple of these as companion plantings. Do any of them have a sweet fresh eating quality?
Autumn Olive
Goumi
Silverberry
Seaberry
Raspberry Carpet
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The raspberry will be sweet.
I’m hoping to try Autumn Olive this year for first time.
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Do you have the raspberry carpet? If so is the taste the same as regular raspberry?
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No, I only have the wild blackcap raspberries…which are the tastiest hands down.
But, have planted some of the carpet raspberries for customers…and have tasted the berries. They are sweet, mild, mostly flavorless. But, good to snack on a couple when pruning your roses 
Production sparse.
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That’s good to know. I was looking at them for weed suppression in flower beds with a bonus.
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Goumi is good.
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I’d think, of those Goumi may get the most sugar. They have some astringency, especially before fully ripe.
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Autumn Olive is one of my favorite plants. I haven’t tried fruit from wild plants but the 8 cultivars I have are very good and yes, sweet and perfect for fresh eating.
That’s good to hear, for my autumn olives are seedlings. And there might be first fruits this year.
Carpet raspberry tastes great however I’ve haven’t gotten much fruit from it. Goumi tastes okay and is easy to grow
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Agreed. If you grow the carpet raspberry, do it for the groundcover or landscape effect…and consider the few berries a nice bonus.
Do they grow quick or have some deer resistance? What does the taste most resemble? Autumn olive is what I had the most interest in.
They definitely grow fast. Some of the ones I put in 3 years ago are about 8’ tall and maybe 5’ wide. From what I’ve seen, they’re not immune to deer browsing but don’t really seem to be a favorite. I still like to cage everything for a couple of years just so they don’t get set back. I’m not sure how to describe the flavor besides a mix of sweet with a little tart. Also very easy to propagate with hardwood cuttings which makes me like them even more.
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I think Goumi is great. It tastes very similar to autumn olive but is bigger and I think sweeter. The bush also is pretty well behaved as far as growing goes.
My son and I also like Autumn Olive, but the other members of my family don’t. It does have some significant astrigency, which not everyone is into. The bush tends towards a floppy and unkempt appearance, in the same vein as forsythia, but if you put in some effort you can make it look cultivated. The foliage is pretty. Here is the one I have in my front yard, as of yesterday. It is something like 4 years in the ground and getting ready to bloom.
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