their complexity of taste is like a good black currant. strong but richly flavored. both are fabulous for processing but fresh eating off the bush the honeyberry so far wins. im anxious to try some of the newer Russian black currants. they may change my mind and black currants are by far more productive.
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my wife is not a big berry eater and she loves my honeyberries.
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There’s probably the option of shade cloth over the plants?
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i just put in beauty and beast in late april. both have leafed out but beast is 2xs as big and has 6 flowers. doubt the fruit will set as the closest pollination partner is 75 yrds in the front of the house. be cool if it did. 
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Where did you get them from?
I’m trying them for the first time this year as a foundation planting on the coolest side of my house (north west facing) in zone 7b Maryland. From what I’ve read, late blooming pure japanese varieties like those bred by Maxine Thompson seem to be the best in warmer climates. I’m trying one pure japanese maxine and the 3 from the boreal series by the university of saskatchewan. follow my journey here
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I got Beauty and Beast from Jung’s. Beauty had a borer in one shoot…I pruned hard.
Blizzard, Indigo Gem and one other 3 year old all had no bloom.
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I got my Beauty and Beast from Jung’s too (last year). Have you tasted them yet? Has anyone tasted them yet? Also, I’m wondering about the taste of Strawberry sensation. Has anyone tasted those yet?
I’m assuming Aurora is not one that would theoretically do well in my zone? That figures since it seems most say it is a good taster. How do the japanese varieties taste? No sense in me planting just because they’ll live in my climate if they’re not worth eating.
Blue Moon, Blue Velvet and Tundra are only ones I’ve tasted.
Don’t have any of those anymore. (Sold them for ‘edible landscaping’.)
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from what ive read they taste good but could be the retailers opinon so take that with a grain of salt.
You could always try Blizzard / Beauty / Beast. Those are late blooming. Blizzard is really good (about as good as Aurora).
You could trial Aurora. In warmer zones they say early blooming honeyberries bloom before there are enough bugs flying around to pollinate them.
For me, all the honeyberries (early and late) seem to bloom around the same time.
You have a blizzard somewhere too? This makes me want to get the beast now. I heard it didn’t taste as good as blizzard and beauty so I skipped it. It seems like it’s the most vigorous grower of the group.
I much prefer fresh black currants to fresh honeyberries. For one, they have significantly more sugar, but also a better texture, and honeyberries have some bitterness and less full flavor.
Haskaps transform when cooked though, they have much more berry flavor, and fullness. It’s one of my top favorites for jam if I can get enough fruit.
I have 5 of Maxine Thompson’s early selections - some I think are released. Plus a couple of others at my old place.
Maybe some newer selections I’d like better fresh than mine. I also realize I’m unusual in liking fresh black currants (when dull ripe).
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Were you part of a pilot project test grow? How did you get involved with that?
I wonder if anyone is going to carry on her research / brand now that she has passed away.
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Moose, I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t know she’d passed. I’ll consider these varieties, and much more awareness of the potential of these fruit, as a big part of her legacy.
I think she must have given a presentation, or something, at one of the Home Orchard Society events and may have presented, or mentioned in conversation, that she was offering trial varieties for those interested. I had to sign a pretty strict non-propagation agreement as well as pay for them. I don’t think there was much documentation about the selections individual characteristics. They were labeled with a two segment alphanumeric deisignation. Unfortunately I did not document or label all of mine in a way that I can recollect now. But did discern 2 or 3 of them and found at least one match, via web searching, with some named cultivars for sale.
I don’t know if she passed the baton to carry forward her plantings and project, but she certainly has raised a bunch of awareness, and contributed material to what is now available more broadly.
What did it for me was that she’d brought samples of jam on crackers, to an event. The flavor spoke for itself. They are very easy to grow in my environment. The biggest difficulty is the robbins, followed by fruit that drops easily and is pretty fragile. If the biggest issues are around harvest time, that’s a great sign for a fruit in my opinion.
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I have a morrow honeysuckle in my yard that I want to try to graft. The flowers look just like haskap. Can you describe your grafting timing, method etc so I can fail differently.
Did you graft when the honeysuckle was just starting to break buds?
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I up-sized the pots from Jungs about 3 weeks ago to 2 quart size…on Blizzard, Beauty and Beast. I agree BEAST is the most avid/agressive grower.
Borealis is a very thick branched ball of a shrub.
And Indigo Gem reminds you of a GROUNDCOVER…definitely wider than tall.
I’ve had Blue Velvet, Blue Moon, Tundra and another or two at some point in the past.
(A simi-commercial blueberry grower in Rocky Top, Tennessee sold me the Blue Velvet and Blue Moon varieties in 2012 for a project I was doing at the time.)
@Moose In my experience in a cooler zone honeyberries also bloom well before any bugs are willing to show their smiling faces. I would hypothesize that most honeyberry pollination is carried out by the wind. @Viktor what is your experience?
I planted the 3B’s last year so I have little experience with them. But I have many of the earlier varieties and I agree, there is only a small difference between when the pure Russians bloom and when those with Japanese influence bloom, especially when you consider how cold it is when they bloom.
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