We had some friends over yesterday and they tried a lot of the honeyberries. I gave them aurora, blizzard, beauty, beast, honey bee, blue banana, and honey beast. Their favorite was a surprising pick- honey beast. I got this one from Berries Unlimited maybe 3 years ago.
The cons- the bush is kind of short and fat. I like it better when they grow up towards the sky, but this one grows wide. To pick the berries I had to pretty much lie down on the ground on my back and look up at the plant.
The pro- its very productive. I was surprised at how many handfuls of berries I kept pulling off the bush. The berries get to be a decent size too- maybe 2/3 of a blizzard. Honey beast is slightly larger than a blue banana. The flavor is good too.
I did try a blue banana, blizzard, and honey beast back to back, and honestly it’s hard to say which one is the best. They all taste pretty good.
The ultimate test would be this- with my limited space, would I plant another one of these? Most definitely yes!
Here is a pic of the plant and some berries on it. For the comparison pick, that’s honey beast, then blizzard, then blue banana.
That is correct. At a honeyberry growers workshop they said you have to wait 10-14 days after they achieve color to convert from acidic to sweet. During that time the birds will be trying to take them… unless you have protection e.g. netting like for grapes.
blizzards huge this year. 3 fruit fills my palm. the grand daughter and i ate a quart of them yesterday. they are double the size of aurora. delicious. she was purple from head to toe.
If I have an Aurora and an indigo gem, are the other varieties improved enough in your opinion to try a third or even a fourth variety? I am A little space constrainted but if blizzard is double the size and even tastier than Aurora I may give it a shot!
You can’t go wrong with blizzard. The ripening is more uniform that aurora which is a major advantage.
Not sure what your climate is like, but blizzard is “late blooming”. In warmer climates you need to consider the bloom times and make sure they match up. If you get a blizzard you may need to add a second late blooming pollination partner.
In the far north the bloom times all seem to overlap so that isn’t a worry.
I’m growing honeyberries in Stockholm, Sweden. The plants are doing great here and I would’ve had a great harvest this year if it wasn’t for the birds.
I’m currently growing Aurora, Boreal blizzard, beast and beauty.
Are there any other varieties with really large berries that are a must have?
I have a feeling that the ones that I have might be some of the best ones but I’m not sure.
I’ll get rid of the Russian varieties L. velikan and Jugana as their berries are tiny and doesn’t taste that good imo.
A bit off topic but honeyberries seems to be a popular landscaping plant here.
You might have access to some of the European varieties that we don’t usually see here in the US.
Those 4 there are all really good and decent size. I don’t think you will find anything larger. There is a poster in this thread with a farm in Europe and they often post about some of those other varieties we don’t have access to here.
I’ve mostly harvested my honeyberries, but aurora has uneven ripening and I left most of them on the bush. It’s mid August and I’m still eating the berries every time I go into the back yard. The berries are really sweet now.
Just some shots from Zone 3a on June 25th . Drought year, and I don’t do much weeding and watering - mulch focus. These were planted the spring prior. I ended up with a fair amount of fruit in the freezer, so no complaints. Most plants are Beauty or Beast.
Lidia is supposed to have a slew of new varieties coming out that she bred. Honey Champion is one & in my long-winded conversations w/ her, she says she has been already shipping that one to Europe for some time…
I did a search in this thread for “strawberry” and this is the last post that I could find about “strawberry sensation”. Any updates on what you think of it? Information on the taste of some of these newer honeyberry varieties are quite hard to find. Thanks!
they are pretty good. i dont really taste strawberry but honeyberries have a taste thats a mix of other berries. not as productive as aurora or the boreals but worthy of growing.
unfortunitely the naming of these berries really set the tone on how they are received. i like the taste of them and black currants. some dont. they should never put honey in their name as it raised expectations of them to be sweet which they are not. obviously a marketing ploy. they are great in deserts and jams. not really for fresh eating. i do grow lots of blueberries and enjoy eating them fresh but i stilllike my honeyberries. if you like sweeter. try juneberry/ serviceberries. they grow wild here and tolerate some shade.. i grow several cultivars and have grafted them on my wild trees .they do need a fungicide spray regiemen. i spray them when i spray my apples, plums and cherries.
