Raspberries
The 2011 Mail order sales season is now finished. Contact us to be alerted when the 2012 mail order season is open. Until then feel free to browse our variety descriptions.
Raspberries are members of the Rose family which contains other bramble-like growers. There are over 400 Rubus species in North America alone. Botanically the raspberry is not a true berry it is a drupe.
There are two basic types of raspberry cultivars: summer-bearing and autumn-bearing.
Summer-bearing raspberries produce their main fruit crop in December/January, and are considered to be the best varieties for high volume fruit production and freezing. There are many different summer-bearing raspberries available, including “Chilliwack”, “Chilcotin”, and “Willamette”. Summer-bearing raspberries need to be supported on a trellis.
Summer-bearing varieties will often produce a light crop during autumn.
Autumn-bearing raspberries are usually grown for fresh eating. In January to April autumn-bearing raspberries produce an initial fruit crop on the top portion of the current season’s growth called primocanes. These are called floricanes during the second year and produce a second crop in the following summer if left unpruned. This unusual fruiting pattern is the reason that autumn-bearing raspberries are often called “everbearing” raspberries, for they produce fruit on both the first- and second-year cane growth. “Heritage” and “Autumn Bliss” are autumn-bearing raspberries.
Normally autumn-bearing varieties are pruned to the ground each winter resulting only in an autumn crop on new season (primo-) canes. If left unpruned autumn-bearing raspberries can be grown in a hedgerow.