Raspberries belong to the genus *Rubus* within the rose family (Rosaceae), and they are known for their delicious, edible fruits that come in a variety of colors including red, black, yellow, purple, and gold. These perennial plants grow on canes that produce fruit either in summer or both summer and fall, depending on whether they are summer-bearing or everbearing varieties. Raspberries are not only valued for their sweet, juicy flavor but also for their nutritional benefits, being rich in vitamins C and K, manganese, and dietary fiber. They are perfect for fresh eating, baking, preserving, or making into jams, jellies, and desserts.
Cultivating raspberries involves understanding their growth habit, where new canes (primocanes) grow each year, and the previous year’s canes (floricanes) produce fruit before dying back. Proper care includes pruning, which can be tailored to maximize yield: summer-bearing varieties require removing old canes after fruiting, while everbearing types can be pruned to encourage a fall crop or managed for two crops annually. Raspberries prefer well-drained, fertile soil and full sun, though they can tolerate partial shade. They also benefit from mulching to conserve moisture, suppress weeds, and regulate soil temperature. Common challenges include pest control for issues like raspberry beetles and diseases like root rot, which can be managed with good garden practices and choosing disease-resistant varieties.
Raspberries contribute significantly to biodiversity in gardens by attracting pollinators, such as bees, and providing food for birds and other wildlife. This makes them an excellent choice for wildlife-friendly gardens. Additionally, their aesthetic appeal, with their lush foliage and bright, colorful fruits, enhances garden landscapes. Whether grown in home gardens or on a larger scale, raspberries offer a rewarding experience for gardeners due to their relatively easy cultivation and the delight of harvesting fresh, home-grown berries. With a range of varieties available, there’s a raspberry for every palate and garden condition
Raspberry Varieties
Heritage Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet and juicy
Known for its high yield and excellent flavor, ‘Heritage’ produces a summer crop in July, followed by a fall crop from late August to frost. This variety is vigorous, disease-resistant, and well-suited for home gardens and commercial production. The canes are sturdy, requiring minimal support, and the berries are large with a classic raspberry taste, making them excellent for fresh eating, freezing, or jams.
Autumn Bliss Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet
‘Autumn Bliss’ is one of the earliest everbearing varieties to ripen, starting in late July or early August for the fall crop. It’s known for its sweet, firm berries that are great for both fresh consumption and preservation. This variety has good resistance to diseases and is suitable for cooler climates, with compact, thornless canes that simplify harvesting.
Latham Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Rich, sweet
- Characteristics: An old favorite, ‘Latham’ is noted for its cold hardiness, making it a good choice for northern growers. It produces large, flavorful berries around mid-summer. This variety has a strong, upright growth habit, and its berries are well-regarded for their taste and texture, perfect for eating fresh, making jams, or freezing.
Tulameen Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Very sweet
‘Tulameen’ is a popular choice for its large, sweet, and firm berries that come in early to mid-summer. It’s particularly valued for its long harvest season and excellent flavor, ideal for both fresh use and processing. This variety requires trellising due to its vigorous growth but offers resistance to root rot diseases.
Caroline Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet with good acidity
‘Caroline’ is a relatively new cultivar known for large, flavorful berries and high yield. It fruits in both summer and fall, with the fall crop being particularly abundant. This variety is disease-resistant, including to Phytophthora root rot, and its berries are versatile for fresh eating, freezing, or cooking, showing excellent firmness and flavor.
Boyne Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, aromatic
‘Boyne’ is highly cold-hardy, making it suitable for northern climates. Its berries are medium-sized, bright red, and have a delightful sweet flavor with a hint of tartness, perfect for all culinary uses. The canes are very productive, with a tendency to produce suckers, which can be advantageous for spreading the plant but requires management to prevent overgrowth.
Black Jewel Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Black
- Flavor: Sweet with a rich, berry taste
‘Black Jewel’ is a black raspberry variety known for its large, sweet, and firm berries. It ripens mid-season and is appreciated for its superior flavor compared to many other black raspberries. This variety has good resistance to common diseases like anthracnose and is popular for fresh eating, jams, and pies, though it requires careful pruning due to its biennial fruiting cycle.
Cumberland Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Black
- Flavor: Sweet, rich
An heirloom variety, ‘Cumberland’ is one of the oldest black raspberry cultivars still in cultivation, prized for its sweet, juicy berries. It has a strong, upright growth habit, making it easier to manage than some other black raspberries. Its berries are excellent for fresh use, preserves, or baking, and the plant is moderately disease-resistant.
Fall Gold Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Yellow/Gold
- Flavor: Very sweet, mild
‘Fall Gold’ produces large, golden-yellow berries that are incredibly sweet, often described as having a unique, mild flavor. It fruits in both summer and fall, with the fall crop being particularly abundant. This variety is less tart than red raspberries, making it a favorite for fresh consumption, and its canes are sturdy but benefit from some support.
Royalty Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Purple
- Flavor: Sweet, complex
‘Royalty’ is a purple raspberry, a cross between red and black varieties, offering a unique flavor profile that’s both sweet and complex with hints of both parent types. It produces large, flavorful berries in late summer, which are ideal for fresh eating, canning, or making into jams where the rich color and flavor stand out. The canes are vigorous and require trellising.
Joan J Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, aromatic
‘Joan J’ is a thornless, everbearing raspberry that produces high-quality, flavorful berries from mid-summer through fall. Its lack of thorns makes it particularly appealing for home gardeners, simplifying harvesting and pruning. The berries are large, firm, and have an excellent taste, making them suitable for all types of culinary uses. This variety also shows good resistance to several common raspberry diseases.
Killarney Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, tangy
‘Killarney’ is a hardy, early-ripening variety with bright red, medium-sized berries that are both sweet and tangy, providing a balanced flavor. It’s well-adapted to colder climates and produces high yields, with fruit that’s excellent for fresh eating, freezing, or making preserves. The canes are vigorous and require trellising for best results, offering good resistance to common diseases like mosaic virus.
Double Gold Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Yellow/Gold
- Flavor: Extremely sweet
‘Double Gold’ is an everbearing variety that produces large, golden berries in both summer and fall. Its fruits are known for their exceptional sweetness and mild flavor, making them a favorite for fresh eating. The canes are vigorous, and while they require some support, the fruit quality and yield are well worth the effort. This variety is also noted for its resistance to common fungal diseases.
Prelude Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, with good acidity
‘Prelude’ is one of the earliest ripening summer-bearing raspberries, often producing fruit in early June in some climates. It’s known for its large, bright red berries with a balanced sweet-tart flavor. Prelude can also produce a smaller fall crop if not pruned back entirely after the summer harvest, making it somewhat versatile. It’s appreciated for its disease resistance and is well-suited for cooler areas.
Anne Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Yellow/Gold
- Flavor: Very sweet, almost peach-like
‘Anne’ is prized for its large, golden berries that are incredibly sweet with a hint of peach flavor. It’s an everbearing variety, offering two harvests—one in summer and another in fall. The berries are firm, which makes them excellent for both fresh use and preservation. ‘Anne’ has a reputation for being one of the sweetest raspberries available, making it a gourmet choice for home gardeners.
Himbo Top Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet and aromatic
‘Himbo Top’ produces large, conical, bright red berries that are sweet with a rich aroma, ideal for fresh eating, processing, or freezing. This variety is noted for its high yield, excellent fruit quality, and good shelf life. It’s adaptable to a range of climates but performs best in areas with cooler summers. Its canes are strong but benefit from trellising.
Polka Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet with excellent taste
‘Polka’ is a highly productive everbearing raspberry with delicious, bright red berries. It’s known for its large fruit size, excellent flavor, and firm texture, which makes it perfect for both fresh eating and preservation. Polka berries ripen from mid-summer into early fall, offering an extended harvest period. The canes are vigorous, and while they require some support, the yield and quality compensate for the maintenance.
Munger Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Rich, slightly tart
An old, hardy variety, ‘Munger’ is valued for its cold hardiness and disease resistance, making it ideal for northern climates. It produces medium to large, flavorful red berries that are great for pies, jams, and fresh eating. The fruit has a rich, slightly tart taste that many traditional raspberry lovers enjoy. The canes are upright but spread through suckers, which requires some management.
Jewel Black Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Black
- Flavor: Sweet, rich
‘Jewel’ is a black raspberry variety known for its large, sweet, and flavorful berries. It’s one of the most productive black raspberries, with fruit that’s excellent for fresh consumption, baking, or making preserves. ‘Jewel’ is also relatively disease-resistant, particularly to anthracnose, but like all black raspberries, it requires careful pruning to manage its biennial fruiting cycle.
Encore Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, with a hint of tartness
‘Encore’ offers the versatility of an everbearing raspberry with a high yield of sweet, medium-sized red berries. It’s noted for its firm fruit, which holds up well for shipping, making it a choice for both home gardens and small-scale commercial operations. The fall crop is particularly abundant, and the variety shows good resistance to common raspberry pests and diseases.
Canby Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, well-balanced
‘Canby’ is a thornless, summer-bearing raspberry that produces large, flavorful red berries. Its lack of thorns makes it particularly user-friendly for gardeners and pickers. The berries are sweet with a balanced flavor, perfect for fresh eating and culinary uses. This variety is also noted for its resistance to mosaic virus and root rot, making it a reliable choice in various soil conditions.
Autumn Britten Raspberry
- Type: Everbearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, aromatic
‘Autumn Britten’ is an everbearing variety known for its large, firm, and sweet berries. It starts fruiting in late summer and continues into the fall, offering a significant yield. This raspberry variety is disease-resistant, particularly to root rot, and its berries are excellent for fresh use, freezing, or jams. The canes are vigorous and require trellising for best results.
Brandywine Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Purple
- Flavor: Sweet, complex
‘Brandywine’ is a purple raspberry that combines the best traits of both red and black raspberries, offering a sweet yet complex flavor. The berries are large, firm, and have a unique taste that’s excellent for fresh eating, preserves, or wine making. This variety is known for its high yield and disease resistance, though it does require careful pruning to manage its growth habit.
Nova Raspberry
- Type: Summer-bearing
- Berry Color: Red
- Flavor: Sweet, juicy
‘Nova’ is an early to mid-season, summer-bearing raspberry with sweet, juicy red berries. It’s prized for its cold hardiness, making it a good choice for northern gardens. The fruit is of high quality, perfect for fresh consumption, canning, or freezing. ‘Nova’ has a strong, upright cane structure that benefits from trellising, especially in windy conditions, and it shows good resistance to several common raspberry diseases.