I've had Wellington - or, at least, a grafted tree, purchased as 'Wellington'(I'm well aware that mislabeling mishaps do occur), growing here for well over 10-12 years - not even sure I can remember which one of the WA/OR nurseries it came from - OGW, Northwoods, I dunno. Anyway, trashy growth habit - more of a really big bush than a tree; maybe that's my fault for not doing more corrective pruning when it was smaller. Berries are small - hardly larger than any of the local volunteer M.albas, but not hardly worth competing with the birds for. Lacking in flavor, for the most part, and not very productive. That said, some varieties perform better than others in varying locations. Hard to beat 'Illinois Everbearing' here, for size and quality of fruit - and length of season. IE gets my vote for 'gold standard' status. But, I have a buddy in Flint, MI who says it's not worth the space it occupies in his orchard; he sent me scions of his top performer(purchased as Pakistan, but it's NOT)- but grown here, it was just so-so.

Hey, Christie. 'Silk Hope' is a M.albaXrubra hybrid, a favorite of Dr. A.J. Bullard, the long-time NAFEX mulberry consultant. Dr. Bullard said of it in 1997, "decent blend of acid/sweet, good berry size, extended ripening season, and the added bonus of holding dormancy and not being cold-tender." He ranks SH and Ill.Everbearing as 'second-tier', below M.nigra, which is 'out of the picture' for most growers in the US. SH outperforms IE in his NC orchard. I have Silk Hope grafted on a seedling M.alba. Finally got around to putting it in the ground last year, but it did fruit, albeit lightly, while still in a 3-gallon pot. Fruits were pretty small, but I suspect that's due to it fruiting while imprisoned. After an opportunity to root out into some real soil(it's planted just outside one corner of the barnlot), fruit size, quality, and quantity should improve. I don't know what BRN uses as understock, but I'd guess it's probably seedling M.alba.

You're in Md. and I'm in IL. I live in a rural area and mulberries are one of the banes of my existence in the garden. The birds eat the mulberries and defecate the seeds that sprout so easily in flowerbeds. A mulberry only 10" tall can be almost impossible to pull out of the ground because of it's tap root. If it snaps it comes back and back...and back...and back. I liken it to thistle. I'm not kidding that I find more weed mulberry sprouts than any other weed. I also find bird poop all over the cars, patio furniture and windows...lol. It's a pest plant. I'm sorry they're native to this area. Some of their roots can be near the surface but I don't typically see that. They seem to be mostly tap root. I'll find a 10" tall mulberry to have as much as 20" of root when I dig it out with a spade. You've probably figured it out...I'd never plant a mulberry...ever! They're invasive, their shade is too dense for flowers near them...they're outta control! As I said...you're in Md. and I'm in IL. They might behave differently there...but I doubt it.

From a 1997 POMONA(publication of North American Fruit Explorers) article, by Dr. AJ Bullard of Mt.Olive NC, the long-time Southern Mulberry Fruit Interest Group chairman, "Mulberries from a Southeastern US Perspective": "To most plates, M.nigra is generally agreed to be tops, although in our region it cannot be grown successfully, due to climatic problems. Temperature fluctuations, high humidity, and fungal leaf and twig problems have doomed it here, and most Southern nurseries ceased to carry it in the early 1900s." Dr. Bullard touts several M.albaXrubra hybrids - Silk Hope, Sullivan, Wellington, & Illinois Everbearing; Silk Hope performed best for him, and IE did not do well in his orchard. In my own KY orchard, IE is the top performer, Wellington is a 'dog', Silk Hope hasn't yet reached a level of production for me to properly evaluate it. Dr. Bullard calls it a 'toss-up', flavor-wise, between the top M.rubra and top M.alba selections; rubra tends to be more tart, while alba tends to be lacking acidity. His top picks for M.rubra selections for the Southeast are (Carlton)English and (Janie)Watts - neither of which I've ever seen in the nursery trade. I have two superb M.rubra selections, one from KY, one from east-central AL - both produce large tart-sweet black fruits - larger than Illinois Everbearing, and equally its match for flavor, but the fruiting period is short, ~ 2 weeks, whereas IE will bear heavily over a 6-8 wk period. I've never had a bad M.rubra, but have had some M.albas that were pretty sorry. Never had a white-fruited selection that appealed to me - sweet, but sort of 'grassy'-flavored; a friend had one that he claimed tasted like muskmelon - no thanks. Top M.alba picks for the Southeast, from Dr. Bullard: Shangri-La(originated in Naples, FL) and Pakistan(originated in Islamabad, Pakistan). Pakistan is 'borderline' for parts of the Southeast - in its native site, the lowest temp recorded was 26F; he recommends planting it with the graft union below ground level in the event that it freezes back to ground level, regrowth will be from above the graft, and not just the seedling rootstock; I experienced this - my Pakistan froze to the ground 3 years running, and would re-grow 8-10 ft in a season, but never ripened any fruit, before I took it out and replaced it with something that could survive here. Shangri-La fruit is smaller than Pakistan's 3"+ berries, but tends to break dormancy too early and gets zapped by normal spring frosts some years. Kokuso and some of the other 'newer' varieties may not have been available for Dr. Bullard's evaluation at the time he wrote this missive, so some of the varieties mentioned earlier in this thread may well be worth trying. I've been satisfied with plant materials from Raintree & Burnt Ridge; Edible Landscaping in VA has offered some good mulberries in the past; Just Fruits & Exotics, in Crawfordville FL probably has some good mulberries in their offerings.