o_m,
Performance and taste can be variable from place to place.
Illinois Everbearing is great here, but I have a friend in Flint, MI who doesn't care for it - and he sent scions of an unidentified M.rubraXalba(he'd purchased it as 'Pakistan', but it wasn't) that is his top performer - here, it was just so-so, nothing to write home about.

In my orchard, IE is significantly better than Collier - but differing planting sites may have influenced fruit juiciness-Collier just always seemed sort of dry.
I've seen good reviews for Wellington(selected at Geneva NY), but here, the berries are small - the birds get almost all of them - and it has a horrid, trashy growth habit.

"Pakistan" might be worth a try - it's Shangri-La's 'Big Sister"; similar fruit, but larger/longer.
There was one I got out of Florida some years back, called "Cat's Tail", but it froze out before it ever fruited for me - I think Just Fruits & Exotics carries it.
"Kokuso" - probably an M.alba(some say M.nigra, but I think it's M.alba), works well here in KY, and a friend in NJ also likes it. Cliff at England's Orchard & Nursery may have it available.
"Oscar's" is another M.alba that I've seen good reviews on, and I had it, but the 2007 Easter freeze took it out before it fruited. I've not seen it offered by anyone lately, but some of the west coast nurseries may have it - it's a CA-origin selection, if I recall correctly.

Everything I've seen in print indicates that M.nigra doesn't fare well in the eastern US, but the native M.rubra does - and I've never run across an M.rubra in fruit that wasn't exceptional; sure can't say the same for the typical M.alba.
Everyone's taste preferences are different, but I've never sampled a white-fruited mulberry that was too my liking; insipid, with just mild sweetness, or a 'grassy' flavor - though my MI friend claims to have one that tastes like muskmelon(no thanks, I'll pass).

Kokuso is very good here too. Lots of of very juicy berries.
Olga

I'm about 45 mins from Flint, Mi and your friend is welcome to come out and try my IE, its really quite good (though I haven't tried his mulberry...I have tried dozens including one which might have been Nigra in Fl, but they fruit wasn't fall off into your hand ripe and my IE is better).

My Brother in law has a white fruited variety he shares with a neighbor and the fruit is good, excellent dried. (though I didn't make the time last year to dehydrate some as I did the year before...I'll definitely have to make time this year to do so). There is a seedling one at my church that the teen teacher says is the best he's had (he's my BIL) and it fruits more than one would think possible, its only about 20 feet tall (easily 20+ years old) and though the fruit is less than an inch in length (and black), the tree weeps and bends to the ground when the fruit is ripe. I'm going to try my hand at budding some seedlings with this one if its as good as my BIL says!

~Chills

Chills, keep us informed about that church mulberry- it sounds like it might be a winner. Semi-dwarf with huge yealds- might even be worthy of a pattent.

Thanks for the response friends. I guess my comparison of the Collier to the IE was not fair, as the Collier was a mature tree in the ground, and the IE fruit came from the potted plant I bought and wasn't fully ripe. I'm thinking I choose the best of the two, after reading many positive reviews of IE. The pictures I've seen of Pakistan are impressive, with the long fruits. I've heard mostly good things about the taste. The Shangri La plant I feasted under at Edible Landscaping had the fattest fruit I've seen on a mulberry. No sourness, but still a nice sweet flavor. Wellington sounds good in catalog descriptions, but folks on the web don't rate it highly it seems. I read it was a M rubra selection. The mulberries that grow in the city here are probably mostly hybrids, and they are eaten by birds so quick, it's hard to pick many. I'd like to try the Kokuso; is there much flavor? I've heard it's sweet.

Lucky, I have been looking at a couple of varieties from Just Fruits and Exotics: Boysenberry Black- heafty crops of gigantic seedless black fruit, distinct tart boysenberry taste, good for jam z 7-10 and Wacissa- extremely heavy producer of 1 1/2" fruits, deep purple, rich sweet blackberry flavor z 7-10. Not sure of the species, but I would be willing to bet they are alba, since nigra doesn't seem to like humidity. They don't have Cattails in the current catalog.

Chills, I too am looking forward to your thoughts on the church seedling. Sounds like one I'd love to grow!

Anyone try drying other mulberries besides the white albas? If so, how did they turn out?

IF my Wellington is true-to-name(things sometimes get mislabeled at the nursery) it is not M.rubra - looks to be a rubraXalba hybrid to me.

One thing Dr. A.J. Bullard suggested for folks trying Pakistan - or any other 'tender' mulberry in zones 6 or colder, was to plant it with the graft union below ground level so that when(not if) you got an extremely cold winter, if it froze to the ground, you wouldn't lose the grafted variety. The "Pakistan" variety originated/selected at Islamabad, Pakistan, and the coldest recorded temp there was 28F, so it's not known for withstanding really cold winter temperatures.
I did this with one of my Pakistan trees, and it did, indeed freeze to the ground three years in a row - but would re-grow 10 ft the next year - never managed to get any fruit from it, though, and I dug it up and stuck it in a pot with the intentions of giving it to my dad in zone 8, but I misplaced it and never have found it.

Silk Hope is another variety that I've seen good reviews on that might be worth trying. I've got it growing here now, and it produced a few berries this year, but I forgot to check on it, and I suspect the birds got 'em.

Lucky, The Wellington might very well be a hybrid, I would trust your opinion on that. England Nursery actually lists it as M. rubra. I saw they had a M rubra listed named "Lucky". Is that the same plant I read that you brought from your home in Alabama?

The idea on overwintering tender mulberry plants sounds good. It's a shame the Pakistan still wont fruit with all that new growth.

I might try Silk Hope, as it is supposed to be good for the south. I wonder if it fruits as heavily as Illinois Everbearing?

Yep. That would probably be my 'US 280'/'Dumpster Delight' selection, made in AL - or it could be my KY selection, "Lawson Dawson".
Clifford and I swap plant materials on a regular basis.

Chiming in from the west coast, IE seems to be my best so far. It is healthy and produces well, tastes great. I can't say that for my lavender, which took a long time to bear, tastes OK, small berries, but is having a disease problem on the trunk that is threatening to girdle it. Oscar that has been in the ground about 3 years also has a disease problem and had a large portion of the top die as well as having dieback on the trunk. So far it starts to make fruit then they don't develope so have never tasted it.

Noir de Spain and its replacement both died over winter. Black Beauty is grafted very high, at 6 feet, which is very inconvenient, it was all Burnt Ridge had at the farmer's market. It has trouble getting the sap up to the branches in spring so has a lot of dieback. The "flavor" that I've seen raved about is mostly due to its being highly acidic. I ate a berry once with my head tilted back and the acid was burning my throat. So... I'll vote for IE, though I have the weeping mulberry and while the berries are small, it has a nice flavor, is very early, and the weeping habit hides the berries from the birds.:-P It is really cute, too.

I got the variegated Paper Dolls, which has partly reverted to green and is still very small, like under 12" tall, it's 3rd year. If it ever amounts to anything I will report.

A poor "second" of Wellington I bought didn't make it, so I didn't get to try it.

When I was a kid in Houston, there was a great white mulberry that was very large, sweet, and juicy, but I don't know what variety it was. I would go for it if I could.

Silk Hope and Pakistan sound great, but I would like to hear of their growing well locally.

Hi,

Why is it, as mentioned above, I've never seen a Morus rubra in fruit here in the Northeast (NJ & NY)?

What is the best tasting Morus rubra (non-hybrid) cultivar available?

I don't want to plant the superior Illinois Everbearing M. alba x rubra hybrid based upon eco-principals.

Thanks,
Steve

Does the Illinois Everbearing or other mulberry good for 8a come true from seed? If so, could I trade for some with anyone?

I don't think that any mulberries would come true from seed. IE is also nearly sterile and seedless. I think I once read somewhere that it may be triploid.