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.

I can't really add much to the "taste" discussion, but I'll do what I can. In Rochester, NY, where my daughters live, many yards have "volunteer" mulberries growing somewhere. One of my daughters is a homeowner, and we discovered several while cleaning up her yard for the first time since she bought the place. I'm guessing they were white mulberries. It is quite confusing because white mulberries can be white, red or black depending on cultivar. Red mulberries can be red or black, but black mulberries are only dark. These volunteers in my daughter's yard were bearing black fruit that I would describe as bland or insipid. Others have described white mulberries as "insipid," so I'm guessing that's what these were. I started some rubus nigra, or black mulberry a couple years ago from seed I purchased over the internet. If memory serves, I think they came from www.seedman.com. They germinated very easily compared with some other seeds I purchased at the same time. I kept one that I planted in my yard. I asked the seller if they would survive in my zone (5). He wouldn't guarantee it, but thought they would. So far so good, though the leaves are definitely frost tender. We had a couple late frosts this year, and twice young leaves wilted and died from the frost before it was finally able to send out leaves that didn't get nipped. It didn't seem to hurt it much though, as it has grown at least a couple feet taller this summer. Too soon for fruit, but I'm looking forward to tasting it as the black mulberry is said to be the best tasting by many.

I should have some first hand experience this year with the Geraldi dwarf. I planted it last spring (from Lucile) and it bore fruit the fist year. Of course, it was tiny and didn't bear much, so the birds got it all. Even now, it is only ~2' tall, so it should be easy to net... This year, I've ordered IE and a Persian black mulberry. I'll be planting both in 10-15 gal containers and plan to move the black mulberry into the garage over the winter.

Both got good reviews from Dr. AJ Bullard, the long-time NAFEX Southern mulberry guru. In one of his writings, he characterized Shangri-La as "Pakistan"'s little brother'. Silk Hope was good enough that he and Mike McConkey jumped through whatever hoops were required to import it and introduce it.