I would go with Hinnomaki red or yellow. Poorman is a good one too. Black Velvet to me tastes great but certainly more tart. I love tart fruit, so not a good judge of what is considered sweet. I agree though like blackberries, they have to be falling off ripe to be sweet. Sometimes a week at full color, it depends on cultivar. I'm still learning about what I have myself! Learning when it is dead ripe, and how cultivars differ. I only have a few. I'm more interested in currants.

my fellow canadian he he he, I grow pixwell too and everyone here likes them.Poorman, hinnomaki red are very good also.I grow black velvet and josta too but will only get to try them later this summer so can't comment on the flavor yet. Romance series bush cherries are probably a safe bet,I planted some last year that were measly 2 inch tall way over priced plugs which are now 3 feet tall in one growing season! Hardy kiwi do very well for me and taste great!If want to try kiwi send me a PM in the fall and I can send you some. How long is your growing season? you can probaly grow some of the shorter season grapes.Saskatoons are really good too, I have a lot of wild ones growing on my property some are bushes and some like the one in my back yard are more like trees and have 6 inch diameter trunks! I actually bought some named varieties last year, thiessen,honeywood and JB30...... hopefully they will taste as good as the wild ones. glenn

I went a tad overboard myself this year. I only intended to replace two plums which had left holes in my 10 tree orchard lineup. But we got irrigation water awarded to us last year, and on the assumption that we'd get it again this year, I folded and decided to put in the second line of trees. Plus it'd be nice to get some highway noise reduction started, so I.. well... I went a little bit crazy and... 1 each: Emerald Beauty Plum Bavay's Green Gage Plum Blake's Pride Pear Bosc Pear Comice Pear Ashmead Kernal Apple Anna Apple Cox's Orange Pippin Apple Sunburst Cherry Montmorency Cherry 1) Western Schley Pecan 50)Pecan: Carya-illinoinensis 50)Redbud: Cercis-Canadensis 50)Tulip Tree: Liriodendron tulipifera So far, I have 24 or so in the ground, 63 potted up, and I'm flogging off the balance to any of my clients who also like to garden. Next year, Tupelos and olives!

Heh, reviving a very old thread. I planted gooseberries years ago but ripped them out when the sawfly larvae appeared. Decided to try again this year. Growing two red (purple) types... a European variety (Black Velvet) which is either thornless or not too thorny (can't recall) but is only rated to zone 4; and an American variety (Poorman) that is rated to zone 3 but is unbelievably thorny. Bought both as potted plants with flowers on them this spring. This years production will obviously be small berries and may perhaps be different in other ways from established plantings. That said, Black Velvet has both sour/sweet characteristics and lots of flavour. Poorman has less prounouced sour and sweet characteristics and is tasty, but less so than the European variety. When I say "sour", be aware that I am a sour-wimp... these are less sour than sour cherries, more like a red raspberry. Been picking fruits from both as they ripened, but picked the rest of the Poorman today (dime in there for size, the fruits should be much larger once the plants are established):